Nearly a decade since the Iraq War started: Share your story

A U.S. soldier walks next to an Iraqi child in Mosul, Iraq, in 2008. (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

On March 19, 2003, the U.S. began military operations in Iraq.

For nearly nine years, America?s profile in the region shifted between invader, liberator, occupier, nation-builder, caretaker and more.

When the U.S. officially ended the war on Dec. 15, 2011, and withdrew the last of its combat troops, the nation had seen 4,409 Americans killed in Iraq and 31,926 more wounded in action. (The number of Iraqi deaths are estimated at 122,000 through today.) At times during the 2007 surge, the number of U.S. boots on the ground grew to nearly 150,000.

Behind those numbers, of course, lie personal stories of service members and their families. As we approach the exact date of the anniversary, Yahoo News is inviting you to share your stories. We?re publishing first-person stories written not only by Americans who served in Iraq in the past 10 years, but also family members of troops, to hear how they?ve changed, too.

If you?re interested in sharing your story, please go to Yahoo! Contributor Network for more details. If you have questions, please email us at contributor-news@yahoo-inc.com.

Stories that we accept will be published under your byline on Yahoo News. The deadline for submissions is March 7.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to receiving your first-person account.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/10-years-since-iraq-war-started-share-story-225440850.html

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