Vocabulary > War > Soldiers > Action

A U.S. Army helicopter gunner, his helmet face painted as a skull,

awaits soldiers to board his Chinook transport helicopter for transport out of

the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan.

Taliban insurgents had attacked a nearby U.S. Army outpost,

and the Americans responded with machine guns, mortars and helicopter gunships.

October 30, 2008

John Moore/Getty Images

Boston Globe > Big Picture > 2008 in photographs
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_the_year_in_photographs_p.html

Pentagon        USA
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pentagon/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/americas/23military.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-01-soldiers-more_N.htm

 Defense Secretary        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/politics/11rumsfeld.html

the Army    USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-11-troops-iraq_x.htm

US Army > images
http://search.ahp.us.army.mil/search/images/
http://www4.army.mil/armyimages/index.php
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2007/Imagery/index.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/PhotoEssays/PhotoEssays.aspx
http://www.defendamerica.mil/photogallery.html

Army Secretary

defense secretary

senior Pentagon official

Army technology > Glossary
http://www.army-technology.com/glossary/

D Squadron, Household Cavalry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1951325,00.html

U.S. military convoy

AIr Force

the United States Air Force Memorial
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-14-airforce-memorial_x.htm

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds

pilot
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/world/24harg.html

fly

Steve Greenberg

Los Angeles, CA

Cagle

21 December 2010

cartoons > Cagle > don't ask, don't tell repeal        USA        December 2010

http://www.cagle.com/news/DADT10/main.asp

"don't ask, don't tell''        USA        1993-2010

The policy known as "don't ask, don't tell'' was made law in 1993
amid a debate over the role of gays in the military.
It limits the military's ability to ask service members
about their sexual orientation (don't ask)
and allows homosexuals to serve
provided they keep quiet about their sexual orientation (don't tell)
and refrain from homosexual acts.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/dont_ask_dont_tell/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/us/politics/20gays.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/opinion/19dowd.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/politics/19cong.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/us/13military.html
http://www.cagle.msnbc.com/news/DontAskDontTell10/main.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/us/politics/22cong.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/opinion/22wed1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/us/10gays.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/us/politics/25tell.html

cartoons > Cagle > "Don't ask, don't tell''        USA        September 2010

http://www.cagle.msnbc.com/news/DontAskDontTell10/main.asp

Secretary of Defense        USA
http://www.defenselink.mil/

American troops

the American military / the U.S. military

the military
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-01-womenvets_N.htm

women in military service
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/opinion/collins-arms-and-the-women.html

the Army

Army drug experiments at the Army's Edgewood, Md., arsenal        from 1955 until about 1972
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-05-army-experiments_N.htm

the Navy

infantry

infantryman

female servicemembers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-01-womenvets_N.htm

carry out an operation
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/10/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

corps

Marines Corps
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/business/media/21adcol.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/04/business/20080404_RECRUIT_Slideshow_index.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-01-soldiers-more_N.htm

G.I.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/world/asia/suspect-in-afghan-attack-snapped-us-official-says.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/world/middleeast/american-soldiers-remains-are-recovered-from-iraq.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/us/8-charged-in-death-of-fellow-soldier-us-army-says.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/world/middleeast/16military.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/world/asia/10outpost.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-01-soldiers-more_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-28-iraq_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-17-soldier-guilty_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-25-iraq-bombing_x.htm

"Semper Fidelis" (always faithful)
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/04/business/20080404_RECRUIT_Slideshow_9.html

a U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit
http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1864&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=1

corpsman
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-20-marines-shooting_x.htm

Navy corpsman
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/world/asia/10outpost.html

recruiters
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-11-02-recruits_x.htm

recruits
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-29-recruits-fitness_N.htm

enlist
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/us/08jeppson.html

enlistees
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-12-army-training_x.htm

enlistment ceremony

training
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-12-army-training_x.htm

trainees

drill sergeant

top drill sergeant
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/us/22sergeant.html

Marine drill instructor         DI

 Fort Jackson, S.C.,
one of the largest and most active initial entry training centers in the U.S. Army
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-12-army-training_x.htm

U.S. Military Academy graduates

cadets
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-27-bush-westpoint_x.htm

West Point / United States Military Academy
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_states_military_academy/index.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-27-bush-westpoint_x.htm

at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y

Gen. Michael W. Hagee, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-05-27-iraqallegations_x.htm

senior Marine commanders

Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, IV
http://usacac.army.mil/cac/commander.asp

U.S. forces
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-10-muqdadiyah-bombing_N.htm

Army Reserve
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-10-army-reserve-recruitment_N.htm

U.S. army soldiers

U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment

soldiers from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

Master Sgt. Cindy Rathbun
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-01-womenvets_N.htm

Colonel Chessani

Col. R. Gary Sokoloski

battalion
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/1-87

battalion commander

Maj. General Richard A. Huck, the division commander

captain
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/1-87/0/59

Captain Stone

demotion

Video: Inside the surge
The Guardian's award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith
spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province.
His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers.        2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2125978,00.html

Inside the surge, part 2: the provinces
An exclusive film from Guardian photographer Sean Smith
on his time embedded with the US Marines in Iraq's Anbar Province
and the mountain division in the so-called Triangle of Death.        2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2135293,00.html

Sean Smith in Iraq
Guardian photographer Sean Smith was in Iraq before the invasion,
and stayed in Baghdad throughout the allied campaign until the city fell to US forces.
Here three galleries of photographs show his view of the conflict
http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,1891982,00.html

Guardian photographer Sean Smith >
embedded with US soldiers in Al-Anbar province
and in the so-called "triangle of death" near Baghad, Iraq        May 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2007/may/11/iraq?picture=329831208

Sean Smith, the Guardian's award-winning war photographer,
spent nearly six weeks with the 101st Division of the US army in Iraq.
Watch his haunting observational film
that explodes the myth around the claims
that the Iraqis are preparing to take control of their own country.        2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1927660,00.html

Guardian photographer Sean Smith was in Iraq before the invasion,
and stayed in Baghdad throughout the allied campaign until the city fell to US forces.
Here three galleries of photographs show his view of the conflict.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,1891982,00.html

company

division

American marines from 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Division
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2007/may/11/iraq?picture=329831208

American soldiers from Charlie Company, 2nd Brigade combat team, 10th Mountain Division
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2007/may/11/iraq?picture=329831214

American soldiers from the mortar team of 2nd Brigade combat team, 10th Mountain Division
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2007/may/11/iraq?picture=329831217

American soldiers from Alpha Company, 2nd Brigade combat team, 10th Mountain Division
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2007/may/11/iraq?picture=329831211

