NPR — along with seven public radio stations around the country — is chronicling the lives of America's troops where they live. We're calling the project "Back at Base." This is the first installment ...

Marines make their way through the streets of Najaf in 2004. (Courtesy Manifold Productions, Inc.) Jan Bender remembers the moment as if it were yesterday. Taking cover from insurgents, his fireteam ...

Editor’s note: For Veterans Day, PEOPLE is publishing a series of stories looking back at the service members and families affected by the two battles of Fallujah, in Iraq, in 2004 — combined, they ...

Jan Bender remembers the moment as if it were yesterday. Taking cover from insurgents, his fireteam had just assembled in the dark in front of a house in Fallujah, Iraq, when the Marines were ...