Browsing Category
The War Horse
‘Another Kick in the Gut:’ Biden’s Pardons Still Fall Short for Many LGBTQ Veterans Neither the…
Andrew Espinosa was in his office in Boulder, Colorado, when the first message popped up on the Air Force veteran’s phone: Andy, is this finally the resolution you’ve been working for? President Biden had just announced he was “righting a…
Reunited Friends, a Missing Medal, and a Wrong Righted More than 50 Years Later
In the fall of 2000, I received a phone call from an unrecognized number with an unfamiliar area code and decided to answer.“Is this Tigerman?” asked a voice on the line.
I thought for a second before answering.
“Is this LT?”
He knew he’d…
How a 4,000-Word Coast Guard Email Erupted Into a Reckoning of Military Sexual Assault The Coast…
The profanity-laced email that landed in thousands of Coast Guard inboxes this past May wasn’t intended to foment a rebellion in the nation’s most under-the-radar branch of the military. It wasn’t meant to get cited in a congressional…
We Talk a Lot As a Nation About Service Members and Veterans. What We Don’t Do Well Is Include Them.…
Andrew waited long enough to be born a North Carolinian. After weeks in an Extended Stay America in Jacksonville, North Carolina, our family finally got a move-in date for our tiny base house—and the belongings we’d long been parted from…
When It No Longer Scares You, You Have to Quit. Fear Makes You Pay Attention.
The C-130 bounced like a rollercoaster at a cheap traveling circus. I sat on the cargo netting bench seats surrounded by first-time jumpers and pretended to sleep.All I could think about—other than that one of these bastards was going to…
We Were at DefCon 2–One Step From Nuclear War–and I Was Checking My Work
Jan. 23, 1968, was an exciting day for me. I had no idea just how exciting it would turn out to be.I’d recently returned from three weeks of leave in the US and was finishing up an 18-month tour in the Philippines that included several…
‘Righting an Historic Wrong’: President Biden to Pardon LGBTQ Veterans Convicted of Crimes Over…
In a historic move to address a legacy of discrimination in the U.S. military, President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce a plan to pardon thousands of LGBTQ veterans who were criminally charged and forced from the service because of…
The Army Made Her Plead Guilty or Face Prison for Being Gay. She’s Still Paying the Price. LGBTQ…
In the darkness of early morning, Mona McGuire startled awake. A fist beat on the barracks door. Her heart accelerated into a full gallop, and then the yelling began.Detectives from the Army’s criminal investigation division had burst into…
A Hero Lived Quietly Across the Street. Little Did I Know He Helped Save the World.
Enoch H. Kanaya was my sun-seeking neighbor who plucked red, ripe tomatoes off the vine in his sunny garden on our tree-lined streets in Chicago. He and his family—his wife, Carolyn, and their four daughters—moved into their modest brick…
Reuniting Dad With His Warship After 37 Years Was a Reminder That Life Is Fleeting The legendary…
My dad’s Navy service was nothing special. His single enlistment spanned from the end of the Eisenhower administration through that of John F. Kennedy. But in that time the Navy changed his life.In 1958, Merlin Chetlain left East Dubuque,…
Play Hard. Get Dirty. Use Good Saop.