Veterans Day is a good day when it comes to military writing. It is a great peg for folks in the sphere to say what they want to say and get it out there to someone who might not normally read military stuff.
Here are some of the more interesting pieces I’ve seen over the past couple of days. I know there are more out there that I haven’t got to. If you have a recommendation, add it to the comments and I’ll add it to the list below.
Reunion Clips of Soldiers and Their Loves Ones Have Become Just Another Form of Entertainment (The Daily Beast) – This is what I wrote for Veterans Day. It’s about the spectacle of viral-ready “reunion” videos that appear on the internet and on news programs, essentially as entertainment.
Help Veterans by Taking Them Off the Pedestal (The Atlantic) – A piece by Alex Horton on why over-idealizing veterans may do more harm than good.
On Military Service (Rhino Den) – I have a love/hate relationship with Ranger Up. Often, they post very reactionary or inflammatory essays – but it’s always had a “in the barracks” feel to it, which is probably good for people to see. Nick at Ranger Up often writes really, really good stuff, though. This is one of them.
The Vets We Reject and Ignore (The New York Times) – By Phillip Carter. A short Op-Ed about discharges in the military.
Retiring the Vietnam-Veteran Stereotype (The Atlantic) – By Sally Satel and Richard McNally. About the struggle veterans face during reintegration because of some of the old stereotypes out there fueled by Hollywood and the media.
And of course, every Veterans Day, someone writes a version of this piece: Stop thanking the troops for me: No, they don’t “protect our freedoms.” This year it was Justin Doolittle.
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Carrying the Gun 