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The War Horse
We Did Not Fight. This Was Our War, if You Could Call It That.
It is March of 2023. I am in a cafe watching the Iraq War’s early stages play out in short clips on a television mounted on the wall in front of me. Marines barge through doors in Fallujah, unsure if it is violent death or an empty room…
Veterans Who Are Food Insecure Are Less Likely to Seek Help Than Civilians
About eight years ago, Carl Davis stared at his bills and decided which ones not to pay. Without the financial jigsaw, he couldn’t afford food for his family. Davis, who has a 100% disability rating from Veterans Affairs for service-related…
The Things We Borrowed–I Didn’t Set out to Be in Nonprofit Black Market Supply With Whiskey as…
I steered the jeep off the dusty, rutted main road and rattled down a well-worn track until I beheld a bizarre juxtaposition of images: the silhouette of a thousand-year-old Hindu temple cheek by jowl with something resembling a porcupine…
We Forever Carry With Us the Good, Bad, and Ugly of Our Service and What We Learned From It
“Sean, can you go assist that gentleman outside? He was in the Marines too, so I figured you’d have something to bond over.”I rolled my eyes. This was my first job post-college, and I didn’t like advertising my service in the civilian…
Troops Weigh Leaving Service Over Lack of Care for Kids With Autism Under Tricare
For months, Rachele Adkins shelved suspicions that her second son, Benji, may be autistic. His hazel eyes drifted away from people, and in photos, he didn’t smile. At 20 months old, he still wasn’t speaking. Every child develops…
US Military Pledges Principled, Responsible Approach to Artificial Intelligence
Eden Stratton and Sonner KehrtThis past May, at a London summit hosted by the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society, the U.S. Air Force’s chief of AI test and operations brought up an unnerving scenario. He told the audience about a simulation…
I’m Finally Here at This Place Where I May or May Not Belong. I’m Ready to Find Out.
The fireplace crackles, just starting to warm the lodge’s lower-level living room on a quiet autumn evening in upstate New York. Someone lets loose a sigh, prompting me to look up and observe my company. Three others are cozied into their…
2023 War Horse Seminar Guides Gold Star Families in Healing Through Storytelling
In May, The War Horse hosted its sixth writing seminar, welcoming Gold Star children and siblings at Lucky Spur Ranch Retreat in Justin, Texas. Tailored to the unique needs of this cohort, this was The War Horse’s first hybrid seminar,…
Command Sergeants Major Built a Culture of Camaraderie, as Soldiers and as Black Women
Eden Stratton and Anne Marshall-ChalmersMelissa Jones never thought she would join the military. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, she planned to go to college as a full-time student. Her life changed when an Army recruiter appeared at her…
‘The System Is Not Built for You,’ VA Doctors Told Him. They Weren’t Wrong.
In the summer of 2015, some six months after exiting the Marine Corps, I took a run, not unlike hundreds before it. This time, though, I heard something snap in my back and collapsed to the ground. After five, maybe 10 minutes, I stood and…
Play Hard. Get Dirty. Use Good Saop.