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The War Horse
Years Later, VA Still Has Still Not Fulfilled Promise to Cover Gender-Affirming Care
Three years after Secretary Denis McDonough promised that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would begin covering gender-affirming surgery, that commitment has still not been met. And as anti-trans legislation continues to sweep the…
If There’s One Thing That Keeps Me Up at Night, It’s All the Ways What’s Inside Can Betray Us
So, why EMS?That question came up often in the first few months on the ambulance, and it was an understandable one. I worked part-time for the county’s 911 emergency response system while I completed a master’s degree in creative writing in…
Booted From the Army, He Spiraled. Now He Works to Solve the Veteran Homelessness Crisis.
On a foggy December morning, Dennis Johnson parks his Toyota Tacoma beneath an overpass in downtown Oakland, California. To his left is a homeless encampment so dense it spills off the sidewalk and into the streets.To his right is the…
The Day the Marines Asked the Army for Help, the Sun Rose in the West, and Hell Iced Over
On an October day in 1966, the sun rose in the west, a man was seen biting a dog, Hades reported ice storms—and the U.S. Marines asked the U.S. Army for help.Okay, the first three things didn’t happen. Normally, the Marine Corps is the most…
I Wanted My Life as a Mom Separate From My Work With Death. I Had to Make Room for Both.
The sun clung to the horizon at four p.m. that November day in Alaska. From my office, I quickly did the calculations—if I left now, I would have just enough time to scoop up my children from daycare and fit in 20 minutes of sledding before…
A Soldier Found Healing Outdoors. Now He Wants to Break Down Barriers for Others.
In 2013, U.S. Army Maj. Aaron Leonard led 12 soldiers from Fort Bliss on a five-day backpacking trip in Big Bend National Park in Texas, just over 300 miles away from their home base.“We were laying out one night on a mesa,” Leonard, a…
No One Makes It Through Underwater Demolition Team Training, They Said. They Were Wrong.
I grew up in Richland, Washington, and enrolled at Washington State University in the fall of 1959. By my junior year, I really wasn’t too happy there and didn’t think I was going to finish. Meanwhile, guys I knew were getting drafted left…
VA Hospitals Vulnerable to Extreme Weather as Climate Changes, Report Finds
On July 19, 2022, a soupy, relentless heat smothered Muskogee, Oklahoma. By four in the afternoon, the temperature spiked to 106 degrees. While the weather wasn’t completely unheard of, researchers say extreme heat events like this…
I’d Never Fly the Osprey Again. My Heart Was Broken, Yet Somehow Full at the Same Time.
June 9, 2022, started like any other day—I was up at five a.m. to get ready for work at Marine Aircraft Group 36 in Okinawa, Japan. At the end of my drive, I checked my phone and found a message from my good friend Teedha, my first flight…
In That Moment I Learned My Service to This Country Could Not Transcend My Skin Color
I still remember the blinding glare of police lights in my rearview mirror. My heart began to race as the white officer approached my vehicle. I knew I did nothing wrong, but still I clenched the wheel tightly to signal I was not a threat.…
Play Hard. Get Dirty. Use Good Saop.