Iowa town drained by war

The signs of war were everywhere. The town’s oldest barber lost almost half his regulars. The Pufferbilly Days Parade needed new volunteers. Only nine holes had been finished on the new championship golf course. The city administrator tried to help this central Iowa town of 13,000 cope with the hundreds of National Guard members who were called away to serve their country. But then his own phone rang. “Just the look on his face, I knew,” said Connie Trout, his wife. “My stomach just turned. He said, `I got the call.'” Boone has always been a National Guard town. Everyone knows someone who belongs — a son, a cousin, a sister’s boyfriend, a mother’s neighbor. A major training center is just outside town and it has called up at least 400 people from the area. But over the past two years, fueled by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nature of the Guard has changed. These soldiers are no longer leaving for weeks at a time to help communities hit by tornadoes and floods. Now they are on the front lines of fighting overseas. Full Story