The U.S.: War and the Economy

Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post
Ian Fisher has second thoughts as he cradles his injured elbow during processing into the United States Army, June 20, 2007. His decision to join the Army had grown out of many things: the opportunity to fight for his country, the desire to add to his family's military legacy and the need to point his life in a productive direction. But, from his first day in fatigues through his tour in Iraq, military life often didn't mesh with his expectations.

Charles Ommanney, Getty Images
Barack H. Obama meditates backstage at the Capitol before being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Earlier that morning, the President-elect had listened to President Bush's parting words at the White House before making the short drive to the Capitol, where more than a million people were waiting on the National Mall. The first African-American to be elected president, Obama, 47, was poised to inherit two wars, a recession and rising unemployment. In his inaugural speech, he would say, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America."

Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post
Ian Fisher's father, Eric, waits in the driveway with the recruiter who will take Ian to 14 weeks of basic training, as Fisher embraces friends Nick "Buddha" Nelson, left, and Shane "Pineapple" Doiel. Between hugs, Fisher's eyes welled with tears. "As soon as we saw him driving off," Nelson says, "that's when we realized how real it was."

Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post
Ian Fisher, right, waits for a medical exam with other Army recruits at the Denver Military Entrance Processing Station on June 18, 2007. Over the next three days, Fisher would fill out forms, stand in formation, and join in the constant repetition of the Soldier's Creed: "I am an American Soldier. I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."

Manpreet Romana, Agence France-Presse
U.S. Marine Sergeant Anthony Zabala of 1st Combat Engineering Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, runs to safety as an improvised explosive device (IED) explodes in the Garmsir district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, July 13, 2009. A foot patrol was advancing when the blast shot a cloud of dust and rocks into the sky, killing Sergeant Michael W. Heede and Staff Sergeant David S. Spicer.

Adam Ferguson, Time Magazine
Specialist Codey Johnson cries by the side of Specialist T. J. Fecteau in the Tangi Valley, Wardak Province, Afghanistan, September 8, 2009. Fecteau was injured during an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on his mine- resistant ambush-protected vehicle. The Tangi Valley, on the doorstep of Kabul, had become a hotbed of insurgency and had not seen a permanent coalition force until the arrival of the U.S. Army's 102-man Apache Company on July 12, 2009. In early August, Apache Company saw 26 soldiers injured and one killed in action, all from IEDs.

Victor J. Blue, The Stockton Record
Private First Class Lonnie Carter of 3rd Platoon Delta Company, 2-87 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, searches an Afghan man before he and his family can pass through a U.S. position in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, on June 10, 2009. The first wave in the Afghan surge, the 3rd Brigade's mission is to turn the tide in the face of a revived Taliban insurgency.

Shannon Stapleton, Reuters
Eric Lipps, 52, waits in line to enter the NYCHires Job Fair in New York on December 9, 2009. U.S. employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, confounding expectations that the labor market was finally stabilizing and piling pressure on President Barack Obama to spur job growth.

Renée C. Byer, The Sacramento Bee
Third-grader Devin Bryson, 8, and kindergartener Elizabeth Bryson, 6, both students at Matsuyama Elementary School, shout in support of teachers at the State Capitol in Sacramento, California, on Friday March 13, 2009. Public school teachers gathered outside the Capitol after school hours to protest the estimated 25,000 preliminary layoffs of teachers, librarians and other staff statewide due to cuts in education funding. Many demonstrators dressed in pink to call attention to the pink slips. The California Teachers Association blasted the unusually high number of cuts as school districts tinkered with their budgets in the hopes of limiting layoffs.

John Moore, Getty Images
Hotel property manager Paul Martinez kicks in a tenant's door after no one answered the knock during an eviction on February 26, 2009 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The tenant, Rocki Holmes, says he was laid off from his job in a retail store two months earlier, causing him to fall behind on his rent payments at the low-budget hotel.

John Moore, Getty Images
Neighbors comfort Harvey Lesser, 58, after he was evicted from his apartment on December 11, 2009 in Boulder, Colorado. Lesser, an unemployed software developer suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic back problems, says he could not afford to make his rent payment the previous month, which led to the eviction. Since being laidoff by IBM, Lesser's savings, including his retirement, has been exhausted due to living expenses and his $700-a-month health insurance premium.

John Moore, Getty Images
Mary Ann Smith collects her belongings after an eviction team removed the furniture from her foreclosed house in Adams County, Colorado, on February 2, 2009. Smith says she and her husband had been renting from the house's owner, who collected the monthly payments but had stopped paying his mortgage. The bank foreclosed on the property and called the Adams County sheriff's department to supervise the eviction. The Smiths managed to borrow enough money to rent another house for themselves and their four children, but not in time to avoid eviction.

Ruth Fremson, The New York Times
Thousands of people receive free dental services at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on August 12, 2009. People waited in line for days to participate in the free, eight-day medical clinic set up by Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit organization that provides no-cost treatments using volunteer doctors and dentists. Set in an arena, cleanings, drillings and tooth extractions took place out in the open.

Steven Day, Associated Press
Passengers wait to be rescued on the wings of US Airways jetliner that safely landed on the Hudson River after birds knocked out both of its engines, January 15, 2009.

Barbara Davidson, Los Angeles Times
Jessica Alvarado fixes her Quinceañera dress on a blood stained sidewalk next to a memorial honoring tamale vendor Cosme Gonzaleza, who was robbed and killed in front of her Los Angeles home.