Check out A LONG WAY GONE by Ishmael Beah from the READ FOR A LIFETIME list

Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered Sierra Leone, Africa rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, forced to be a soldier and found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At 15 he is brought to a rehabilitation center sponsored by UNICEF and is on his way back to civilian life only to be caught up in the war again. ~from the HS library lady