11.   They chatted with college students who were hardened veterans of video games.

12.   Tom St. Dennis is a hardened veteran of the technology wars, with an industry resume that goes back two decades.

13.   With other so-called Afghan Arabs, he emerged from that conflict a hardened veteran, dedicated to a borderless, almost apocalyptic war against the perceived enemies of Islam.

14.   A hardened veteran, he has seen heads detached from ghost-white bodies, oozing stab wounds, corpses riddled with bullets, the stuff of horror films.

15.   Even such hardened veterans were moved by the display of personal items and the serene lake.

16.   Some of the Canadians were newcomers to northern Europe, but they were hardened combat veterans after a year of tough fighting in Italy.

17.   The intricacies of the elephant deal raise eyebrows even among the most hardened veterans of the utility-merger game.

18.   They became hardened veterans in jungle fighting and landings in the unruly lands of Central America.

19.   The remarkably gifted young man, already a hardened veteran after seven years of international cricket, has taken the highs and lows in his stride.