Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’
Memorial Day 2013
According to the current media fad, we veterans are PTSD-stricken rapists on the verge of suicide. This is a major downturn in our status, as just a few weeks ago we were merely PTSD-stricken and suicidal. I guess those were the golden days. Every time I turn around, I’m slapped in the face by stories […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq | 21 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, iraq, Memorial Day 2013, military veterans
I am using this post to unashamedly beg for help. My fundraiser to print Proof of Our Resolve begins today. I have 60 days to raise $750 copies for the first print run. I figure if I can’t raise $750 in two months, my writing just sucks! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/proof-of-our-resolve-by-chris-hernandez-begging-to-be-printed/x/3108659 There are rewards for different contribution amounts. […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Writing | 4 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, Chris Hernandez, military fiction, proof of our resolve
When my current police department hired me I had pretty good qualifications: ten years military service, two years college, three years prior law enforcement. I breezed through the academy. Despite competing with cadets who had bachelors’ or masters degrees, I graduated number one academically and number three overall. During field training I passed my evaluations […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq | 45 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, discrimination, iraq, women in combat
Veterans don’t need pity
This essay was published yesterday by the Austin American Statesman. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/veteran-reports-of-recruitment-tricks-and-trauma-m/nWxRF/ Veteran: Reports of recruitment tricks and trauma misleading By Chris Hernandez Two years ago I attended a presentation by a woman who advocates “selective conscientious objector” status. In other words, she believes service members should be able to say, “I’ll go to war in […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Writing | 46 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, iraq, PTSD, veterans
“The story in someone’s eyes”
I was more tired than I had ever been in my life. In the previous two nights combined I had a total of less than five hours sleep, and the pills Doc Johnny (not his real name) gave me had just barely stopped the worst case of the runs any human has ever had in […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Writing | 12 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, bravery, combat medic, valor
I just finished the book Fobbit by David Abrams, a novel about the dark underworld inhabited by all the cooks, bakers and candlestick makers who served in Iraq but never left the relative safety of a Forward Operating Base (Forward Operating Base = FOB, FOB inhabitant = fobbit). Abrams was a fobbit, and unlike many […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Writing | 9 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, ben fountain, billy lynn, david abrams, fobbit, iraq, Kevin Powers, veteran authors, Yellow Birds
PTSD and my mistake
Full disclaimer: I do not have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I don’t know why some others have it and I don’t. I have no doubt a great many men and women who are mentally tougher than me have PTSD from their wartime service. I think I may be partly responsible for one soldier I served […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq | 13 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, iraq, PTSD, veterans
The Power of a Dead Man’s Weiner
This post isn’t just to tell a story. It’s to ask a question. I’m going to describe an odd experience I had in Afghanistan, and ask if anyone can help explain it. No joke, there I was, sitting around doing nothing on my firebase. We were enjoying a nice slow day inside the wire, surrounded […]
Filed under: Afghanistan | 8 Comments
Tags: Afghan culture, Afghanistan, taliban
Veterans Day and the word “hero”
In 1991 my Marine Reserve unit was mobilized for Desert Storm. Sort of. The paperwork said it was for Desert Storm, but we got our orders the day the war ended. A week later my unit convoyed from Camp Pendleton to the Marine base at 29 Palms, California. The day we arrived, the community was […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq | 9 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, heroism, iraq, veterans day
Election Day 2012 (My anti-rant)
Light is finally visible at the end of the tunnel. This year’s election madness is about to end. The polarization wrought by every major election can now give way to the normal polarization of everyday American life. As of tomorrow, I can quit being pissed off at people about their politics and just be pissed […]
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Writing | 10 Comments
Tags: Afghanistan, Election, iraq, Obama, Romney
