The 17-year-old Edgewood High School senior said he has already enlisted, but cannot leave before he turns 18 after graduation next year.

"It was definitely informative. I learned a lot,'' Earls said Tuesday after Nickles spoke to seniors in the Butler County school. "He persuaded me a little more."

Nickles, 28, has been in the Army much of the past 10 years. He re-enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks three years ago. He served in Baghdad and Kuwait as part of a Middletown-based military police National Guard unit.

"It's a lot calmer than what you see on television,'' Nickles said. "It's not perfect. You don't see the schools or hospital we rebuilt.''

The worst of the fighting, he said, centered on a 50- to 100-mile area around Baghdad where al-Qaida fighters were entrenched. Mortar and rocket attacks were daily occurrences.

Nickles said since returning to the United States at the end of July, he has been speaking with school groups around the state about his experience, bringing with him pictures, his helmet, currency and other reminders of Iraq.

"He's young and he's able to relate to the kids,'' said Bonnie Nickles, his sister-in-law and an English teacher. "We do a war unit and I wanted the students to get the perspective of someone who had been in war."

Jessica Gibson, 17, said she enjoyed listening to Nickles.

"I never talked to anyone before (who had been in Iraq). I always had the impression all Iraqis were mean and never talked. I was surprised when he said he was friends with an Iraqi."

E-mail suek@infionline.net