After more than a decade of combat, Texas soldiers are finally coming back for good. But the real journey home still lies ahead.
Iraq War
I was a soldier who neither loved war nor hated it, but I couldn’t ignore the fierce lure of combat. Six years after I came home from Iraq, I had a successful career, a beautiful wife, and a bright future, but one day I woke up and realized I had to go back to war.
And tells readers to wish him a "Happy Iraq War Day."
The acclaimed author is publishing his first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. And some of his neighbors may not be happy.
My best friend from high school is no longer the uncool, baseball-card-collecting goofball he once was. He’s a Navy surgeon and commander, and for two horrific weeks I got to watch him calmly and bravely save lives in wartime—not just Americans’ and not just soldiers’—in one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq.
“Do I blame a single individual? Do I blame the nation for the mistakes we made that led us to Abu Ghraib and the abuses that occurred as a result of the actions we took? Do I blame the military or the Department of Defense for trying to contain this extremely embarrassing period in our history? I think when you look at it, what happened to me is that I got caught in a perfect storm.”
“The government didn’t understand the importance of saying to us, ‘This is a war for freedom every bit as much as World Wars I and II.’”
With the military stretched thinner than ever, Staff Sergeant Christopher Schwope’s skill as an Army recruiter is undeniably important. And it’s a thing to behold.