"Iraq," he answers, then smiles a little. "I know you said no names, but this was during my military service. There's nothing secret about that."

The smile fades and he says, "It was awful. Not because of the location, but because of all the death. It was everywhere. The air smelled like death, there were children in burned out buildings, barely surviving, some of them not surviving at all. I think it was the closest the world can get to hell."