Michael H. Ollis, the Triple Deuce standard, and the long road to “Medal of Honor” By Calder M Serba [Editor’s Note: Citation superscripts have Continue Reading
Veterans
Jake: My Liberator, My Tormentor
These words are always tormentingly liberating. I fear every phrase, wondering if some passing reader might one day recognize my same Continue Reading
Twenty Years Later Under Iraqi Moon Dust
Nearly twenty years ago to the day, I boarded a commercial airplane with a machine gun slung on my back, along with 150 of my closest friends. Tray Continue Reading
The Years Between
Forgive my redundancy; I’m still hung up on the anniversary date of my deployment to Kuwait and Iraq in 2005. We had our twenty-year reunion last Continue Reading
On the Shore
On the shore the flag standsred, white, and bluewaving in a gentle breeze.Alongside a Union Jackand Tricolore she stands tall,guarding rows of Continue Reading
The Forsaken
In moments of deepest darkness, we are the monsters called forth. We are the devils summoned to bypass pleading with God for forgiveness. Beckoned and Continue Reading
Some Promises are Written in Blood
Witnessing 11 Days: The Story of Operation Pineapple Express I recently had the honor of attending a play titled 11 Days: The Story of Operation Continue Reading
The Blissfully Ignorant
Freedom allows the ignorant and inexperienced to profess utopian ideologies—ideologies that captivate the imagination. Their only physical Continue Reading
Waiting Room Storytellers
I went to my local VA clinic this week to get my eyes checked. While waiting with pupils as big as marbles in the “dilated eye waiting area,” I Continue Reading
Standing Ready in a Quiet Kitchen
I recently rewatched the movie Fight Club, based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The book is a different animal, with a decidedly Continue Reading
The Women Who Searched the Storm
In 2004, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) (Special Operations Capable), or SOC, deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom Continue Reading
From Failure to Steady Ground
In 2015, I was a failure. I’d spent the previous five years chasing a calling, a dream, or maybe selfishness. I found myself at my wits’ end, with Continue Reading