I remember the first time I put on the Army uniform. I just felt like a totally different person - I felt proud.

The truth is always more heroic than the hype.

The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans.

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

I don't think any war is worth having our soldiers killed.

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.