Company C, Third Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division

Sgt. William Callahan

Capt. Rory Quinn

Army major general

Gen. David H. Petraeus,
top commander of American forces in Afghanistan        2010      
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/david_h_petraeus/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/17prexy.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/world/asia/24petraeus.html

four-star general > Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal,
top commander of American forces in Afghanistan        2009-2010
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stanley_a_mcchrystal/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/23/us/politics/2010-623-mcchrystal-timeline.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24decide.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24mcchrystal.html

four-star general > Gen. David D. McKiernan,
the top commander in Afghanistan    2008
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/david_d_mckiernan/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/world/middleeast/12gates.html

U.S Army Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli,
the top U.S. field commander in Iraq        2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-12-chiarelli-comments_x.htm

Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://www.jcs.mil/
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/j/joint_chiefs_of_staff/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/asia/27mullen.html

top generals
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-21-bush-iraq_x.htm

top generals > Army Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-02-sanchez-retirement_x.htm

top commanders
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-13-iraq-plan_x.htm

brass

army drill instructor

combat

combat duty / combat tours / war tours / stop loss
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-10-26-stoploss_N.htm

reinforcements
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/world/middleeast/12gates.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-08-05-iraq_x.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1811764,00.html

marines

U.S. Special Forces

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/10/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

United States Special Operations Command

The United States Special Operations Command oversees
small, elite units in the military that carry out
a variety of missions in hostile territory, many of them classified.

Established in 1987, it has about 54,000 active-duty personnel
from four branches of the armed services.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2011

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/
united_states_special_operations_command/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/us/admiral-pushes-for-freer-hand-in-special-forces.html

hazing / military hazing

Army rules define hazing
as conduct whereby a service member causes another service member
“to suffer or be exposed to an activity that is cruel, abusive, oppressive or harmful.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/nyregion/army-hazing-charges-where-discipline-crosses-line.html

www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/opinion/military-hazing-has-to-stop.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/nyregion/army-hazing-charges-where-discipline-crosses-line.html

World War II > pigeon trainer > Richard Topus
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/14topus.html

Marine Cpl. Jeremy Slaton

shows off his tattoo which reads "Death" across five skulls.

The Marines are banning any new, extra-large tattoos below the elbow or the knee,

saying such body art is harmful to the Corps' spit-and-polish image.

By Chris Park, AP

Marines ban big, garish tattoos

By Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer

UT

28.3.2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-03-28-marines_N.htm

forces

armed forces

contingent

troops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-09-rumsfeld-farewell_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-08-fighting_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-07-28-iraq-marines_x.htm

allies

private  ≠  private soldier / mercenary

private security companies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/07/armorgroup-warlords-taliban-us
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/08/reservoir-dogs-afghanistan-security-firms

international security giant Blackwater Worldwide
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/blackwater_usa/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/world/africa/21intel.html

underling

platoon leader

 battalion
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/27battalion.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1920272,00.html

deployment
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/27battalion.html

military privatisation / private security contractors
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/middleeast/23contractors.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/23/iraq-war-logs-us-military

private security companies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/07/armorgroup-warlords-taliban-us
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/08/reservoir-dogs-afghanistan-security-firms

sortie

target
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

target

home in on...

zero in on...

engage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack

engagement

rules of engagement        R.O.E.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_engagement

encounter

capture

destroy

nuke

poison attack

air assault
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-16-iraq-air-assault_x.htm

air assault on...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/africa/20libya.html

ground offensive against

air- and ground-offensive

lose ground

flee
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/asia/16afghan.html

wave

move into...

mass

shot

lucky shot
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2170225,00.html

patrol
http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1868&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=1

on patrol
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_4.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-10-26-stoploss_N.htm

on foot patrol
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/14/british-soldier-killed-afghanistan-helmand

patrol
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html

attack
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/world/asia/19bagram.html

attack

car bomb attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/26/10-troops-injured-afghanistan-bomb

deter attacks

attack on...

attack position
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_7.html

"stand-to"
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_2.html

war on terror
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1968668,00.html

carry out a raid

raid into...

watchtower

on the frontline / on the front lines
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/opinion/allowing-women-on-the-front-lines.html

blunder

military blunder

bungled air attack

friend

foe

enemy

enemy forces

U.S.-led forces

Afghanistan > A Year at War        2010

Some 30,000 American soldiers
are taking part in the Afghanistan surge.
Here are the stories of the men and women
of First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division.
Over the next year, The New York Times will follow their journey.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html?hp#/NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html?hp#/NYT/Features/28
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/1-87/0/59
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/1-87/35

Recent scenes from Afghanistan        2009
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/recent_scenes_from_afghanistan.html

Afghanistan's Korengal Valley        2008
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/afghanistans_korengal_valley.html

In Afghanistan with the ISAF        2008
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/10/in_afghanistan_with_the_isaf.html

Daily Life in Afghanistan        2008
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/daily_life_in_afghanistan.html

fire

firefight
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7144637.ece
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html

firing squad

fire on...
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

return fire
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

machine-gun fire

spray

in the line of fire

crossfire
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-deaths-journalists

 hostile fire
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/international/middleeast/14iraq.html

friendly fire
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/22/british-soldier-friendly-fire-communication
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/24/friendly-fire-sniper-could-face-manslaughter-charge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/american-troops-friendly-fire-iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/17/friendly-fire-afghanistan-michael-pritchard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/10/afghanistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2155924,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2035714,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2035897,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,926204,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2007477,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2006879,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2006914,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2007019,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-06-video-friendly-fire_x.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1967649,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-09-04-afghan-nato_x.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1834481,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,919832,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/national/15friendly.html

friendly fire /"blue-on-blue" shooting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/17/friendly-fire-afghanistan-michael-pritchard

mistaken fire
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/10/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

mistaken identity
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/10/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

open fire

under fire / under heavy fire
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_4.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,11816,1440575,00.html

gun down
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-checkpoint-killings-american-troops

ceasefire

truce

lull

let up

cross-fire

be caught in cross-fire / crossfire
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-22-baghdad-crossfire_x.htm

be fired at

be aimed at

drill

bomb

car bomb

truck bomb
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-08-iraq_N.htm

a piece of shrapnel

mortar bomb attack on...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1698893,00.html

ordnance

load a howitzer

open fire on...

retaliate

target miss

rogue missile

stray rocket

insurgent
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/world/asia/taliban-attack-united-states-army-and-afghan-meeting-in-chamkani-district.html
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/10/23/world/asia/international-us-afghanistan-attack.html
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-afghan-nato.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-10-iraq-ammo-fire_x.htm

Afghanistan > Taliban
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/16/afghanistan-taliban-us-foreign-policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/14/afghanistan-terrorism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/dec/15/taliban-afghanistan-ghaith-abdul-ahad
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/dec/14/afghanistan-taliban-ghaith-abdul-ahad?picture=340716496
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/12/15/afghanistan_attacks_1512.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/dec/15/1?picture=340747233

