Casing the Colors

When a military unit deactivates, whether because of shrinking force numbers, redundant capabilities, or simple realignment, a ceremony is held where the unit’s flags, or “colors”, are rolled tightly and put into storage for good. Unit histories are read, stories are shared, and then everyone carries on with their lives at new assignments and the […]

Bar Talk

It was Super Bowl Sunday at a Dallas Marriott bar with one lonely flat-screen and no Shiner on tap, so there were seats to be had and space in between them. I sat in the back corner alone nursing a heavy handed old fashioned and watching a slow football game. Sometime during the third quarter, […]

The Boy at the Gate: Jin Park

When I think in dreaming wake Dreary cries of what once took place The calls of young and old in fight What could not lie in peace or light Shattered dreams of love not war The battles fought to fight no more And yet the fighting still persists In hopes of love that we had missed […]

The Other Reasons #5: Leo Jenkins

The Other Reasons is a series about why we fight, what we gained and learned, and how we define war in our lives beyond it. While most contributors so far have shared their stories in the form of an essay, Leo Jenkins chose to go a new route (free thinking is a particular talent of […]

Call For Fire

Forgive the cheap FO reference in the title…it’s a bad joke I refuse to stop making. If you play along for a second though, the metaphor actually does fit. Like a Forward Observer, the Talk On is sitting on an OP and looking down at some targets (civilian readers), and I need rounds from the […]

Wednesday Links: Read about cool things

Syracuse University has opened up a Veteran Writing competition: “In keeping with Syracuse University’s longstanding commitment to serving the interests of veterans and their families and recognizing the role a university press can play in giving voice to emerging writers, Syracuse University Press, in cooperation with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), has […]