Mike Warner turned 18 in basic training and 21 in Iraq, where he served with the U.S. Marine Corps, Bravo Company, 2nd Tanks out of Camp
Lejeune. One of the first things he’ll tell you is he’s an orphan. He lost both his parents and his grandparents when he was young and ended up a teenager in Corvallis, MT, where he graduated high school. His tank crew became his family. He talked a lot about that and told some great stories to producers Christopher Allen and Sergio Gonzalez. Chris and Sergio cut more than two hours of tape down to this gem of a story under 2:30. The full interview is available at the Veterans History Project, a national archive documenting the experience of war in the words and voices of those who served. It’s also part of the PRX series, Combat Stories: Vets on War and Why They Went.