Citation
Over the course of a year, Jesse Hamilton reported on the experiences of the Marines of Charlie Company before, during, and after their tour of duty in Iraq. He trained with them in the Mojave Desert, joined them on patrols and house-to-house raids in Fallujah, and stood with them in Arlington as they buried one of their own. Through their stories, Hamilton told the story of war and warriors. In simple, direct, and compelling prose, he showed Hartford Courant readers what Iraq looked like, what it smelled like, and what it felt like for Marine reservists from Connecticut called upon to fight.

Excerpt
Back From Fallujah, Looking for Normal
November 19, 2006
SOUTHINGTON - Here, the Marines seem younger, the years scrubbed from their faces, no trace of Fallujah on immaculate dress uniforms.
Like Rip Van Winkle's nap in reverse, the weary men of Charlie Company closed their eyes in Iraq and awoke a few weeks later in a sparkling Connecticut ballroom - well-dressed warriors returned to their prom days.
At the annual Marine Corps birthday ball, they fetch drinks for dates in formal gowns, and they joke with their buddies, and the evening glows. But it's not so easy to trade their war for lighter hearts. Not all have lowered their weapons or dropped their armor since returning to Connecticut in late October. Fallujah is still fresh, and it's hard for some to believe they have made it home.
The Marines' celebration is a surface thing, like the fancy uniforms dripping with new medals. Under that surface still breathes that ruined city in the desert and the marks it left on the Plainville-based troops from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines.
Beneath the left sleeve of Lance Cpl. Lino Torres' dress blues, a fresh tattoo on reddened skin - four names of men who won't grow any older. Beneath Lance Cpl. James Lauber's right pant leg, the stitched wreckage of his leg, dotted with angry scars. Beneath almost 23 years worth of medals on 1st Sgt. Ben Grainger's chest, a heart condition that almost separated him from his men. Almost.
And from beneath the lifted glasses, the shouted stories and the dance music, four names surface again and again. Christopher B. Cosgrove III. Kurt Dechen, Brian Letendre. And Jordan Pierson. Talk never strays far from the four who didn't survive Iraq.
Every Marine left something in Fallujah. Every Marine brought something home.

Biography
Jesse Hamilton has been writing about the military for The Hartford Courant since 2002. Before that, he worked at several newspapers in Washington state, winning a George Polk Award and an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award at the Yakima Herald-Republic for an investigation of the fighting of a forest fire that killed four wildland firefighters. He won the Society of Professional Journalists' feature-writing award for his account of a true-life murder mystery in a small town. In his career, he's also covered a tribal whale hunt, the fire that killed 100 in a Rhode Island nightclub, and three back-to-back hurricanes striking central Florida. Hamilton, 32, was born in Portland, Ore., and earned a B.A. degree from Western Washington University. He lives in Groton, Conn., with his wife, Audrey.