A former Army soldier grapples with an unresolved confessional to her late mother.
Army
Posted inReflections
The Experience of Army Basic Training
How a new recruit learned what being in the Army truly meant and where he eventually found his way, sort of.
Posted inReflections
“I Was Still Pretending”—a Road Trip and Worry for a Little Boy
Searching for closure, a former Army Infantry officer travels to the gravesite of his platoon sergeant.
Posted inReflections
“Patriotism Was in”—Enlisting in the Military to Become a U.S. Army Ranger
Ross Cohen was trekking across Asia when the Twin Towers were attacked. When the call for war began, he cut short his planned year-long trip to sign up.
Posted inReflections
As a West Point Cadet, I Volunteered to Be “The Hot Sauce Man”
A midnight raid on a West Point dorm in which Augusto Giacoman was armed with hot sauce prepared him for war better than West Point’s rigid rules.
Posted inReflections
“Big Bombs. Boom.”—a Pistol, the Smart Girl, and a Tragedy
Michael Carson talked philosophy and tragedy in a Mosul coffee shop. Back in the U.S. he’s still asking questions for which there are no answers.
Posted inReflections
“I Thought You’d Be Bigger”—a Soldier and Irish Mist Adrift in the Fog of War
Brendan O’Byrne returned home from the Korengal to a chorus of civilians calling him a hero. For years he’s struggled to define that word for himself.
Posted inReflections
The Frog’s Revenge Came in the Form of Iraqi Rockets
Augusto Giacoman’s humanity was reduced to instinct as the rockets began to hit, and he understood how the frog he’d encountered as a child must have felt.
Posted inReflections
“My Eyes Welled up”—When the Purple Heart Weighs Heavy
Elizabeth O’Herrin handed the groggy patient his Purple Heart. Immediately, she worried she’d made a mistake, giving it to him so soon after his amputation.
