With two wars underway and tens of thousands of American troops committed to missions around the globe, we focus this week's Smart Talk on the Impact of War. Our country's involvement in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan sends shockwaves that reverberate through families, schools, businesses, places of worship and all levels of government. They touch virtually every aspect of our community life. We are a nation of citizen-soldiers ... men and women called to duty who leave their families and jobs for a time to serve their country. Some of them come back. Some of them never do. And some of those who return are greatly altered emotionally, physically, spiritually by what they have undergone and witnessed in the field of combat. Their families and communities bear the scars and sacrifies of their deployment, as well. We owe this country's volunteer corps of servicemen and women and their families a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

WITF, in partnership with National Public Radio and other public radio stations around the state, is producing a series of reports called the Impact of War. The series details the effect the deployment of 4,000 Pennsylvania National Guard troops in Iraq has on them, their families and their communities. Scott Detrow, a reporter for WITF-FM 89.5 and Harrisburg bureau chief for Public Radio Capitol News, leaves next month for a three-week stay in Iraq with the Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team based in Camp Taji, about 20 miles north of Baghdad. The 56th deployed to Iraq in January after spending four months training at Fort Indiantown Gap and then at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. They are scheduled to return to the U.S. in September.

Two soldiers have been killed since the deployment began -- 20-year-old Specialist Chad Edmundson, from the Altoona area, died last week after being hit by an IED, and Staff Sgt Mark Baum of Quakertown, Bucks County was killed in February.

Detrow, who covered the Stryker Brigade training at the Gap and at Camp Shelby, has undergone training for reporters heading to a hostile environment. He seems awed to be on the verge of his first war-zone foray, "I had a very vivid moment driving from the airport to training when I thought, 'Wow. This is really happening. I'm flying to Iraq in a month and a half!'"

I asked Detrow, of the people he has met so far, who has had the most impact on him. Without hesitation, he noted First Lt. Sam Coover, a high school chemistry teacher from New Oxford. "Spending time with him and his kids at home really put the whole thing into perspective," Detrow explained. "This is a single dad who centers his life around his three children, and he had to say goodbye to them for a year. That situation, and Coover's willingness to open up and share his feelings about it, really brought home how much these deployments cut into people's lives. That's, if you will, the "impact" of the war--people have to put their lives on hold for an entire year. They press pause on their careers, their personal lives, their families, in order to go keep order in a country where most of the people don't seem to want them there. I've emailed back and forth with Coover a few times since the deployment began, and look forward to catching up with him once I get to Iraq."

Scott Detrow joins us Friday night at 8:30 to share his thoughts on the Impact of War and his upcoming reporting mission to Iraq. We'll be happy to pose your questions and comments to Scott at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .