Soldiers at Fort Bragg hook up a 105mm howitzer to a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during training Feb. 8.
Army
“Three Minutes Out”
Army Major Nathan Strohm, a logistician, has deployed four times in support of the global war on terror: to Uzbekistan for most of 2003, to Iraq for most of 2005, and twice to Afghanistan – first from February 2007 to April …
Treating PTSD and TBI…Ethically
This is the first in a series of posts on the ethical issues associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
These are the two so-called “signature wounds” of our post 9/11 wars. Unlike …
Making All Our Troops Bulletproof
Shoot, move, communicate. This was the clear, succinct analysis given by an Army major when asked to describe the key components of a military mission.
In three words, the major illustrated the reality of modern war theatres …
Soldiers Write…About War, and a Woman
Every once in awhile a war book – actually written by a soldier – grabs you and won’t let go. The latest is The Yellow Birds, by Iraq war vet Kevin Powers. Nate Rawlings interviewed him here on Battleland more than a month …
First, Stop Digging
U.S. Army Cpl. B.J. Buie, foreground, an infantryman with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, digs a machine-gun position during Operation Southern Fist in the Spin …
Not Everyone’s Coming Home
My Kayak
As I type this I am sitting in the San Diego airport preparing to head home to Dallas. The TAPS weekend seminar is over and I am filled with a powerful sense of faith.
I am not sure what I was hoping to get from this weekend, …
Star Warriors
The Start of the Suicide Story
It was nine years ago — Columbus Day, 2003 — that the first significant story on the suicides of the post-9/11 wars appeared above the fold in USA Today. Reporter Gregg Zoroya had called me that summer, when I was doing a …
Combat, Up Close
Two things are striking about this just-posted three-and-a-half minute video of a firefight in Afghanistan’s Kunar province last April:
– Just how unseen the enemy is.
– Just how unconnected Private 1st Class Red Daniels of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division is.
Clad in body armor, he’s hit four times and falls to the …
Afghan Police Kill a U.S. Special Operations Captain “To Make a Statement”
Army Major Greg Escobar served as an operations officer in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, training Afghan police in Kunar province for the first half of his deployment, and Afghan troops in Paktika province for the second …
“I Refuse to Give Up”
Today, I am tired of suicide.
I ache in my bones and muscles and soul for all the suffering that continues to occur.
I am tired of learning about people who reached out for help, sometimes screaming for help, and they were …
