Every generation inherits a handful of philosophical puzzles that refuse to die. They survive not because no one has answered them, but because they Continue Reading
Philosophy & Poetry
The Healer’s Arsenal
Where Traditional Healing Practices and Contemporary Approaches to Healing Converge and Where They Do Not By Emily Ireland Modern medicine has Continue Reading
When Combat Changes What Feels Real
Combat veterans are often described as having difficulty returning to the “real world.” The phrase is revealing because it assumes civilian life Continue Reading
The Last Time
By C.J. There was always going to be a last time. The last time "We're going out tonight" echoed through those halls.The last time I donned my Continue Reading
You Still Have to Decide
By Carlin McKeahow It is 11:47 at night. The kitchen is quiet except for the refrigerator and the occasional car passing outside. A man sits at Continue Reading
When Identity Becomes the Boundary
I recently had a conversation with a friend. We were talking about the word “we.” It seems like an innocent word, something we use constantly in Continue Reading
Preserving Humanity
We are the culmination of our experiences. The mind and body think and react based upon past experiences, creating anticipated outcomes. Shared Continue Reading
Pulvis et Umbra Sumus: “We Are Dust and Shadow”
There’s a quiet brutality in the Latin phrase pulvis et umbra sumus—we are dust and shadow. It’s not motivational. It doesn’t belong on a recruiting Continue Reading
Why?
“Bomb kills Iraqi childrengathered around U.S. troops,”was the screaming headlinethat greeted me from bright-colorednewsprint.It seems the Marineswere Continue Reading
Wrinkled and Proud
Only six hours of sleep?You have got to be kidding.I hung up the phone, sighing deep;get moving, time for planes to take wing. My boots could use a Continue Reading
To My Son
You are not mine to own and control. You are not my possession or trophy. You do not exist to continue my lineage and name or bear my burdens. Who I Continue Reading
Veterans Day 2009
“October has been the deadliest monthfor U.S. troops in Afghanistansince the war began eight years ago.” In the pre-dawn hours he stands,silent and Continue Reading