David Chen

US History
Last Update: 5/19/16

Veterans History Research Paper

Im very interested in how people have the ideals of their behavior, and how they try to live up
to those ideals, and how they move forward and make decisions. And thats the only way
to have any kind of sympathyto understand where theyre coming from." -Elliot Wagner

Beginning in 2003, Elliot Wagner spent eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps as both an infantry
and special operations officer. He served multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and
Southwest Asia. As a Marine Corps Special Operations Team Leader, he operated as the primary
combat advisor to a 700-man Afghan commando battalion responsible for capture operations
against senior Taliban leadership. He also led a platoon that aided in relief operations in postKatrina New Orleans. Wagner has served on the board of the Afghan Scholars Initiative and as
an advisor to the No Greater Sacrifice scholarship fund.

The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a
United States-led coalition. The invasion regime toppled the government of Saddam Hussein.
However, the conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose
the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000
Iraqis were killed in the first 34 years of conflict. The United States officially withdrew from
the country in 2011 but became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the
insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue to this day.

Elliot Wagner, whose three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan left him highly decorated, has
described his experience on the battlefield as "surreal." "Green on Blue" comes from a military

term for violence between Afghan and American forces. Wagner sympathized with Afghans and
their desire for prosperity in the face of radicalism.

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