Photo courtesy Stephanie James
Army Sgt. Stephanie James poses with two Iraqi boys during her tour of duty.
This story is about two young women who've never met. Christina Penrod, a Mahomet widow, and Stephanie James, a recent UI graduate and Army sergeant, have seen their lives stamped, shaped and unalterably changed by the events in a scorched part of the faraway Middle East called Iraq.
The full story is available in our paid story archive.