Browsing Category
The War Horse
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.…
Trump Sketches Future of US Military—Hunting Cartels, Quelling Unrest, and Immigrant Detention Camps
Military officials, Donald Trump told a crowd at a rally in Iowa this past October, are “some of the dumbest people I ever met in my life.”It wasn’t the first time the Republican front-runner and former president offered his opinions on…
My Family Took the Straight-and-Narrow Path. Why Was I the One to Diverge?
“You know what’s crazy?” I said. “I’m turning the same age you were when you went to war.”“Oh wow,” my mom said, nodding thoughtfully from the couch. Then, “Wait, you’ll be 35?”I laughed from where I reclined on the floor, stretching my…
VA’s Work to End Veteran Homelessness Is a Nationwide Model. Can It Translate for Civilians?
In late January, groups of volunteers around the country set out on foot and in vehicles in search of individuals experiencing homelessness. The goal: Get a sense of how many people are living outdoors or in shelters in their own…
Mac Was My Hero. I Never Told Him. I’m Sure He Never Knew.
William (Mac) McKissick was my hero. I never told him that. I am sure he never knew. We were not friends. The best that can be said is that we served together in the Air Force in Vietnam for about nine months.He was a technical sergeant at…
Play Hard. Get Dirty. Use Good Saop.