War

Before it was called PTSD, soldiers traumatized in war were described as "shell-shocked" or "battle-fatigued." The new HBO documentary Wartorn, directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Jon Alpert, chronicles the history of PTSD on the American battlefield from the Civil War to the present.

Brian Castner commanded two Explosive Ordnance Disposal units in Iraq, where his team disabled roadside IEDs and investigated the aftermath of roadside car bombings. He returned home a completely different man, which he details in his memoir, The Long Walk.

In a new book, the CNN anchor tells the story of Combat Outpost Keating. The ill-fated American military base was in a remote Afghan valley, and on Oct. 3 , 2009, it became the site of one of the deadliest attacks against U.S. troops in the history of the war in Afghanistan.

As a bomb-detecting dog, Zenit the German shepherd never chased his tail or dug holes. Those are skills he learned after he was adopted by his former professional partner, Cpl. Jose Armenta.

Robert Timberg, who was disfigured by a land mine as a Marine in Vietnam, went on to become a successful journalist. His new memoir Blue Eyed Boy charts his struggle to recover from his wounds.

Journalist David Wood says "almost everyone" in war has suffered a violation of their sense of right and wrong. As a result. Wood tells Fresh Air, veterans deal with grief, numbness and grief.

The British-born Nigerian actor talks about playing an American veteran in Nightingale, the reasons he stays in character for weeks at a time and his aversion to playing "the black best friend."

New Yorker writer Alexis Okeowo wanted to get past standard journalistic narratives of war and tragedy and show people as flawed, complicated individuals in her new book, A Moonless, Starless Sky.

Duncan, who died at 102, was a Marine officer and combat photographer during World War II. Later he photographed the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Originally broadcast in 1990.

Gallagher was court martialed for shooting at civilians from a sniper's post and murdering a defenseless captive in Iraq. New York Times correspondent David Philipps chronicles the case in Alpha.

Galloway, who died Aug. 18, was the only civilian to be awarded the medal of valor in the Vietnam War. He later co-authored We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young. Originally broadcast in 1992 and 2003.

Marine veteran and intelligence officer Elliot Ackerman served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and won the Silver Star Medal for leading a platoon in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq. For him, Veterans Day is a time for reconnection.

Journalist Luke Harding began reporting from Ukraine in December 2021 and was in the country's capital of Kyiv on Feb. 23, the night before the Russian invasion began. He's been reporting from the war for the British newspaper The Guardian ever since.

Rolling Stone's Matthieu Aikins reported on this year's opium harvest — the biggest in Afghanistan's history. He also talks about traveling with a rescue crew in Syria and a Shia militia in Iraq.