Reflections

High school graduation kicked off my summer in 1970. I lived in a semirural small Midwestern town in Michigan. I couldn’t afford college; classmates were turning to factory work, which held no interest for me. The specter of the draft was…

She was the woman in the floppy jungle hat, standing in front of a Hiller 360 helicopter—young, with a confident smile, dressed in khaki coveralls.Her photo immediately caught my eye the first day I walked into a warehouse in the San…

My dad parked my mom, brothers, and me in Edmond, Oklahoma, while he flew U-10s in psychological warfare missions out of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam. We sent letters back and forth and quickly figured out the stories our dad liked best…

We stood in a gaggle checking over our dress blues to make sure we looked presentable, typical for Marines waiting for something to begin. Suddenly a car with a lone occupant pulled in and parked, the driver composing herself for a few…

When you’re serving on a Navy submarine with dozens of torpedoes and nuclear-tipped missiles, the best days are the boring ones. Boring on a submarine is good. Boring means everything is working like it should and everyone is doing what…

Every Sunday, a swap meet takes over the parking lot of the VanBuren Drive-In movie theater in Riverside, California. During one visit, I had wandered away from my friends, who were combing through old dishes, looking for rare midcentury…

It’s been less than two years since the Army renamed the training base near Columbus, Georgia, in honor of my parents, Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” and Julie Moore.“Our family is deeply grateful that our parents will be honored, remembered, and…

This story contains the topic of suicide. If you or anyone you know are having thoughts of suicide, please call 988.I knew you when you shined bright like the sun. Your laughter was so contagious we’d laugh so hard our bellies hurt. Your…

There is a reason drill instructors start screaming in your face the moment you arrive at boot camp. Before you can be built up into a proper soldier, you must first be torn down. To be an effective cog in the war-fighting machine, the way…

Editor’s Note: This story was published in partnership with San Quentin News and was written during a writing seminar for incarcerated veterans in April hosted by The War Horse at California’s San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Tens of…