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. iReport.com: Send your salute to troops



"So my life is slowing down," Tucker said. "But I enjoy the slow pace."



But he hasn'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 don'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.  Watch former VP Cheney discuss Iraq war strategy »



"I think we are in too deep to pull out," Tucker said. "You can'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
Where is the officer living with injuries from the Iraq war from? What is the age of the colleague being called back into service? What Veteran is skeptical about plans to pull out of Iraq? Savannah police officer lives with the physical and mental injures from the Iraq war? In which war was the police officer injured? What are his feelings about pulling out of Iraq? What are the injuries he lives with?
SAVANNAH, Georgia 26, Chris Tucker suffers Iraq, "I think we are in too deep to pull out," hearing, back, foot problems and still has nightmares.
question: Where is the officer living with injuries from the Iraq war from?, answer: SAVANNAH, Georgia | question: What is the age of the colleague being called back into service?, answer: 26, | question: What Veteran is skeptical about plans to pull out of Iraq?, answer: Chris Tucker | question: Savannah police officer lives with the physical and mental injures from the Iraq war?, answer: suffers | question: In which war was the police officer injured?, answer: Iraq, | question: What are his feelings about pulling out of Iraq?, answer: "I think we are in too deep to pull out," | question: What are the injuries he lives with?, answer: hearing, back, foot problems and still has nightmares.