A combat Army officer reflects on what it means to be at war for your country and search for spiritual meaning.
Iraq
Posted inReflections
Finding My Calling While Treating a Casualty Inside Friendly Lines
He saw gore and death, but he also saved lives. There are certain things a former corpsman will never forget or take for granted.
Posted inReflections
The Stories I Share as a Woman Veteran
A former Army photojournalist and combat medic grapples with how much people should know about war.
Posted inReflections
The Suicide Bombing of December 21 and What Came After
A reporter’s journey through war, trauma and healing
Posted inReflections
From One Battle to Another. “A New Fight I Never Expected.”
A gunnery sergeant grapples with his love of deployments during a time when his family needs him at home.
Posted inReflections
Letters From War and Drawing “The Line Between Respect and Caution”
A former Army soldier grapples with an unresolved confessional to her late mother.
Posted inReflections
My Battle Buddy Was Always Smiling Before Losing His War to Suicide
J.P. Lawrence thought he knew his happy-go-lucky friend from deployment until he learned that Belland had struggled with addiction and died by overdose.
Posted inReflections
An Army Officer and the Wounded Girl in the Little Blue Jumper
Melissa Thomas held the little girl in her lap as their Humvee sped to meet the helicopter, uttering “English-nonsense” to keep the child from passing out.
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
“One Stinking, Terrifying Hell”—When Soldiers and Butterflies Go to War
Elizabeth O’Herrin found solace in writing about her war, and she wonders and wishes she could ask her grandfather if he felt relief in writing about his.
Posted inReflections
“We Owned the Night”—a Midnight Raid in Iraq With Screaming Banshees
Augusto Giacoman almost jumped for joy when he was assigned his first midnight raid, but what he saw that night quickly changed his mind.
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.
