Quil Lawrence
Quil Lawrence is a New York-based correspondent for NPR News, covering veterans' issues nationwide. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Award for his coverage of American veterans and a Gracie Award for coverage of female combat veterans. In 2019 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America honored Quil with its IAVA Salutes Award for Leadership in Journalism.
Lawrence started his career in radio by interviewing con men in Tangier, Morocco. He then moved to Bogota, Colombia, and covered Latin America for NPR, the BBC, and The LA Times.
In the Spring of 2000, a Pew Fellowship sponsored his first trips to Iraq 鈥� that reporting experience eventually built the foundation for his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Lawrence has reported from throughout the Arab world and from Sudan, Cuba, Pakistan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan for twelve years, serving as NPR's Bureau Chief in Baghdad and Kabul. He covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the second battle of Fallujah in 2004, as well as politics, culture, and war in both countries.
In 2012, Lawrence returned to the U.S. to cover the millions of men and women who have served at war, both recently and in past generations. NPR is possibly unique among major news organizations in dedicating a full-time correspondent to veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.
-
Suicide killed more U.S. troops last year than combat in Afghanistan, a trend that's likely to continue this year. The causes and remedies are complicated, but Fort Bliss in Texas has bucked the trend. Suicides have declined there, after implementation of an interactive suicide prevention program.
-
For many veterans in out-of-the-way locations, getting medical care at a VA facility can be expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient. Telemedicine is changing that, providing access to doctors over the Internet. -
More than 6,000 Alaska Natives served without pay in the Alaska Territorial Guard, a response to Japan's 1942 foray into the Aleutian Islands. Members were finally granted veterans status in 2000. Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to ensure that the elderly survivors get their rightful benefits. -
Twenty-two million Americans served in the military, but the vast majority are from the Vietnam and Korea generations. They're getting older now, and many live in rural or remote places like Alaska. -
According to Pentagon research, a quarter of all women who join the military are sexually assaulted during their careers. Many cases go unreported, and some victims say the perpetrator is a superior to whom they would have to report the assault. -
For years, the Army has effectively ignored the ban against women in combat, though it's still hard for them to receive full recognition for what they've achieved. "Battle-fatigued female soldiers" is a new and uneasy concept for American society. -
For many female veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, new battles await when they return home. They need help, just like men 鈥� with jobs, PTSD and reconnecting with family. But these issues can be harder for women. And the darkest side of women's military service persists: sexual assault. -
U.S. Army Spc. Tyler Jeffries lost both legs in a roadside bombing last October in Afghanistan, and he has been learning to walk on prosthetic legs. But Jeffries was determined to meet his buddies when they returned from duty in January. -
The man who allegedly killed former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield at a Texas firing range was also an Iraq War veteran, and the crime has raised questions about the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder 鈥� including whether a firing range is a safe place for a disturbed veteran. -
For the first time in a decade of war, more active-duty troops took their own lives this year than died fighting in Afghanistan. The national suicide hotline is one way the Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to help troops and vets.
