Opinion Forum

Moral Injury: Another Hidden Wound of War

February 24th, 2013

By Jan Barry Often lost in the translation of war, for soldiers as well as folks back home, is that much of what goes on in a war is a moral outrage. After a decade and more of warfare by American military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in hot pursuit of elusive bands […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, moral injury, PTSD, suicide, VA, veterans, Vietnam
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Winning Hearts and Minds

January 27th, 2013

By Jan Barry Fifty years ago, I turned 20 in Saigon, a very drunk and slap happy soldier in the service of the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam. We were making war, when we weren’t doing Happy Hours in every bar from Soc Trang to Da Nang, under slick counter-insurgency slogans like “Winning Hearts and […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Agent Orange, anniversary, poetry, PTSD, suicide, veterans, war, WHAM
Categories: Arts, Military | Comments (0) | Home

Combat Paper: On the Cutting Edge

August 5th, 2012

By Jan Barry Tina and Joe Drakulich are still haunted by the mural their son David painted during leave before returning to war. David’s painting of a sunset-glowing mountainside city rising amid a meadow filled with black crosses conveyed a stark premonition that he would not be coming home from his third combat deployment. The […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: combat art, Combat Paper, healing, poetry, PTSD, therapy, veterans
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Military Culture and Suicide

August 4th, 2012

By Jan Barry One of America’s biggest hidden tragedies is suicide. When I was growing up in the 1950s, it was a virtually forbidden topic. When I began working as a news reporter in the 1970s, I bumped into a tradition in journalism that suicides were not reported. When a Vietnam veteran in a small […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Afghanistan, culture, Iraq, PTSD, soldiers, statistics, suicide, veterans
Categories: Life, Military, News | Comments (3) | Home

Healing from War 2012

May 17th, 2012

By Jan Barry About 100 people turned out for a Saturday night event in April that offered no booze, dancing, live music or political speeches. The attraction was a display of art created from military uniforms and war memories. The event—called Healing from War Through the Arts, at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ—featured […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Combat Paper, exhibition, poetry, PTSD, veterans, war, Warrior Writer
Categories: Arts, Life, Military | Comments (0) | Home