Twenty years on and soldiers who served with US forces in Iraq are still reliving the horrific things they saw while fighting.
In 2003, American and British troops rolled into Iraq following an announcement from US President George W. Bush to begin the "early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger".
The promise of liberation and democracy could be less true than reality 20 years later.
One former soldier who served with the 101st Airborne division grew up on "Reagan era patriotism" explained his first taste of combat was far from glamorous.
Veteran Dana Krull told The Mirror: "My first experience of it as a midwestern kid raised on stars and stripes and apple pies and that Reagan era patriotism. And then the first when bullets flew was when a child was killed.
"That’s the thing that sticks with me the most."
His team had been on patrol at a time when the use of car bombs had really started to escalate and a car had started coming towards them at speed.
Dana said: "We thought was a car bomb coming at us. My guys responded as we should have but it was just a couple of guys with a kid was sitting in the middle.
"All we hear is a truck running towards us on this main road. So my guys opened fire but it was the child who bore the brunt of it. He died."
After seven months Dana left Iraq but the things he saw there stayed with him and scarred him in ways he couldn't forsee.
Unable to deal with what he was feeling he resorted to drinking heavily but his mental health only deteriated, damaging his relationships with his wife and family.
Dana explained: "I was on the verge of leaving everything. I had a passport, a burner phone and $2,000 of cash in my pocket. I was leaving. My goal was to go off the grid. i was like: 'I'm done with that bullshit'."
He said: "It was like a bad country song. I made a crazy plan. I booked a plane ticket, a train ticket, a bus ticket and I rented a car. I said after I finished work I would pick one and just leave.
"My marriage was in shambles, I felt like a failure as a husband and a father. I felt I went from hero to zero. I went from being in the Ranger regiment to a guy who couldn't even hold a job."
A lucky call from a friend set him towards a new path. He got in touch with K9s for Warriors, a charity that provides service dogs to veterans.
That's how he got given the black dog Spruce, who sat curled up next to Dana as he talked to the Mirror.
When the veteran's PTSD flairs up he can reach for his furry friend for solace.
He previously wrote: "Having this dog is a massive step towards feeling unconditionally loved, understood and supported when I feel alone (which has been often). These dogs save lives.”
Despite the progress Dana has now made with his mental health, certain things still trigger him.
He said: "Triggers have started to come in strange ways. 20 years later and part of it is probably because I have sons.
"As they reach the age of that kid. He would have been 30 something years old now. It brings me right back."
Part of Dana's struggle coming to terms with his mental health was him "not feeling broken enough", that others were more worthy of help
A spokesperson for K9s for Warriors explained this is a common feeling among veterans.
She told the Mirror: "So many veterans have told me that you guys don’t feel broken enough. There are soldiers worse off than me who did more, fought more, were more into combat and they feel like those soldiers who did ‘more’ they deserve it. That’s just not the case."
She continued: "We like to call it the invisible wounds of war. They are just as important. And they need to be treated. K9s for Warriors exists solely to end veteran suicide.
"It’s a crisis. It’s an epidemic. And we need to get to our soldiers and veterans before they think its too late."
In 2021, research found that 30,177 veterans who gave served in the military after 9/11 died by suicide. This is compared to the 7,057 service members killed in combat in that same time.
So far 844 veterans have graduated from K9s For Warriors with a service dog (we will have over 850 by next week) and currently we have 318 veterans waiting to receive a service dog right now."
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
