Veteran's Day

A collection of military oil paintings and profiles presents the stories of post-9/11 veterans, their experiences on the battlefield, road to recovery, and continuing contributions as civilians.

"From a decorated Marine war veteran and National Book Award Finalist, an astonishing reckoning with the nature of combat and the human cost of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Toward the beginning of [this book], Elliot Ackerman sits in a refugee camp in southern Turkey, across the table from a man named Abu Hassar, who fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq and whose connections to the Islamic State are murky. At first, Ackerman pretends to have been...

"Phil Klay's Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos. In "Redeployment", a soldier who has had to shoot dogs because they were eating human corpses must learn...

Presents the story of First Lieutenant Ashley White and a groundbreaking team of female American warriors who served alongside Special Operations soldiers on the battle field in Afghanistan.

"On August 21, 2015, Ayoub al-Khazzani boarded the 15:17 train in Brussels, bound for Paris. Khazzani's mission was clear: he had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate every passenger on the crowded train. Slipping into the bathroom in secret, he armed his weapons and prepared to launch his attack. But when he emerged, he encountered something he hadn't anticipated: three Americans who refused to give in to fear....

"Fighting was a practiced routine for Lieutenant Ivan Castro. But when a mortar round struck the rooftop of his sniper's post in Iraq, he found himself in a battle more difficult than even he could have imagined. The direct hit killed two other soldiers and nearly claimed Castro's life as well. Mangled by shrapnel and badly burned, Castro was medevac'd to Germany more dead than alive. His lungs were collapsed. He couldn't hear. One eye had been blown...

More women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan than in any other conflict in our nation's history, and today they compose about 15 percent of the armed services. Soldier Girls follows the experiences of three women in the Indiana National Guard -- one a young college student, one a single mother, and one a grandmother -- who chose to enlist for different reasons, never expecting they would go to war. Though quite far apart in age and in their political...