The world has changed in the 10 years since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, but the change did not happen on its own. It took the lives and sacrifices of brave people, like Lance Cpl. Taylor B. Prazynski, who was killed fighting for the country he love. “It seems our world has changed without a doubt,” said Fairfield’s John Prazynski, whose son was killed in Iraq on May 9, 2005. “I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody.

“It’s very, very bittersweet for anybody to die at the age of 20. But we couldn’t be more…I’m sorry, I’m struggling looking for the right words…we are still thankful for his service and sacrifice.”

Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but the legacy of the divisive combat mission remains unclear, given the significant economic and human costs.

The war directly cost an estimated $823 billion, and it also cost more than 4,400 American troops their lives, including more than 20 soldiers from across southwest Ohio.

Another 2,200 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan, which is in its twelfth year of American involvement.

Local residents said the troops who fought in the “wars on terror” enlisted because they love their country and believe in protecting it. Some troops said they helped eliminate despotic leaders and regimes and liberate oppressed people.

But some families and veterans said they are ambivalent about the wars, because of the lives lost or damaged, and the lack of realistically obtainable objectives.

“My uncle had been wounded in Vietnam and lost his right leg, and he had all sorts of trouble, so I always thought we kind of knew what it was to suffer from war,” said Cindy Pyeatt, whose son, Cpl. Lucas T. Pyeatt, was fatally wounded in Afghanistan. “But that was until my son was killed.”

How it began

A coalition of forces, led by the United States, invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, after Saddam Hussein and his sons refused to comply with President George W. Bush’s demands to surrender and flee the country.

Bush administration officials said pre-emptive war against Iraq was necessary to extinguish an imminent threat. Later, some information used to justify going to war — including the threat of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction — was proven wrong.

More than 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq between March 2003 and December 2011, when the last troops withdrew, according to White House estimates. But about 4,488 troops did not return home alive, while more than 32,221 returned with injuries.

Over the last decade, 17 service members from Butler County have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Pfc. Marlin Rockhold, 23, of Hamilton, who was killed by a sniper on May 8, 2003, while directing traffic at a bridge in Baghdad; and Lance Cpl. William “Billy” Spencer, 20, of Paris, Tenn., whose father and stepmother live in Middletown, was killed Dec. 28, 2006, in Fallujah, Iraq when he attempted to rescue his commander, who was ambushed and killed in a street by a sniper.

When Spencer, a member of the Marine Forces Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Divisions, dropped out of college and decided to join the Marines with five of his closest friends, he told his parents there was “something bigger out there” for him.

His parents, Dave and Dawn Spencer, have praised their son’s patriotism and saluted the military efforts whenever they have attended ceremonies. The back of Dave Spencer’s truck is painted with a portrait of his son, and a stretch of Ohio 73 will be named in his memory.

John Prazynski feels the pain of losing a son. But now, nearly eight years since his son’s death, Prazynski, 50, said he focuses on the freedoms that are still “worth defending.”

He often thinks of the other families that share his same heartbreak, whether their loved one was killed or suffered serious injuries. He also thinks about the men and women who stood up and said: “Send me.”

He was asked about the years, the sleepless nights since his son was killed.

“It seems like yesterday and forever ago at the same time,” he said.

Then, just as quickly, he added: “I feel truly blessed and thankful in spite of the loss. My heart is broken, completely broken. But I know God wouldn’t put me in this position without my understanding and faith that I will see him again.”

About 2.5 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many have served more than one tour. Many soldiers were deployed to both war zones.

Serving country

Beth Shanks, of Hamilton, is thankful her son, Colton Brown, 24, served only one tour in Iraq. When Brown was over there, he contracted a virus that hospitalized him for more than one month, and eventually led to him being sent at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for additional medical treatment.

“Compared to some other kids who lost their lives or limbs, he’s going to be OK,” his mother said.

Brown, a 2005 Badin High School graduate, recently was promoted to sergeant and he’s stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, N.C., his mother said.

She said that regardless of people’s military beliefs, they should support the service members and their families.

Some local military service members and their family members have contradictory feelings over the Iraq war and ongoing conflict.

The atrocities committed against innocent people in the Middle East and Afghanistan partly motivated Lucas Pyeatt, 24, of West Chester Twp., to serve in the Marines, his family said.

‘It needs to be over’

Pyeatt was killed by an improvised explosive device on Feb 5, 2011, during an ambush in the Helmand province, Afghanistan. He felt obligated to serve his country, and he was an extremely smart and empathetic person, said his mother, Cindy Pyeatt.

His family later discovered in his car a copy of an August 2010 issue of Time magazine. The magazine’s cover is a photograph of a teenage Afghan woman whose nose and ears were cut off by her husband.

Pyeatt was deeply troubled by such cruelty and wanted to fight oppression, his mother said.

“That kind of stuff really affected him, because he loved his sister, and he loved his niece, and he couldn’t imagine someone being vile or vicious to them, just because they are females,” Cindy Pyeatt said.

Cindy Pyeatt said it is sad that so many bright and promising U.S. service members have been seriously harmed or killed fighting in a part of the world that continues to reject democracy and attempts to help them build a free and stable society.

“I just think it needs to be over,” she said. “I think it’s ridiculous, because these people over there don’t want to change, and they had every opportunity to change.”

Bill Back, 81, a Korean veteran from Trenton, has similar feelings. His grandson, Shawn Sewell, of Monroe, has served two tours in Iraq and he’s a drill sergeant at Fort Benning in Georgia.

“I just think our hands are tied over there,” Back said while sitting at the American Legion in Middletown, where he serves on the Combined Honor Guard. “We just messed around and we didn’t let them fight it. What are we going to get out of it? I don’t understand why we fight their wars. It’s about time we serve ourselves.”