Seven years of Operation Iraqi Freedom from two soldiers’ perspectives

It’s been seven years since the U.S.-led “coalition of the willing” invaded Iraq. We talk with two soldiers who fought in Iraq to find out what has changed on the ground since the war began.

Mike Scotti was a First Lieutenant in the Marines and documented his deployment in Iraq from the first days of the invasion, with a hand held video camera. Matt Gallagher did not deploy in the war until 2007. When he went, he documented his experience in a blog that his commanding officers would eventually take down. The two soldiers’ experiences fighting the same war were most strongly distinguished by their order: before and after the surge.

You can read an excerpt from Matt Gallagher’s book, “Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War.” Below, the trailer for Mike Scotti’s documentary film, “Severe Clear.”