Afghanistan > Q&A: The Taliban
Their funding, their weapons and their evolution since being ousted as Afghanistan's rulers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/14/afghanistan-terrorism1

guerrilla

guerrilla bastion

stronghold
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/world/asia/in-old-taliban-strongholds-qualms-on-what-lies-ahead.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2224623,00.html

rebel stronghold

insurgent hideout
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html

cell

bomb-making cell
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

flashpoint

combat

street-to-street combat

combatant

sniper
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-09-24-snipers_N.htm

assault on

storm

be backed by heavy air support and armor

be backed by artillery and tank fire

take up positions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-08-05-iraq_x.htm

US Marines, Charlie Company - 1st Division push into Kuwait City

February, 1991
http://pdngallery.com/legends/morris/main03.html

mop up

fan out

quagmire

bog down

commandeer

battle / battle
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health/research/28brain.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/24/british-soldiers-taliban-afghanistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2008/nov/06/remembranceday
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/09/first-world-war-somme
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/
british-and-us-forces-drawn-into-battle-for-basra-802626.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/interactive/2007/dec/14/afghanistan
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-10-muqdadiyah-bombing_N.htm
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1968358,00.html

pitched battle
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/us/07medal.html

fierce battle
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2224623,00.html

Iraq battle stress
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1859664,00.html

last stand

battle zone

battlefield
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/opinion/women-in-the-battlefield.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/france/article5033184.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/armistice-day-first-world-war

outpost
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/world/asia/13afghan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/asia/17afghan.html

stiff resistance

encounter fierce resistance

fight / fight
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/09/first-world-war-somme

fighter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1927684,00.html

fighting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1920272,00.html

ramp up

fight back

fight to the death

firefight
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-19-marine-investigation_x.htm

take cover (behind...)

pocket of resistance

crackdown
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/18/afghanistan.nato

operations / ops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-09-us-secretoperations_N.htm

strike at ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2261993,00.html

strikes on ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1834484,00.html

military strike on ...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-27-afghan-violence_x.htm

pre-emptive strike

in an air strike on ...

carry out air strikes on ...

airstrike
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/world/asia/us-plans-no-disciplinary-charges-in-strike-that-killed-24-pakistanis.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/asia/six-afghan-children-are-killed-in-nato-airstrike.html
http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR2K76D#a=1
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/15/world/asia/AP-AS-Pakistan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/05/15/world/0516FARAH_index.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-05-afghanstrikes_N.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2109039,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-10-somalia-airstrikes_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-23-taliban-leader_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-22-afghan-airstrike_x.htm

during an American airstrike on ...

aerial bombing of ...

a bombing and cannon strike by American warplanes

target

hit targets
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/20/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110320

missile attack
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/washington/27intel.html

pound
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/world/asia/12pstan.html

pound ... from the air

batter

rattle

flatten

destroy

rip apart

bayonet and grenade actions
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=
D1U0FC10N1CD3QFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/09/28/nmedals28.xml

missing in action
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-09-pentagon-ww2-airmen_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-17-soldier-search_x.htm

kidnapped
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-02-kidnapped-soldier_x.htm

carpet bombing

a wave of bombings

"shock and awe" air attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,,939205,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,898475,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/neuharth/2004-12-16-rumsfeld-neuharth_x.htm

under attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2008/oct/13/sixmonthsinafghanistan-afghanistan

suicide bomber
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html

take aim at...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html

suicide attack
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-29-afghanistan-violence_N.htm

suicide blast
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/asia/14afghan.html

ram a vehicle into...
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4A80XZ20081109?virtualBrandChannel=10112

suicide car bombing
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-12-25-iraq-tuesday_N.htm

hand-to-hand street fighting

fierce fighting

skirmish
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1778098,00.html

invasion

offensive
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13afghan.html

guerrilla

die-hard

militant
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-13-afghanistan-violence_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-17-afghan-violence_x.htm

insurgent
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/10/23/world/asia/international-us-afghanistan-attack.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-apache-insurgents-surrender
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-08-fighting_x.htm

insurgency

a hotbed of resistance to ...

ambush
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1834779,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2224617,00.html

break clean
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/we-are-trained-to-kill-so-civilian-life-is-tough-1634231.html

rebel

a rebel ambush on ...

resistance fighter

volatile

target / target

attacker

seek out

winner

defeat
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opinion/29sebestyen.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1928576,00.html

surrender
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-apache-insurgents-surrender

be hit by a missile
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-05-06-iraq-violence_x.htm

down

bring down

shoot down
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack

seek and destroy

airman
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2168940,00.html

flying ace > Col. Donald Blakeslee
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/03blakeslee.html

draft / call-up

draft dodger

desertion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deserter

deserter
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-10-army-prosecutions_N.htm

go Awol (absent without leave) / abscond
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/05/anti-war-soldier-jailed-afghanistan
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-11-awol_x.htm

reservist

soldier
http://www.army.mod.uk/servingsoldier/index.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-06-22-iraq_x.htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,24393-1859385,00.html

British and Commonwealth soldiers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/nov/11/firstworldwar?picture=339561567

squaddie
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2067564,00.html

Tommy
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/photo_galleries/
article6719427.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=6719427&sectionName=UK
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/
happy-birthday-harry-patch-last-veteran-of-the-trenches-turns-111-1704823.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2746763.ece

women in the military        2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/18/afghanistan.military
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jun/18/afghanistan.deaths.british
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/18/afghanistan

morale

brave
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1836019,00.html

bravery
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/magnus_linklater/article4339429.ece

coward

cowardice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/sep/05/military.richardnortontaylor

desertion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/sep/05/military.richardnortontaylor

WW1 > be shot for cowardice or desertion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/sep/05/military.richardnortontaylor
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1851103,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1851222,00.html

clash
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/asia/16marja.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1780967,00.html

clash of civilizations

military build-up

deploy

deployment

commando
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/asia/us-special-operations-step-up-in-afghanistan.html

move into position

wipe out

blast to smithereens

spray fire at random on...

spray and slay

mayhem
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1928037,00.html

carnage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/armistice-day-first-world-war
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/asia/21iht-incheon.1.14657938.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/20/iraq1
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-22-iraqis-toll_x.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1920053,00.html

pull out / pullout
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/world/middleeast/09pullout.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/washington/28troops.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-12-iraq-britain_x.htm

 pull back

withdraw from...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/17/gordon-brown-iraq

withdrawal
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/a-unit-near-last-in-the-military-withdrawal-from-iraq/
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/06/obama_us_troop_withdrawal_to_b.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/asia/29prexy.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/cartoon/2009/jul/01/steve-bell-ustroops-iraq-cartoon
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/world/middleeast/28voices.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/asia/17afghan.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-11-troops2_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-24-bush-iraq_x.htm

drawdown
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/15/us-usa-afghanistan-drawdown-idUSTRE76E26B20110715
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/world/middleeast/12gates.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-12-23-iraq-bush_x.htm

troop reduction
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-25-bush-blair_x.htm

come home

homecoming
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/09/04/photographer-erin-trieb-homecoming-project-photos.html

bravery

gallantry
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=
D1U0FC10N1CD3QFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/09/28/nmedals28.xml

heroism / acts of great heroism
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/us/04sfmetro.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/we-are-trained-to-kill-so-civilian-life-is-tough-1634231.html

awards

honour

highest military honour > the Victoria Cross        VC
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=
D1U0FC10N1CD3QFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/09/28/nmedals28.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=
INUCS0PDASPRLQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/09/23/nbeharry23.xml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,11816,1440894,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,11816,1440575,00.html

