Specialist Justin Cliburn deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the Oklahoma Army National Guard. His job was to train the Iraqi police in Baghdad.

When he sat down for StoryCorps with his wife, Deanne, he told her about his friendship with a young Iraqi boy named Ali.

On Veterans Day 2014, StoryCorps released a series of animated shorts from our Military Voices Initiative—including one of Justin’s story.

Click here to watch “The Nature of War.”

Originally aired November 10, 2012, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.