Death first appeared in my life when I yelled, “Take cover!” Sirens wailing in the distance, flak vest slipping off my shoulder, I ran for the nearest bunker in the darkness. Barely 18 hours in-country. I hadn’t fully unpacked, butI knew the location of every bullet in my magazine, felt them digging into my chest. […]
Afghanistan
Posted inNewsroom
A Veteran’s Search for Healing Led to an Ibogaine Trip and an Epiphany: ‘I’ve Got to Let It Go’
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Marc Dervaes sat straight-backed in a circle of 10 men at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. The glass window behind him looked out on a pool deck and the Pacific Ocean beyond. Inside, sunglasses masked his eyes and a beard grew down to his chest. His blank […]
Posted inReflections
‘The Dog Chooses the Human.’ He is the Anchor that Brings Me Back from the Demons of War
Navy veteran credits his dog with helping him manage his complex post-traumatic stress disorder after deployment to Afghanistan.
Posted inReflections
The Country We Loved Didn’t Love Us Back. Maybe This Time Would Be Different.
I remember being taken in by our neighbors, how they embraced my family and introduced us to football, fireworks, and the spirit of America.
Posted inNewsroom
The Story Behind Operation Pineapple Express, a Daring Rescue Effort in Afghanistan
“Veterans know something the politicians don’t. ‘I have your back’ means something. Our failure to honor that promise is way bigger than the moral issue.”
Posted inReflections
An Afghan Boy Saved Lives Helping American Soldiers. It Could Have Cost Him His.
We began to hope that Bashir was the first of many young Afghans to see the benefits of supporting the coalition and the Afghan government by extension.
Posted inReflections
My Afghan Interpreter Earned His U.S. Citizenship. Then He Left.
He served with Marines and earned U.S. citizenship. His wife’s was denied. Now, they wait in Kabul, for the Taliban or her visa—whichever arrives first.
Posted inReflections
The Sorrow and Defeat of Watching the Taliban Reclaim Afghanistan
While deployed, she thought she’d seen the worst of war. Now, as the Taliban reclaims Afghanistan, she worries about the children living under their rule.
Posted inNewsroom
From Death Threats to a French Dandy, Afghan Contractors Abandoned by the U.S. Struggle to Find Asylum Abroad
The Taliban wants him dead. Because he worked for the Americans. But he didn’t ask for help from the people he saved by throwing away everything he had.
Posted inReflections
“I Screamed Into My Radio to Ignore the Order”—Pardoned Soldier’s Comrade Still Lives With Guilt of Murdered Civilians
When Clint Lorance ordered his men to kill innocent civilians in Afghanistan, the soldiers came home and struggled to assuage their feelings of guilt.
Posted inReflections
The Army Medic in the Hole
“I can’t believe this is how I’m going to die,” thought an Army medic after falling down a well. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. No one is going to rescue us.”
Posted inNewsroom
“It’s so inaccurate”—How the VA Is Failing to Track Veterans Burn Pit Claims
VA figures show an astonishingly low rate of approval of burn pit claims: Of the 10,588 claims, 2,360 veterans had their benefits granted and 8,228 were denied.