VC citation
display repeated extreme gallantry and unquestioned valour in the face of relentless enemy action
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/we-are-trained-to-kill-so-civilian-life-is-tough-1634231.html

VC holders
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/we-are-trained-to-kill-so-civilian-life-is-tough-1634231.html

medals    USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-09-vets-cover-usat_x.htm

receive the Navy Cross    USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-09-vets-cover-usat_x.htm

be awarded the Silver Star
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-12-silver-mcginnis_x.htm

medal ceremony

present a medal of valour to...

the Medal of Honor - The highest American decoration for military valour        USA
http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html
http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2909/murray-charles-p-jr.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/us/james-l-stone-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-89.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/us/john-f-baker-jr-who-saved-8-gis-in-1966-dies-at-66.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/us/17murray.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/us/03hajiro.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/us/politics/17medal.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/us/07medal.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/10/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Medal-of-Honor.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/us/15baker.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/04/us-paratrooper-highest-military-honour
http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/miller/narrative.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-10-marines_x.htm

Medal of Honor recipient > Van Thomas Barfoot        USA        1919-2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/us/van-barfoot-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-92.html

Medal of Honor recipient > Vernon Joseph Baker        USA        1919-2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/us/15baker.html

recipient
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/us/van-barfoot-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-92.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/us/17murray.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/us/03hajiro.html

purple heart
medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/08purple.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us/politics/for-kerry-and-hagel-doubts-about-war-born-in-vietnam.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/08purple.html

purple heart        USA
http://www.purpleheart.org/

medals for acts of valour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1867540,00.html

recipient of the medal

receive the honour of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

award

Distinguished Service Order
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1867540,00.html

George Medal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1867540,00.html

Military Cross
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1867540,00.html

Military medal records go online        2010
The military records of millions of British heroes
from Waterloo to the Second World War
will be published on the internet for the first time today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8117968/Military-medal-records-go-online.html

an army barracks

shelter

headquarters

base

Afghanistan war > Camp Bastion > Britain's vast military base in the Afghanistan desert
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/15/inside-camp-bastion

Life on a British base in Sangin, Afghanistan        Pictures        2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7883642/
Life-on-a-British-base-in-Sangin-Afghanistan.html

court martial
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1925753,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1876151,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-29-airman_x.htm

war crime

be prosecuted for war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1876151,00.html

U.S. Marines searching a building for weapons

in Mogadishu, Somalia

August, 1992
http://pdngallery.com/legends/morris/main05.html

peacekeeping force

peacekeeper

Rob Rogers

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania

Cagle

30 August 2010

stress disorder
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-11-08-therapists-sent-into-war-zones_N.htm

post-traumatic stress disorder        PSTD
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/health/views/17vets.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/08purple.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-26-PTSD-main_N.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2736842620080527

military therapist
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-09-therapists-strained_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-11-08-therapists-sent-into-war-zones_N.htm

medical team
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/10/world/20081110AFGHAN_14.html

Army doctor
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/world/asia/01afghan.html

medics
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/world/asia/13medevac.html

biometric data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/oct/27/us-military-biometric-data-afghanistan-video

On War and Redemption

November 8, 2011
7:45 pm
The New York Times
By TIMOTHY KUDO

Home Fires features the writing of men and women
who have returned from wartime service in the United States military.

When I returned from Afghanistan this past spring, a civilian friend asked, “Is it good to be back?” It was the first time someone had asked, and I answered honestly. But I won’t do that again. We weren’t ready for that conversation. Instead, when people ask, I make it easy for everyone by responding, “It’s fine.” That’s a lie, though. It’s not fine.

It’s not the sights, sounds, adrenaline and carnage of war that linger. It’s the morality. We did evil things, maybe necessary evil, but evil nonetheless. It’s not the Taliban we killed that bother me. They knew as well as I did what can happen when you pick up a gun and try to kill your enemies. But the enemy isn’t the only one who dies in war.

I joined the military when we were already long into this conflict. Aside from driving to San Francisco to protest the Iraq invasion, I quickly embraced the inevitability of these wars and relinquished their execution to the government. That was a terrible mistake. In 2006, as both wars raged and the Iraq conflict seemed doomed, I felt obligated to do something. I had no idea what I was committing to when I raised my right hand and took the oath. I realize that my decision was extreme, but it’s one I felt bound to. Only now do I understand the responsibility that military members bear, not only for the lives of others, but also for the consequences of their actions.

It was on a patrol early in our deployment in September of 2010 when the Afghan farmer dropped his shovel and ran for his life. Our squad of 10 dove for the ground. We looked toward the staccato crack of machine gun fire but saw nothing. A few anxious Marines fired anyway. We moved. Someone observed Taliban in a small building just ahead. We fired. It was the first time in an hour anyone had a clue where the enemy was. I saw two Afghans calmly building a wall despite the war erupting around them. Nothing made sense.

We cleared the building. As one team assaulted it, a Marine holding security spotted two armed men driving toward us on a motorcycle. Gunfire rang out from multiple directions. “Are you sure they have guns?” I asked. Nobody knew. We shot a smoke grenade as warning in case they were civilians. They paused, then resumed course. We yelled and waved for them to stop. They persisted. I thought: they might kill my Marines but if we kill them, we might be wrong. Cracks and flashes erupted from the motorcycle. The only hard fact about the rules of engagement is that you have the right to defend yourself. You decide for yourself to pull the trigger. The Marines returned fire for 10 long seconds. The motorcycle sparked where the rounds slapped the metal and drove into the bodies. The bike stopped. The men fell.

The building was empty. No bodies, no blood, no bullet casings. The fog of war lifted. I had been certain what was happening and I was wrong. The combination of confusion, chaos and adrenaline can’t be explained unless you’ve also experienced it. We ran to the motorcycle. One Marine made a quiet plea, “Please let them have weapons. Something. Anything.” They were dead. Their weapons were sticks and bindles. The muzzle flash was light glaring off the motorcycle’s chrome. One man was no older than 16. It was late afternoon then and, in the Muslim tradition, their family quickly arrived to bury them in the last hour of sunlight.

Even now, I don’t know what led them to drive toward a group of Marines firing machine guns, despite warnings, yells and waving. I know that our decision was right and, given the outcome, that it was also wrong. We trained to kill for years and given the opportunity, part of us jumped at the chance to finally be Marines. Despite the school construction and shuras, that’s what it meant to make a difference in uniform; it meant killing our enemies. But these men weren’t enemies. They were just trying to get to a home so close that their family was able to watch them die. After the shooting, the families encircled us in hysterics as they collected the bodies. It was the first and only time I saw an Afghan adult woman’s face. The wailing continued in the distance as we continued on our mission.

