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 — 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.
-
For the first time since 1996, both major parties have picked a veteran for vice president — a fact that some veterans' groups are hoping it leads to greater understanding of military and vet issues.
-
NPR identified two Trump staffers involved in an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery including a deputy campaign manager, highlighting a disconnect between Trump's messaging and his campaign.
-
The statement Thursday comes in response to NPR's reporting on former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington and an altercation his staff had with a cemetery employee.
-
Many U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan and Iraq wars are interred in this solemn place. It made news after a cemetery official tried to prevent former President Trump’s campaign from taking photos.
-
The cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried, a source with knowledge of the incident told NPR.
-
Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz are both vets, but Vance has taken digs at Walz's service, accusing the Minnesota governor of one of the most grievous charges possible in military circles.
-
JD Vance is the first veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan to appear on a presidential ballot. But he isn’t a hawk; he leads a contingent of war veterans in the GOP who oppose U.S. military intervention overseas.
-
The 20-year-old gunman came within a matter of inches of killing the former president, but investigators are still struggling to understand what may have motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks.
-
President Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon on Wednesday morning to LGBTQI+ service members removed from the military because of their sexual orientation/gender identity.
-
For hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and their families, when the Pentagon orders them to find health care off base there is none.