“Culture shock” is a bit of an understatement when describing the transition from Wagener, S.C., to the war-torn streets of Iraq. For Johnny Strang, who celebrated his 19th birthday in Baghdad, returning to civilian life had just as many challenges, though.

Jackie Somers refused to think her son could be in danger. She accepted that Johnathan Somers was somewhere else, but in her mind it wasn’t Iraq. “He was not overseas in a war,” she said.

In 2007, Mary Jo Hammond was sometimes asked which person she worried about most: her husband or her son.

Denice Traina has received all kinds of responses to a street-corner protest: supportive honks, the rude gesture, even an occasional flying beer can.

The war in Iraq was often a bitterly partisan contest at home, with the Republicans who started the war pitted against the Democrats who ultimately ended it.

As the dust begins to settle, both sides remain divided on what was accomplished and what remains to be done.

When the bombs started falling in 2003, Salih al-Badrany wondered whether the second invasion of his native Iraq would be as fleeting as the first one.