On CNN 's `` State of the Union , '' host and chief national correspondent John King goes outside the Beltway to report on the issues affecting communities across the country . This week , King traveled to Georgia to learn about the toll military service is taking on two veterans . Chris Tucker , who served three tours in Iraq , suffers from hearing , back , foot problems and still has nightmares . SAVANNAH , Georgia ( CNN ) -- As his tank rolled into Baghdad in April 2003 , Chris Tucker mounted his camera to capture the moment . `` It 's history ; we made history , '' he told CNN back then . `` It 's my first war , hopefully my last war . '' He could not have imagined then that six years later , Iraq would still be a combat zone . `` I thought we would get there quick and handle our business and we 'd be out , '' Tucker told us this week . `` At least , that 's what we were told anyway . '' Tucker received a medical discharge from the Army last year and he now is Officer Chris Tucker of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department . `` You still get to serve your community and your country in other ways , '' he said . At age 26 , he is a veteran of three combat tours . The patrol skills he learned on the streets of Baghdad , Fallujah and Sadr City come in handy as he drives his police cruiser around the neighborhoods of his Savannah precinct . `` Some people -- you will be moving around the corner and they will just run , '' Tucker said as he drove his cruiser . `` And you can tell they are favoring one side -- maybe they have a gun . '' He loves his new job , and the joys of fatherhood . His daughter Callie was born three months ago . `` So my life is slowing down , '' Tucker said . `` But I enjoy the slow pace . '' But he has n't left it all behind . As the war hits the six-year mark , Tucker is part of a history -- and a legacy -- still being written as the military tries to better understand the depth of the damage to those exposed repeatedly to the violence . `` I still have the nightmares and wake up and find myself downstairs and I do n't know how I got there , '' Tucker said . `` I still see and dream the same things . ... Faces . Kids ' faces . People that you have engaged or you have had contact with . ... You see your colleagues blown up . Things like that . '' He left the Army with a sour taste . He was sent back for his third tour despite the nightmares , depression , major hearing loss and painful injuries to his back and both feet . Then , the Army decided to give him a medical discharge for his back issues even though Tucker believes he could have recovered with rehabilitation . But he tries not to dwell on his frustration . `` I try to distance myself from it as much as I can , because for me , the more I think about it , the more I reflect on what happened and what we did , the more I think the dreams and the nightmares actually come back . '' Tucker is as tired of the Iraq war as anyone , but his experience tells him things can suddenly take a turn for the worse , and so he is skeptical of President Obama 's promise to get most combat troops out of Iraq by August 2010 . `` I think we are in too deep to pull out , '' Tucker said . `` You ca n't just commit the way we committed and then say , 'OK , we are done . ' ... Politics should not be involved in the way the war is handled . '' There will be no more tours for Tucker , but a colleague on the Savannah-Chatham force will soon deploy for his first Iraq tour , and is being ribbed around the precinct , by Tucker and others , as `` the grandpa going off to war . '' Police Cpl . Randy Powell is 50 years old and became a grandfather just last week . Watch Tucker and Powell tell their stories » . Powell served nearly 20 years ago in the Persian Gulf War , then in 1992 took an early retirement package when the Army was downsizing after the war . The deal required him to stay on what the military calls the IRR -- the Individual Ready Reserve -- but even as troops were sent to Afghanistan after 9/11 and then to Iraq for repeat combat tours , Powell heard nothing . Then last year , nearly 15 years after leaving the military , he was told to report to a local Reserve center . Another request came in January of this year . Both times , after some perfunctory paperwork , Powell was sent home . But when he returned home from work one day last month , an overnight letter from the Army had arrived with orders that he was being activated for an Iraq deployment . First , starting next month , he 'll have refresher training on radar systems at Fort Jackson in South Carolina . `` They 're kind of shocked , '' Powell said of his family . But there are no complaints from Powell -- to the contrary . `` I still feel I am fully capable of being a soldier , '' he told us outside at his police precinct . `` Once a soldier , always a soldier . I find that it 's an honor to serve within the military . I enjoyed the military while I was in . Kind of looking forward to getting back in the groove . ''
Savannah police officer lives with physical , mental injuries from Iraq war . Veteran is skeptical about plans to pull out of Iraq . 50-year-old colleague on force is being called back into service . He 's not complaining -- `` Once a soldier , always a soldier , '' he says .