The insanity of war means that incidents like this are accepted. By the standards of those who fight wars we actually did the right thing. The catastrophe is that these incidents occur on an industrial scale. Throughout Afghanistan, there are accidental civilian killings; it is war’s nature. When we choose war, we are unleashing a force, much like a natural disaster, that can literally destroy everything and from which there’s no going back. As 10 years of conflict have shown us, nobody knows how wars end.

With six months left on our deployment I had no choice but to move on. I told myself we did what we were trained to do and that it just ended badly. I stuck with that reasoning despite feeling terrible and soon, my emotions caught up to my logic. People say they can remember a traumatic incident like it was yesterday. I can’t. Since my return, Afghanistan has melted into a feeling more than a memory. But I do remember the widows and orphans and wailing families and the faces of two men on a motorcycle. They understood they were being killed as it happened, yet they couldn’t accept their fate. They died painfully. Their teeth clenched and grimacing.Their eyes open. Those eyes gave them a final pleading expression. Why did you kill us?

Back in the United States, I look at people and think: “You have no idea what right and wrong are.” Much that I once held as matters of conscience is now just custom or culture. The challenging thing about ethics is you have to figure them out for yourself. What the war taught me is first: you should always strive to do the right thing even though you can’t control the outcome. Second, wrong decisions have tragic, irreversible consequences. There is no return. Nothing changes it and no lesson justifies it.

I never pulled the trigger on my rifle but I ordered other men to kill. For an officer, there is little difference. In all militaries, individuals don’t kill, groups do. We are each assigned small tasks in the orchestrated murder of our enemies and oftentimes, this decentralization creates its own momentum. We became excellent at engineering the enemy’s death. After one incident, my commanding officer told me that he was ultimately responsible. Yes, by the letter of the law, that is true. But everything we did over there we did together. We’re all responsible. I feel it, and I know that the other officers and N.C.O.’s share the same moments of pride and shame. I also know that that this sense of responsibility is shared all the way to the presidents I’ve served under who saw the consequences of our actions at the hospitals at Bethesda, Walter Reed and Dover Air Force Base.

Only the dead have seen the end of war. This is a maxim that has been used to illuminate humanity’s propensity for war, but it is also an accurate reflection of many veterans’ experiences. The war not only came back with us, it was here the entire time, experienced by orphans and widows. It was experienced by the widows from my unit who were unable to cook a single meal for their kids since their husband’s death. During a memorial a few weeks after our return, families of the dead collapsed grief-stricken in front of their loved ones’ pictures as a thousand Marines solemnly bore witness. When an officer went to the house to check on one family, the littlest one told him matter-of-factly, “My daddy is dead.”

Civilians can’t shoulder the responsibility for killing, but the social contract demands they care for those who do. And this is the great disconnect in our society right now, because that feeling of responsibility is still locked behind the fences of our military bases. My friends killed and died over there for America. And while many of my peers view that as sentimental, jingoistic, naive, or (behind closed doors) stupid, those men believed so deeply in something they were willing to give everything for it. When we wage war to defend the American way of life, there’s an obligation to uphold that ideal. Can we honestly say we’ve done that?

The Marine Hymn states that we are “first to fight for right and freedom and to keep our honor clean.” Since the shooting, I’ve thought about what that means and decided that it was beyond good and evil. It was an accident. War doesn’t distinguish between innocence or guilt, skill or incompetence, intelligence or idiocy. But we do. We see injustice in the deaths and can’t accept their inevitability. But it was fated when we decided to go to war. In that sense, we’re all responsible.

After coming home, our commanders told us we earned glory for our unit, but I know it’s more complicated than that. War has little to do with glory and everything to do with hard work and survival. It’s about keeping your goodness amid the evil. But no matter what happens, you never work hard enough, people die and evil touches everyone. Our lives will go on but the war will never go away. That’s why it’s not simply good to be back. I thought my war was over, but it followed me. It followed all of us. We returned only to find that it was waiting here the entire time and will always be with us.

Captain Timothy Kudo deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan

between 2009 and 2011

with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.

He’s currently a Senior Membership Associate with Iraq

and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Before joining the military he taught middle school math

in the Bronx with Teach For America.

He is a native of Santa Monica, Calif.

    On War and Redemption, NYT, 8.11.2011,
    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/on-war-and-redemption/

Senate Repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

December 18, 2010
The New York Times
By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday voted to strike down the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual orientation.

By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the Clinton-era law, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy critics said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated gay, lesbian and bisexual troops as second-class citizens.

Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the ban, and said it was “time to close this chapter in our history.”

“As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best-led and best-trained fighting force the world has ever known,” he said in a statement after the Senate, on a preliminary 63-to-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block final action on the repeal bill.

The vote marked a historic moment that some equated with the end of racial segregation in the military.

It followed an exhaustive Pentagon review that determined the policy could be changed with only isolated disruptions to unit cohesion and retention, though members of combat units and the Marine Corps expressed greater reservations about the shift. Congressional action was backed by Pentagon officials as a better alternative to a court-ordered end.

Supporters of the repeal said it was long past time to abolish what they saw as an ill-advised practice that cost valuable personnel and forced troops to lie to serve their country.

“We righted a wrong,” said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the independent from Connecticut and a leader of the effort to end the ban. “Today we’ve done justice.”

Before voting on the repeal, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants who came to the United States at a young age, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements including passing a criminal background check.

The 55-to-41 vote in favor of the citizenship bill was five votes short of the number needed to clear the way for final passage of what is known as the Dream Act.

The outcome effectively kills it for this year, and its fate beyond that is uncertain since Republicans who will assume control of the House in January oppose the measure and are unlikely to bring it to a vote.

The Senate then moved on to the military legislation, engaging in an emotional back and forth over the merits of the measure as advocates for repeal watched from galleries crowded with people interested in the fate of both the military and immigration measures.

“I don’t care who you love,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said as the debate opened. “If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

Mr. Wyden showed up for the Senate vote despite saying earlier that he would be unable to do so because he would be undergoing final tests before his scheduled surgery for prostate cancer on Monday.

The vote came in the final days of the 111th Congress as Democrats sought to force through a final few priorities before they turn over control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans in January and see their clout in the Senate diminished.

It represented a significant victory for the White House, Congressional advocates of lifting the ban and activists who have pushed for years to end the Pentagon policy created in 1993 under the Clinton administration as a compromise effort to end the practice of barring gay men and lesbians entirely from military service.

Saying it represented an emotional moment for members of the gay community nationwide, advocates who supported repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” exchanged hugs outside the Senate chamber after the vote.

