He was in Iraq for a long time as his unit's deployment was extended more than once. They talked on the Dose -- and with us -- lots over the course of that time. mystery_ak would know the exact dates but IIRC he returned in the spring of this year. He's home, safe and sound at last report. Also, ohioWfan's son was deployed there and the Dosers spent a lot of time praying for them, their units, and all our soldiers in harm's way.
It was really helpful to hear directly from Mike and Eric (ohioW's son) how things were going day to day.
I imagine so! We had some friends whose son was in Iraq. When he came back he told us all of his experiences. He said it was not anything like it was being portrayed. Of course it was scary, as any war zone, etc. would be, but that a large majority of the Iraqis were friendly, grateful and truly kind to the military. Yet the insurgencies are what the media likes to talk about.