Veteran Activism and the Global War on Terror

Veteran Activism and the Global War on Terror
Author: M. C. Armstrong
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2024-09-05
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

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Veteran Activism and the Global War on Terror is the first study of the literature of dissent that has emerged from the veterans of the global War on Terror. Spencer Ackerman's Reign of Terror stated that “The most impactful activism against the War on Terror came from within the Security State itself . . . low ranking soldiers and intelligence contractors whose exposure to the war prompted them to expose it to the world.” Veteran Activism and the Global War on Terror examines this subculture of veterans whose stories have dramatically shifted the conversation about literature and activism. Author M. C. Armstrong introduces and explores America's post-9/11 soldier-writers, a community that challenges pivotal contemporary assumptions about allegiance, democracy, geography, solidarity, and national identity. Chapters are organized around a triad of core concepts–parrhesia, cosmopolitanism, and dissensus–and discuss authors including Elliot Ackerman, Kristin Beck, Joseph Hickman, Phil Klay, Kevin Powers, and Edward Snowden. Armstrong argues that this scene represents a literary movement and perhaps the most significant literary community since the Beat Generation, and Veteran Activism and the Global War on Terror reads the work of these writers as the loci of a “dissenting” overhaul of the official narratives and rhetorical maps that chart the United States' Global War on Terror.

Fight to Live, Live to Fight Veteran Activism after War

Fight to Live, Live to Fight Veteran Activism after War
Author: Benjamin Schrader
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2019-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1438475195

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Examines US foreign and domestic policy through the narratives of post-9/11 US military veterans and the activism they are engaged in. While veterans are often cast as a “problem” for society, Fight to Live, Live to Fight challenges this view by focusing on the progressive, positive, and productive activism that veterans engage in. Benjamin Schrader weaves his own experiences as a former member of the American military and then as a member of the activist community with the stories of other veteran activists he has encountered across the United States. An accessible blend of political theory, international relations, and American politics, this book critically examines US foreign and domestic policy through the narratives of post-9/11 military veterans who have turned to activism after having exited the military. Veterans are involved in a wide array of activism, including but not limited to antiwar, economic justice, sexual violence prevention, immigration issues, and veteran healing through art. This is an accessible, captivating, and engaging work that may be read and appreciated not just by scholars, but also students and the wider public. “There is currently no book on the market that does what this book does (and could do) and I welcome it. There are books on veterans, of course, but there are none that focus in particular on veterans’ activism written by a veteran activist and academic. The book is in many ways a testament to our time and a kind of generational story that I am sure many veterans will relate to.” — Synne L. Dyvik, University of Sussex

Staying in the Fight

Staying in the Fight
Author: Jeffrey S. Lantis
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2024-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1985900424

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During the chaotic evacuation of the United States from Afghanistan in 2021, a group of Congress members who were also military veterans of the War on Terror leapt into action to assist vulnerable people in Afghanistan who had aided the American war effort. This cohort of legislators and their staffs on Capitol Hill created hotlines and worked 24-hour shifts in an intense effort to save lives, often coordinating between government agencies, informal networks of veterans' groups, and contacts on the ground in Kabul. In the process, many veteran lawmakers also became vocal critics of presidential management of the crisis and said they felt a moral obligation to act. In Staying in the Fight: How War on Terror Veterans in Congress Are Shaping U.S. Defense Policy, author Jeffrey S. Lantis shines a spotlight on this cohort of legislators and their unique position in the American government. By using exclusive interview data, archival sources, statistics, process -tracing, and comparative case methodology, Lantis illustrates ways that policy interventions and activism by veterans on both sides of the aisle have shaped America's involvement in conflicts from Afghanistan to Ukraine. The first study of its kind to focus on this new generation of military veterans and their role in foreign and security policy decision-making, Staying in the Fight speaks directly to debates in civil-military relations, veterans' studies, and research on congressional foreign policy advocacy.

Task Force Report to the President

Task Force Report to the President
Author: United States. Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2007
Genre: Medical care
ISBN:

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Beyond Post-Traumatic Stress

Beyond Post-Traumatic Stress
Author: Jean Scandlyn
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351574027

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When soldiers at Fort Carson were charged with a series of 14 murders, PTSD and other "invisible wounds of war" were thrown into the national spotlight. With these events as their starting point, Jean Scandlyn and Sarah Hautzinger argue for a new approach to combat stress and trauma, seeing them not just as individual medical pathologies but as fundamentally collective cultural phenomena. Their deep ethnographic research, including unusual access to affected soldiers at Fort Carson, also engaged an extended labyrinth of friends, family, communities, military culture, social services, bureaucracies, the media, and many other layers of society. Through this profound and moving book, they insist that invisible combat injuries are a social challenge demanding collective reconciliation with the post-9/11 wars.

