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.
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In an interview with NPR, Secretary for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie said the department was ready to deploy if called on to help with the coronavirus pandemic response. -
Veterans are warning that the Department of Veterans Affairs has not resolved serious flaws in the way the program is administered. -
President Trump's attack on the late Sen. John McCain included an inaccurate claim about McCain's role in reforming the VA. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., called Trump's remarks "deplorable." -
Congress told the VA to expand its caregiver program to include pre-Sept. 11 vets, but the VA has failed to meet a deadline in the law. -
Veterans who were kicked out of the military often get no VA health care or benefits — even if combat trauma caused their misbehavior. Connecticut has passed a law to change that. -
Army Maj. D.J. Skelton was grievously wounded in Iraq, yet managed to return to active duty and command a platoon in Afghanistan. He taught the Pentagon the continuing worth of wounded troops. -
Former Army Sgt. John Toombs was thrown out of the residential drug treatment program at a Veterans Affairs center and then killed himself. -
Nico Walker is currently in federal prison for bank robbery. That's given him plenty of time to write his semi-autobiographical novel Cherry, which has received glowing advance reviews. -
Heath Phillips is one of those getting an upgrade once thought impossible. He had accepted a lesser discharge to avoid court-martial with "no clue" it would cut him off from jobs and veterans' aid. -
An NPR investigation last year revealed that a number of VA centers were ejecting hundreds of caregivers from the program. The VA promised reform, but a year later few have returned to the program.
