(CNN) -- Col. Kevin Brown stood tall and proud and often ventured "outside the wire" with his soldiers in Baghdad. Under the sizzle of the Iraqi sun, I watched him meticulously pin medals on their uniforms. When he retired in 2011, he walked the Appalachian Trail to clear his head and began a tough Ph.D. program in security studies at Kansas State University. A stellar military career in hand, Brown had his life on track. Except for one thing. He harbored an emptiness within, the kind that rushes in after a hard-fought, 15-month combat tour ends. He felt responsible, still, for the lives he touched at war.
@highlight
Col. Kevin Brown had wondered about Noor, the Iraqi baby his soldiers helped save
@highlight
A CNN story about Baby Noor struck a chord with him
@highlight
Brown helped deliver donations from America for the disabled girl
@highlight
He did not want the "miracle" of Baby Noor left unfinished
After six months, in June 2006, she was returned to @placeholder, where life is not easy for anyone and even less so for a poor family caring for a child with special needs.
But in @placeholder, long after the Americans left Iraq, Noor was struggling to survive, to even feel joy.