Topic: Healthcare

Point of Impact: An Untold Story of Escape From the Pentagon on 9/11 and the Forever Wars That Followed

When Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, the Marine Corps and Defense Department prepared for war. Two decades later, this is that story of service and sacrifice.

A Tramadol Overdose, Delivered by Mail. “I Was Addicted. It Was Easy to Get Them.”

The drug abuse began when the military prescribed Tramadol for back pain. Then the VA mailed him bottles of pills. Until he overdosed in front of his kids.

At Basic Training, Dad Was Sent to an Iron Chamber. It Was Filled with Mustard Gas

A secret testing program sent an entire trainee company to the hospital.
Johnnie Gilpen, left, works in the emergency room for children at Oklahoma University’s Health Sciences Center with Dr. Ryan Brown. Photo courtesy of the author.

Corpsman-Turned-Covid-19 Frontliner: Delta Isn’t a “Political Stunt”

"Why did you fall asleep at the wheel?” My answer: It’s a pitfall of being a juggler in the largest ongoing circus in the world—the Covid-19 pandemic.
Soldiers at Camp Funston, Kansas, are quarantined while recovering from the Spanish flu in 1918. The flu infected about 500 million people around the world. Photo courtesy National Archives.

Past Pandemics Devastated the U.S. Military, Teaching Lethal Lessons

It was an opportunistic disease. It chose no side in the conflict. The military had a public health emergency on its hands with few tools to fight it.
Anne Boaden, her daughter, and her son in May. Photo courtesy of the author.

From Deployment to Homecoming. And a Pregnancy During Lockdown.

Four days after he returned home from deployment, our first lockdown in England began. We went from extreme separation to extreme togetherness.
Members from the 15th Medical Group host an open house for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, in 2018. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Heather Redman, courtesy U.S. Air Force.

“The Enemy Is Lurking in Our Bodies”—Women Veterans Say Toxic Exposure Caused Breast Cancer

As the last troops leave the “forever wars,” doctors say they’re seeing more women veterans with breast cancer—younger than the national average.
Brett and Whitney Foley on their wedding day. Photo courtesy of the author.

The Five Essentials of Storytelling. A Survivor’s (Excerpt) Guide to Writing about Trauma

David Chrisinger teaches The War Horse’s writing seminars, the preeminent professional development program for veterans and military spouse writers.
U.S. service members were intentionally exposed to toxic agents, such as nitrogen mustard, during World War II. Photo courtesy of the Naval Research Laboratory.

Exposed: Burn Pits May Force the Military to Acknowledge Generations of Poisoned Veterans

Since World War II, the military has poisoned countless service members through toxic exposures and secret testing.