by Wang Fengfeng
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Josh Stieber didn't feel much relieved when he heard the news the last U.S. combat troops were pulling out of Iraq by the end of this month.
Though "grateful for every little bit" of progress, the 22-year-old U.S. Army veteran says he is still cautious not to "celebrate and think that everything is over with, as the reality is "pretty far from that."
Stieber, who served in Iraq for 14 months, is too familiar with the reality of the war.
The eldest son of a salesman and a health worker, and born and raised in the Maryland section of the Washington D.C. area, Stieber recalled he saw a "big hole" in the ground after a hijacked jetliner crashed into the Pentagon in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001.
Stiever joined the army right out of high school in 2006 at the age of 18 to "make sure something like 9/11 never happens again."
He was sent to Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division in February 2007. But what he experienced there was disillusionment and frustration. As part of the U.S. troop surge in 2007, he witnessed one of the most violent stretches of the Iraq war.
"We went into it thinking we would solve all this problem and make the world a better place, but realized early on we didn't seem to be helping the problem," he said.
"For the most part, we are making it worse," he added.
Special Report: Situation in Iraq
