Topic: PTSD

The Lore of Uncle Wally Leads a Family From Bagram to Meuse-Argonne

Uncle Wally’s service was lore. And the monument—erected in France—loomed in her imagination. A military spouse traces her family’s generations at war.
Sgt. Josh Wilkinson, a military police soldier with the 29th Military Police Company, Maryland Army National Guard, conducts a simulated shoplifting search during a Joint Multinational Readiness Center exercise rotation in Hohenfels, Germany, on Nov. 2. The soldiers are preparing to deploy to Kosovo. Photo by Sgt. Zachary M. Zippe, courtesy of the U.S. Army National Guard.

“Everybody We Deal With Is Trained to Kill”—Why Don’t We See Widespread Police Brutality in the Military?

Police brutality on military bases is rare but reports show that veterans are 2.9 times more likely to fire their weapons than civilian law enforcement.
An Iraqi man out on patrol with U.S. soldiers takes a break beneath a bridge. Photo by Nathan S. Webster.

A Journalist’s Favorite Image Mirrors a  Loss

A journalist learns of death that paralleled the moment he took his favorite picture.

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.”
Children from a nearby village pose for a photograph in Zharay district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, in 2012. Photo by Spc. Jason Nolte, courtesy of U.S. Army.

“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.

‘Time Heals Old Wounds. So Does a Bottle of Rum’

A father reconnects with his ex-wife during their son’s graduation from Army basic training. “I told her she was a good mother.”