Center for American Progress

A soldier reflects: Those who had the least to lose sent us to war
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A soldier reflects: Those who had the least to lose sent us to war

Patrick Murphy reflects on his experiences in the war in Iraq.

I loved the military. I especially loved the men with whom I served. The fact that 19 of them never made it home from Iraq continues to haunt me today. My reflections on the Iraq War, now almost 10 years after we came home, still seem too raw-–especially when the nation I love has moved on and doesn’t seem to have learned its lesson from an unnecessary war.

In Iraq, I led a BOLT team with the 82nd Airborne Division (Brigade Operational Law Team) in south-central Baghdad.  It was my second post-9/11 deployment. We suffered through the 138-degree heat with few showers and the constant threat of danger from mortar fire, roadside bombs, and AK-47s.

The above excerpt was originally published in msnbc. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Patrick Murphy

Senior Fellow

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