Honesty has always been very important to me.

The truth is always more heroic than the hype.

Honesty has always been very important to me.

Since coming back from Iraq, there's been so many triumphs and obstacles standing in my way, so whenever I set my mind to something, I definitely just go full blast at it.

I have repeatedly said, when asked, that if the stories about me helped inspired our troops and rally a nation, then perhaps there was some good.

I know that I'm already in the history books and that people are going to remember me as the prisoner of war and the fabricated stories, but you know, to me I was just another soldier over there doing my job.

I grew up in Palestine, West Virginia, which is mostly a farming community; there aren't a lot of jobs.