A Letter from Iraq: 2nd Lt. Ben Leonard

It’s Friday, the day we check in with a member of the 36-43rd company of the New Hampshire National Guard currently serving in Iraq.

They are guarding a detention center just outside Baghdad.

NHPR’s Mark Bevis spoke with 2nd Lieutenant Ben Leonard.

He and his wife live in Portland, Maine

Lt. Leonard’s been in the Guard since his junior year in high school.

He joined in order to be able to go to college.

And while he knew he might face active duty in a war zone, he never imagined he would be guarding a detention center.