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The War Horse
I Lost One of My Marines to Suicide. Maybe Being Honest About My Blind Spots Will Help.
I couldn’t bring myself to go into his barracks room and view the body. I stood just outside the door, one in an endless row of identical entrances on the second deck, as the NCIS agent described the scene inside.“Go straight back into the…
More Than 40% of Troops Face Limited or No Access to Abortion Care, Study Shows
When J, a Marine Corps reservist, served on active duty during the troop surge in Iraq, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant just a couple of months before her unit was set to deploy. At first, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. But…
All Warfare Is Based on Deception—Troops, Vets Targeted by Disinformation Can Fight Back
Type “#MilTok” into the search bar on TikTok and you’ll be greeted with page after page after page of military videos. Soldiers trash-talking sailors. Sailors trash-talking soldiers. Military memes, uniform hacks, service members waxing…
We Saluted Under the Night Sky. Each New Loss Felt Harder Than the One Before.
On the night of April 3, 2012, we stood in near-complete darkness as a stretcher rolled by. I was among dozens of soldiers who gathered to salute the remains of the first soldier killed in action since our unit arrived in east Afghanistan…
Troops, Veterans Are Targets in the Disinformation War, Even if They Don’t Know It Yet
In the summer of 2015, active-duty troops began to arrive in Bastrop, Texas, for a military training exercise. The exercise wasn’t much different from previous joint training exercises, except perhaps for its size. Over the course of two…
Can I Be Like the Hummingbirds, With the Strength to Fight Another Day?
I watch a hummingbird chase a grackle into the treetops. At first glance, I think it’s being chased by a large, fast-flying insect. The mangy grackle looks like it’s been through hell and shouts a warning that sounds like it’s choking on a…
Wounded Knee Massacre ‘Tarnishes’ Integrity of Medal of Honor
When Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele, a lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii Air National Guard, thinks about the men, women, and children massacred by the U.S. Army more than a century ago at Wounded Knee, it brings home memories of other wrongs.In 1893,…
Invisible Service–Military Families Bear Burden of American Freedom
With some trepidation, I raised my right hand and joined the Army in 1976. I told myself I did it to pay for college, but there were probably other reasons—a sense of duty and a nagging obligation to pay back the debt I owed to generations…
Preying on Patriots—Scams More Likely to Target Troops, Vets
Go Navy Tax Services seemed like a great option for sailors looking for help during tax season. Situated just outside the gates of Naval Base San Diego, one of the country’s biggest Navy bases, it was local, it was convenient, it was…
Firefly Friends Guided Me out of the Darkness of Formidable Loss
It was one of those rare moments—when your heart is filled to the brim with so much happiness that it feels as if it could burst in an instant. The explosion itself would be magnificent: golden glimmers of joy twinkling in the air you could…
Play Hard. Get Dirty. Use Good Saop.