The Politics of Protest and US Foreign Policy

The Politics of Protest and US Foreign Policy
Author: Cami Rowe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136654259

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This book offers a study of post-9/11 anti-war organizations in the United States and their role in domestic foreign policy debates. The moment of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been much cited in political and cultural scholarship and much attention has been paid to the promotion of "War on Terror" policies. The social mechanisms behind the circumscription and regulation of national ideals attracted critical analyses from scholars across disciplines; yet the prevalence of scholarly concern with the negative political devices of the Bush Administration at times seemed to risk reproducing the hierarchies of power that underpinned the very issue of concern, and even the War on Terror itself. By contrast, this book celebrates the political acts of individuals committed to changing the dominant politics of the Bush era. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with the leaders of prominent anti-war organizations including Code Pink and Iraq Veterans Against the War, the book employs Performance Theory to evaluate the capacity of protest to effect lasting social change. In addition to highlighting an often overlooked aspect of foreign policy formation, this volume demonstrates that Performance Studies can be used as innovative approach to Politics and IR. This book will be of much interest to students of US politics and foreign policy, theatre studies, cultural studies, and critical security and international relations.

Through Veterans' Eyes

Through Veterans' Eyes
Author: Larry Minear
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 1597976075

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As of early 2010, more than two million U.S. troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the American public is neither much engaged in the issues of these two wars nor particularly knowledgeable about the troops' experiences, which have ranged from positive and energizing to searing and debilitating. Based on scores of interview--some culled from the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and others conducted by the author himself--Through Veterans' Eyes presents a composite narrative of the experiences of U.S. service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Minear quotes more than 175 veterans by name and includes a dozen of their own photos from the conflict theaters. Thematic chapters cover duty and service, politics, cultural and ethical challenges, relationships to local populations, and reentry into American society. Neither pro-war nor anti-war, Minear's approach encourages veterans to express their views on issues critical to the nation. What has motivated U.S. military personnel to enlist? What specific challenges have they faced in Iraq and Afghanistan? What have been the impacts of deployment on their families and communities? Is their experience changing their views of their country and the world? What lessons may be learned from their stories? Veterans' candid responses to these and other probing questions deserve pondering.

High Risk Soldier

High Risk Soldier
Author: Terron Wharton
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-03-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781530402588

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From the streets of Baghdad to the rolling hills of Afghanistan High Risk Soldier is the true story of a soldier who overcame PTSD to continue serving his country. Breaking the silence and fighting the stigma surrounding one of the most sensitive subjects in our military and society, High Risk Soldier is more than just a war story. It explores what PTSD looks like from the inside: how it develops, the emotional impact, and, ultimately how to overcome it. A tour de force, brutally honest and visceral from start to finish, this book exists to provide a simple message of hope: PTSD is NOT the end of your story. You can beat it.

Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror

Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror
Author: Phyllis Bennis
Publisher: Olive Branch Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781566560948

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Clear explanations of recent events in the new global War on Terror. The US is back at war. A new version of what was once known as George W. Bush's “global war on terror” has become the central component of American foreign policy. The US/NATO assault on Libya in 2011, thousands of troops on the ground in Iraq, plans to keep combat troops in Afghanistan, drone wars rising in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere—and now new air wars are underway against ISIS and others in Iraq, Syria and perhaps beyond. In this newest addition to Interlink’s wide-ranging Understanding Global Issues series, Phyllis Bennis asks and answers the basic questions facing so many Americans: What is ISIS? Why are they so violent? Should Obama have kept troops in Iraq? Is ISIS the same as al-Qaeda? Can you really go to war against terror? How should the US respond to ISIS violence? What dangers lie ahead? Without jargon, in an easy-to-use Frequently Asked Questions format, Bennis sorts through the hype to get to the root of this newest edition of the continuing global war on terror.

Savages

Savages
Author: Stewart Blackwell ("ST" Blackwell)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: Soldiers
ISBN: 9781943226856

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Savages is a product of ST Blackwell's experience earning his way into a unique tribe and adventuring across the globe. As we travel with him, he shows us the raw emotions that underscore major events like becoming a grunt, the death of comrades, and the triumph of success. Brutal honesty and unfiltered descriptions of anger, joy, revenge, and fulfillment characterize this amazing story that challenges the narrative surrounding the Armed Forces during the War on Terror. This work of enduring quality defines the culture and legacy of the modern American infantryman, separately from all else. Many other works have done a remarkable job at portraying the struggle of the fighting man in wars past, but Savages stands apart by identifying the key factor of battlefield success as warrior culture. --