“Today’s vote means gay and lesbian service members posted all around the world can stand taller knowing that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ will soon be coming to an end,” said Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his party’s presidential candidate in 2008, led the opposition to the repeal and said the vote was a sad day in history.

“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage,” Mr. McCain said. “And we could possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military, harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.”

He and others opposed to lifting the ban said the change could harm the unit cohesion that is essential to effective military operations, particularly in combat, and deter some Americans from enlisting or pursuing a career in the military. They noted that despite support for repealing the ban from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other military commanders have warned that changing the practice would prove disruptive.

“This isn’t broke,” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said about the policy. “It is working very well.”

Other Republicans said that while the policy might need to be changed at some point, Congress should not do so when American troops are fighting overseas.

Only a week ago, the effort to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy seemed to be dead and in danger of fading for at least two years with Republicans about to take control of the House. The provision eliminating the ban was initially included in a broader Pentagon policy bill, and Republican backers of repeal had refused to join in cutting off a filibuster against the underlying bill because of objections over limits on debate of the measure.

In a last-ditch effort, Mr. Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a key Republican opponent of the ban, encouraged Democratic Congressional leaders to instead pursue a vote on simply repealing it. The House passed the measure earlier in the week.

The repeal will not take effect for at least 60 days, and probably longer, while some other procedural steps are taken. In addition, the bill requires the defense secretary to determine that policies are in place to carry out the repeal “consistent with military standards for readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.”

“It is going to take some time,” Ms. Collins said. “It is not going to happen overnight.”

In a statement, Mr. Gates said that once the measure was signed into law, he would “immediately proceed with the planning necessary to carry out this change carefully and methodically, but purposefully.” In the meantime, he said, “the current law and policy will remain in effect.”

Because of the delay in formally overturning the policy, Mr. Sarvis appealed to Mr. Gates to suspend any investigations into military personnel or discharge proceedings now under way. Legal challenges to the existing ban are also expected to continue until the repeal is fully carried out.

In addition to Ms. Collins, Republicans backing the repeal were Senators Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and George V. Voinovich of Ohio.

“It was a difficult vote for many of them,” Ms. Collins said, “but in the end they concluded, as I have concluded, that we should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing to put on the uniform of this country.”

Mr. Lieberman said the ban undermined the integrity of the military by forcing troops to lie. He said 14,000 people had been forced to leave the armed forces under the policy.

“What a waste,” he said.

The fight erupted in the early days of President Bill Clinton’s administration and has been a roiling political issue ever since. Mr. Obama endorsed repeal in his presidential campaign and advocates saw the current Congress as their best opportunity for ending the ban. Dozens of advocates of ending the ban — including one severely wounded in combat before being forced from the military — watched from the Senate gallery as the debate took place.

Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, dismissed Republican complaints that Democrats were trying to race through the repeal to satisfy their political supporters.

“I’m not here for partisan reasons,” Mr. Levin said. “I’m here because men and women wearing the uniform of the United States who are gay and lesbian have died for this country, because gay and lesbian men and women wearing the uniform of this country have their lives on the line right now.”

    Senate Repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, NYT, 18.12.2010,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/politics/19cong.html

Martin Russ,

a Marine Who Wrote About Combat,

Dies at 79

December 9, 2010
The New York Times
By DENNIS HEVESI

Sheets of enemy gunfire and a hail of mortar shells pinned down Sgt. Martin Russ and his platoon of Marines when they ventured into the no man’s land between North and South Korea in the summer of 1953 — the last days of the Korean War.

“During the barrage,” Sergeant Russ later wrote, “I tried to draw my entire body within my helmet, like a fetus.”

For seven months, when he was back in the bunkers, he scribbled his thoughts in a small notebook. Diaries were prohibited, so when a lieutenant asked what he was writing, he said they were notes for letters home. Those notes became “The Last Parallel: A Marine’s War Journal,” which rose to No. 8 on The New York Times best-seller list in 1957.

Mr. Russ, a college dropout who went on to write other books about the chaos of combat, died Monday at his home in Oakville, Calif., his sister S. K. Dunn said. He was 79.

At 21, Sergeant Russ served on that front line — the 38th parallel — with the First Marine Division. The Marines called it the M.L.R., or main line of resistance — a strip that in some places was a hundred yards wide, in others thousands. There, despite horrific battles, the armies did not move on, he wrote; they just dug deeper into their trenches and caves, outposts they named for movie stars: Marilyn, Ingrid, Ava and Hedy. Decimated companies were replenished by fresh troops.

Both sides became so fortified that few men ever ventured out in daylight and survived. Night after night, patrols wove through the brush and terraced rice paddies to confront the enemy, rescue the wounded or die. It was a stalemate accepted by both sides because a breakthrough would have cost more casualties than it was worth — a stalemate that holds to this day.

Home from the war, Mr. Russ tried his hand at acting in Pasadena, then moved to a small town in Oregon where he sold sewing machines and turned his combat notes into his first book.

“A book for the years that sets new standards for candid narratives about citizens in armor,” The New York Times said in a review.

Among Mr. Russ’s other books, most of them based on interviews with combat veterans, are “Line of Departure: Tarawa” (1967) and “Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea” (1999).

In “Line of Departure” he recounted the World War II battle in which, for the first time, American forces faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing; the Japanese fought almost to the last man and exacted a heavy toll.

For “Breakout,” Mr. Russ interviewed Marines who were surrounded when a Chinese army of about 60,000 poured over Korea’s border in November 1950, intent on wiping out American forces marching north to the Yalu River on orders from Gen. Douglas MacArthur. About 12,000 Marines, strung out along 80 miles of winding mountain road leading to the Chosin Reservoir, battled their way out of the encirclement.

Martin Saxon Russ was born in Newark on Feb. 14, 1931, to Carroll and Lavinia Saxon Dunn. His parents were professional writers. Mrs. Dunn later married Hugh Russ, who adopted her children. Besides his sister S. K. Dunn, Mr. Russ is survived by his wife of 48 years, the former Liza Blaisdell; another sister, Sissy Turner; two daughters, Phoebe Russ and Molly Russ; a son, Luke; and two grandchildren.

After graduating from a private school in Connecticut, Mr. Russ attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., but dropped out in his junior year to join the Marines. Assigned to an ordinance battalion, Private Russ made a nuisance of himself until his request for combat duty was granted.

In later years, although he had no college degree, he taught writing at what is now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Despite the fear and devastation he had faced in Korea and later wrote about, Sergeant Russ remained “a gung-ho Marine” throughout his life, his sister said.

Of his time on the front line, he wrote in his first book: “I’d rather be here than anywhere else in the world. Whether I’m ready for the loony bin or not is beside the point.”

    Martin Russ, a Marine Who Wrote About Combat, Dies at 79, NYT, 9.12.2010,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/world/10russ.html

Forgotten Battalion’s

Last Returns to Beachhead

June 6, 2009
The New York Times
By BRIAN KNOWLTON

William G. Dabney could hardly have expected to be spending that ferocious June day in 1944 hunkered on Omaha Beach, struggling to keep aloft one of the tethered silver balloons intended to confound German pilots trying to bomb or strafe exposed Allied invaders in Normandy.

