How the perspective of war stories has shifted—from gods to guns.My memories of war are fractured: faces disappear like smoke while literal plumes of smoke, their specific shapes and forms, linger on vividly for years. I remember the mesh netting, co…

We’re away until January 4, but we’re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2015. Please enjoy, and have a happy New Year! Sharia law goes to the movies.In 2009, halfway through my second deployment as an infantryman in Iraq, I was made company…

In wartime, the walls of the latrine provide a rare opportunity for self-expression.“It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech,” as a patriotic poem by Charles Province has it. That presumption is a point of pride among …

 Sharia law goes to the movies.In 2009, halfway through my second deployment as an infantryman in Iraq, I was made company armorer. Instead of spending days in the field or going on patrols at odd hours, I had a set schedule repairing our company’s…