The Story

Adam Davis, an adjunct professor in Pittsburgh, taught eight science classes at three colleges, and has met with the United Steelworkers to talk about unionizing.

The U.S. began its official pull out from Iraq last month. Combat troops left at the end of the summer, a move hailed by President Obama as end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Over the years, we’ve followed what that war was like for an ordinary Iraqi family through the stories and audio diaries from Ahmed Fadaam. Today, we find out what Ahmed is seeing in his neighborhood in southeast Baghdad. Also: big world, short wave.

Today on The Story we're talking with people who were caught up in Haiti's earthquake, and with the people who have been helping.

On the day when voters are choosing a new leader, this is one story that's certain to inspire. Army Capt. Ivan Castro was on a rooftop in Iraq trying to secure a safer position for his unit when he was attacked by mortar rounds. Two soldiers under his command died in that attack, and Ivan sustained life-threatening injuries. After months of rehab and dozens of surgeries, Ivan was finally able to get out of bed and start walking on his own. But he had one injury that could not be fixed: Ivan lost his sight. But blindness has not stopped Ivan Castro from achieving his goals. He talks with Dick Gordon about how he made the decision to continue serving the nation as an officer in the Army's Special Forces. and, another in our series of stories about when politics became personal to our listeners.