As a member of the only all-black unit in the D-Day landings on Omaha and Utah, the two beachheads assigned to American forces, Corporal Dabney was a rarity in a European war that in its early days was fought almost entirely by whites.

The contributions of his unit, the 320th Antiaircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion, have been largely forgotten over the years. But on Saturday, Mr. Dabney, now 84, will join President Obama near Omaha Beach to mark the 65th anniversary of the invasion. On Friday, he received the Legion of Honor from the French government. Officials of the White House Commission on Remembrance, which organizes services at American war memorials, say he is the only survivor of the 320th they have been able to track down.

At 17, Mr. Dabney, of Roanoke, Va., had chafed to join older friends already at war, and had to persuade his grandmother to let him enlist. Most black soldiers were being given support roles in the United States, but like many young men, Mr. Dabney craved action at the front. He volunteered for “special service,” which he thought would have him loading artillery weapons.

“I didn’t know that it involved flying balloons,” he said in a telephone interview from Roanoke.

He was sent to Tennessee to train with the 320th, a unit intended mainly to deploy blimplike balloons for coastal defense. But he soon found himself bound for England and a role in the invasion of France.

In retrospect, Corporal Dabney and his contemporaries can be seen as pioneers. As late as the mid-1930s, the Army had been less than 2 percent black. The Coast Guard used blacks only as stewards, the Navy mainly for kitchen help. The Marines and the Army Air Forces barred blacks outright. The discriminatory treatment was defended by an Army War College report in 1925 concluding that blacks lacked intellect and courage.

“Blacks wanted to participate” in World War II, “but the position of the military was that wartime is not a time for social experimentation,” said William A. De Shields, a retired Army colonel and founder of the Black Military History Institute of America.

Blacks who did join the services were often assigned to thankless jobs as stevedores, stewards or ammunition handlers. (A single catastrophic explosion of ammunition at Port Chicago, Calif., in July 1944 claimed the lives of 202 black sailors, among a total of 320 people killed.)

Some seeds of change had already been planted, however. In June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, wary of backlash from whites but pressured not only by groups like the predominantly black Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters but also by his wife, Eleanor, ordered an end to discrimination in war industry employment.

And that March, the Army Air Forces created a unit of black fliers now well known as the Tuskegee airmen. Their achievements, along with those of other black units, helped discredit the War College report.

Still, before the invasion of France, most black soldiers, whose numbers had risen to 700,000, were stationed in the United States. By 1944, however, manpower shortages were acute, and by the end of that year more than two-thirds of black troops were overseas. Corporal Dabney was part of that wave.

So was George A. Davison, another member of the 320th, who died in 2002. In a letter home after D-Day, Sergeant Davison recalled crossing the English Channel on the morning of the invasion, in a landing craft shared with Army rangers. “It was our turn,” he wrote.

Once the landing craft approached shore, the troops had to wade through chest-high waves, then dig in on the beach under extreme fire. That done, the men of the 320th deployed their balloons by filling them with helium.

The balloons, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported, “provided a screen of rubber several miles long on the two main beachheads.” Three German planes were downed when they struck balloons, which carried explosives, or hit their cables.

The balloons came in various sizes. Corporal Dabney headed a three-man crew responsible for one balloon, of a type classified as V.L.A., for very low altitude.

Sergeant Davison also worked with V.L.A.’s. “These weren’t the big barrage balloons,” which could be 60 feet long, his son Bill said in an interview. “They were about the size of a Volkswagen.”

“They had only 2,000 feet of line, as opposed to bigger balloons with 10,000 feet,” Bill Davison said. “But 2,000 would keep enemy planes from strafing the beaches.”

Mr. Dabney recalled the intensity of the Germans’ fire. “We thought at one time me and my crew might get pushed back into the English Channel,” he said, “because they were fighting so furiously.”

Sergeant Davison saw a ranger near him blown apart. It was a day, he wrote home, “of ducking bullets and anything that would kill a man.” He was “too afraid to be afraid,” he wrote.

Four members of the 320th died. One who lived showed particular courage. Waverly B. Woodson Jr., a medic, was injured by a mine explosion but went on to work for 30 straight hours treating other wounded men. He received a Bronze Star.

The younger Mr. Davison, who has pledged to keep his father’s story alive, recently sent President Obama a letter about it.

“I hope he reads it,” Mr. Davison said, “and hope he has some sense of the African-Americans who were there.”

So does Colonel De Shields, of the Black Military History Institute. “Obama is a young man,” Colonel De Shields said. “We hope he’ll have an appreciation for the contribution that African-Americans made in World War II, when we were fighting two enemies: the enemy abroad and racism at home.”

    Forgotten Battalion’s Last Returns to Beachhead, NYT, 6.6.2009,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/world/europe/06iht-troops.html

Purple Heart

Is Ruled Out for Traumatic Stress

January 8, 2009
The New York Times
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ and ERIK ECKHOLM

The Pentagon has decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action, to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because it is not a physical wound.

The decision, made public on Tuesday, for now ends the hope of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have the condition and believed that the Purple Hearts could honor their sacrifice and help remove some of the stigma associated with the condition.

The disorder, which may go unrecognized for months or years, can include recurring nightmares, uncontrolled rage and, sometimes, severe depression and suicide. Soldiers grappling with PTSD are often unable to hold down jobs.

In May, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said awarding Purple Hearts to such service members was “clearly something that needs to be looked at,” after he toured a mental health center at Fort Bliss, Tex.

But a Pentagon advisory group decided against the award because, it said, the condition had not been intentionally caused by enemy action, like a bomb or bullet, and because it remained difficult to diagnose and quantify.

“Historically, the Purple Heart has never been awarded for mental disorders or psychological conditions resulting from witnessing or experiencing traumatic combat events,” said Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman. “Current medical knowledge and technologies do not establish PTSD as objectively and routinely as would be required for this award at this time.”

One in five service members, or at least 300,000, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, according to a Rand Corporation study in 2008.

For some soldiers suffering from the disorder, the historical distinction between blood and no blood in an injury fails to recognize the depths of their mental scars. A modern war — one fought without safe havens and with the benefit of improved armor — calls for a new definition of injuries, some veterans say.

Kevin Owsley, 47, who served in the Ohio National Guard in 2004 as a gunner on a Humvee and who is being treated for PTSD and traumatic brain injury, said he disagreed with the Pentagon’s ruling.

Unable to hold a job, Mr. Owsley supports his family on disability payments. This week he told his Veterans Affairs doctor he was fighting back suicidal impulses, something he has struggled with since his return. “You relive it every night and every day,” he said. “You dream about it. You can see it, taste it, see people getting killed constantly over and over.”

