Josh Koch enlisted in the National Guard seven months before 9/11. On Friday, he spoke about his military service at Valparaiso’s annual Veterans Day program.

In 2005, he deployed to Iraq with the 113th Engineer Battalion.

“I was 21 years old. Young, uncertain and unaware of what lay ahead, I didn’t know what to expect, but I know I didn’t expect Mosul to be the size of Washington, D.C., with a population of Houston, Texas. It was a city full of life and full of danger,” Koch said.

Before going to Iraq, he was stationed in Kuwait.

“While eating dinner at the base in Kuwait, the news happened to be on, and they were reporting on a suicide bomber who detonated their vest in the chow hall at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people, one of the deadliest attacks on a

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