Gregorio Calixto, a Peruvian who was seriously injured while guarding a U.S. installation in Basra, says it’s been a struggle to find work in Lima and feels that he deserves more disability pay and medical treatment than he is getting. (Flor Ruiz / For The Times)
Calixto, 27, spent a month in U.S. and British hospitals in Iraq recovering from the shrapnel wound to his thigh. He uses a hearing aide after his left eardrum was punctured during the mortar shell attack. Although he has no complaints about his treatment in Iraq, he says it’s been hard getting help back in Peru. (Flor Ruiz / For The Times)
Calixto is shown on the streets of his working-class neighborhood in the outskirts of Lima, Peru. The former army sergeant says he has no regrets about going to Iraq and would like to learn English and become an accountant one day. (Flor Ruiz / For The Times)