“It is a soldier’s injury,” he said, angrily, in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

But many soldiers do not feel that way. In online debates and interviews they expressed concern that the Purple Heart would be awarded to soldiers who faked symptoms to avoid combat or receive a higher disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I’m glad they finally got something right,” said Jeremy Rausch, an Army staff sergeant who saw some of the Iraq War’s fiercest fighting in Adhamiya in 2006 and 2007. “PTSD can be serious, but there is absolutely no way to prove that someone truly is suffering from it or faking it.”

The Purple Heart in its modern form was established by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1932. Some 1.7 million service members have received the medal, and, as of last August, 2,743 service members who served in Afghanistan and 33,923 who fought in Iraq had received the award.

The medal entitles veterans to enhanced benefits, including exemptions from co-payments for veterans hospital and outpatient care and gives them higher priority in scheduling appointments.

The Pentagon left open the possibility that it could revisit the issue.

But a Pentagon-supported service group, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, has strongly opposed expanding the definition to include psychological symptoms, saying it would “debase” the honor.

“Would you award it to anyone who suffered the effects of chemicals or for other diseases and illnesses?” John E. Bircher III, director of public relations for the group, said Wednesday. “How far do you want to take it?”

Post-traumatic stress disorder was first identified during the Vietnam War and has gradually been accepted as a serious psychological problem for some who experience violence and fear.

Dr. Barbara V. Romberg, a psychologist in Bethesda, Md., and founder of Give an Hour, which offers mental health services to troops and their families, said that she and many other psychologists believed the discussion of Purple Hearts had brought more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder and the seriousness of psychological wounds suffered on the battlefield.

“We’re working to normalize post-traumatic stress as an understandable human consequence of war that can result in very serious damage to some people’s lives, and they deserve honoring for that,” she said.

“But I don’t want to be so quick to condemn the decision,” she added.

Many have post-traumatic stress, but only some develop a serious lasting disorder; in both cases, she said, “people deserve to be honored in some way for the injury they received in combat.”

After years of criticism for ignoring the problem, the Defense Department and the Veterans Administration have bolstered their capacity to diagnose and treat PTSD, and those with serious cases may receive substantial disability benefits. Some of those suffering from severe traumatic brain injuries qualify for a Purple Heart because they required medical treatment.

But in its decision not to extend Purple Hearts to PTSD sufferers, first reported Tuesday by Stars and Stripes, the Pentagon said part of the problem stemmed from the difficulty in objectively diagnosing the disorder.

That decision was made in November. It was not clear why the Pentagon did not announce the decision then.

There have been recent changes in awarding Purple Hearts. The criteria was expanded in 2008 to include all prisoners of war who died in captivity, including those who were tortured. “There were wounds there,” Mr. Bircher said.

“You have to had shed blood by an instrument of war at the hands of the enemy of the United States,” he said. “Shedding blood is the objective.”

    Purple Heart Is Ruled Out for Traumatic Stress, NYT, 8.1.2009,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/08purple.html

Spike Lee to Focus on Black Soldiers

    Spike Lee to Focus on Black Soldiers, NYT, 3.7.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-People-Spike-Lee.html

Searching for MIAs _ How You Can Help

    Searching for MIAs _ How You Can Help, NYT, 3.7.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iwo-Jima-Marine-Box.html

Soldier's diary recalls horror of the Somme

Thursday March 8, 2007
Guardian
Paul Lewis

For almost a century, poets and historians have struggled to describe the carnage of July 1 1916, the bloodiest day in the history of the British army. Personal tales are easily lost amid the colossal death toll of the first day of the battle of the Somme. Of the 120,000 British soldiers who scrambled out of the trenches to march into a wall of fire, almost 20,000 died.

But a blunt account of the initial offensive by a grocer from South Yorkshire, which sold at auction yesterday for £7,360, goes some way to explaining what it was like to be there that day.

Not a lot is known about Walter Hutchinson, a stretcher-bearer in the 10th Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment, who wrote the diary during the first three weeks of the battle. He is said to have been a mild-mannered and bespectacled man who stood 5ft 5in tall. He had a wife, Evelyn, and a daughter, Connie. He retired in the Lincolnshire seaside resort of Cleethorpes before he died in the 1980s.

But thanks to his diary, a few facts are indisputable. It reveals that Walter's "first taste of gas" came on the morning the deadliest battle of the first world war commenced, after he and his comrades crossed a marsh and clambered into a communication trench.

His description of the bloodshed that unfolded, repeated again and again in the diary, is as moving a phrase as any other. It was "an awful sight".

"We hadn't gone far up the trench before we came across three of our own lads lying dead," he wrote on that first day. "Their heads been badly damaged by a shell. Their names were Voice and Webster Brothers. We had to go scrambling over the poor fellows - in and out, in and out. It was one of the awful sights I had ever witnessed and at this point our own lads was coming out wounded as we was following them in."

The "lads" were ordered to "dump everything and fix bayonets" and fight. "We obeyed the order like men."

Walter was hit on the hip by a piece of shell, but "kept running after the boys".

"We then landed at the trench we was making for and found out it was our own original front line trench. And we saw some awful sights in it for a lot of wounded men had not been got out there."

The following day Walter peeled back the a sheet from the corpse he believed was covering his pal Charley: "But I went and lifted the oilsheet from over his face and found that it was Harold Beecher. And I asked questions about him and found out he was badly wounded Saturday night and died early on Sunday morning. He was a clerk in civil life. I was very sorry for we had been good chums from the day we arrived in France."

He and his colleagues were rescued, but spent three days without food.

On the third day, amid a lull in the fighting, Walter and his fellow men "got to work and dug some graves for our poor comrades. We buried the poor fellows as respectful as we could under the circumstances". There were more burials the next day. And the next. "It was an awful sight. We then got the poor fellows buried which was a very difficult task for shells was dropping all around us."

The diary, which fetched 10 times its estimate, was sold at Dix Noonan Webb auctioneers in London by Walter's niece, Jeanette Ive, 75, from Wimborne, Dorset. It went to a private bidder alongside a Military Medal and a pocket watch presented to him in 1917.

    Soldier's diary recalls horror of the Somme, G, 8.3.2007,
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2028735,00.html

Revisiting Sgt. York

and a Time When Heroes Stood Tall

    Revisiting Sgt. York and a Time When Heroes Stood Tall, NYT, 18.6.2006,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/world/europe/18hero.html

Diary of North Vietnam Doctor

Killed in U.S. Attack

Makes War Real

    Diary of North Vietnam Doctor Killed in U.S. Attack Makes War Real, NYT, 6.6.2006,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/world/asia/06vietnam.html

March 30 1971

Calley found guilty of 22 murders

From The Guardian archive

On This Day: March 30, 1971

From The Times Archive

Lieutenant William Calley
was the only person to be convicted
in connection with the My Lai massacre.
Although he was sentenced
to life imprisonment with hard labour
he was free by 1974

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