A Soldier Drawn by Duty and Changed by the Sacrifice

When he came home and took an apartment in downtown Washington, Campbell, now 29, became someone he didn't recognize. For the first time in his life, he got into fights. He was impulsive, buying big-ticket items that he couldn't afford and didn't need. He alienated friends, acted like a boor.

He got through it with the help of a counselor and the support of random people who every day thanked him for his service. "I have no idea how I would have made it through coming back in the Vietnam era, being called 'baby killer' and stuff like that," he says. "I am thankful that this generation has learned to separate the war from the warrior."

Campbell is in his last semester of law school. He spends a lot of time talking about his war, working for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, telling his stories to politicians and college kids and whoever will listen.

Some people hear him. Most don't. "As long as this country has not been asked to make some meaningful sacrifice, this country will not know what this war really is," he says. "They'll keep going to Starbucks and talking about Paris Hilton."

Campbell doesn't believe in the war that the administration is fighting. He believes in a different war: "We need to be there because we knocked down the beehive, and now the bees are swarming all over."

Two years after coming home, "there are still times I feel so angry and I can't figure out why," he says. He still has outbursts. "No one comes home from war the person they left."

This Memorial Day, Campbell worries about passing the bar exam, and about the guys who are still over there, and about the order he expects to get any day now, sending him back to a place where there is no victory.

E-mail:marcfisher@washpost.com