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Six Years Ago Today I Chronicled My MEPS Experience So You Didn’t Have To

  By Jay Kirell   I can’t believe it’s been six years.  Six years since I enlisted in the Army.  Six years since I first visited a recruiter and began the process that would eventually take me around the world and back. In some ways it seems like yesterday, and in others it seems like it was so long ago I can barely remember a time I wasn’t a “veteran.” It’s for that reason I’m glad I took the…

Brussels Sprouts & Cyanide Pills

  By Jay Kirell   Holy fuck, are you ready America? Yes, you’re ready. You’re freaking out.  You’re on edge.  You think the world’s about to collapse in a heap like a global Life-Alert commercial.  65% of you want to send ground troops to go fight ISIS.  56% of you want to shut the door on refugees fleeing ISIS. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say some of you are confusing the Land of the Brave…

The Second Amendment’s Final Years

By Jay Kirell   It is coming. The war everyone on the far right has been screaming about. The war over guns. Not today.  No, noooooo.  We’re not close to ready for that war today. Last week’s fatal shooting (the one in Oregon, on October 1, um…2015, depending on when you’re reading this and what shooting spurred you on to end up finding this) hasn’t moved the needle on the issue of gun control.…

Hail To The Chief

By Jay Kirell

  The door swings open. Tiny bells jingle.  An early-morning commuter, trying to beat the rush on the Long Island Expressway into Manhattan, has stopped in for his usual medium cup of Brazilian dark roast coffee.

“Good-esh morning, my Chief, how are you?  Welcome to 7-Eleven.”

Behind the counter, a bald man hunches over, resting his arms on either side of the cash register.  He…

Everybody Gets A War Story

By Jay Kirell

  People love hearing war stories. It’s why people who go to a war zone come back and tell them.

Some people also love telling war stories.

Take Brian Williams for example.

Or Bill O’Reilly.

Or Chris Kyle.

Or Joni Ernst.

They’ve told war stories.  Not necessarily truthful war stories, but war stories nonetheless.

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The Father I Don’t Deserve

  By Jay Kirell

  Too many children in this world are born to horrible fathers.

Fathers who are cold and distant. Fathers who beat them.  Fathers who leave them.  Fathers who just don’t care.

My father was none of those things.

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I Spent A Week In A VA-Run Psych Ward. You Won’t Believe What I Learned.

By Jay Kirell

  Most people wouldn’t be inclined to reveal they’ve been in a psych ward.  Since I’ve already revealed I was on food stamps and have PTSD, I might as well go for the resume-killing trifecta and tell this story too.

Earlier this week I drove to my local VA medical center.  I entered through the emergency room.  A few staff members interviewed me and I told them I was suffering from…

Fox News: We Report. You Receive Death Threats

  By Jay Kirell

  War is an ugly thing, but not nearly as ugly as politics.

A week after appearing with President Obama at the White House to announce the release of their son from five years of Taliban captivity, the parents of Bowe Bergdahl have begun to receive death threats.

I’ll repeat that.  The parents of an American POW have been receiving death threats.

You know who you can blame for…

Does Anybody Care How Bowe Bergdahl Was Able To Walk Away In The First Place?

  By Jay Kirell

  There are a thousand different questions surrounding Bowe Bergdahl.

You know the one that sprang to my mind first when I heard the story of him supposedly just up and walking away from his outpost in 2009?

Who let him walk away?

That’s a question nobody is asking in this story.

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Why They Hate: 8 Reasons Bergdhal’s Fellow Soldiers Are Refusing To Stand By Him

By Jay Kirell

  If you’ve never been in the Army, you might be surprised that Bowe Bergdahl’s harshest critics are those who served with him.

Soldiers are supposed to have each other’s backs.  They’re a band of brothers, after all.  Turning so harshly on one of their own, especially one held captive by the Tailban for half a decade, seems – at the very least – unusual for those not familiar with…

The Bergdahl Truth: Proceed With Caution When Relying On Testimony of Those Who Served With Him

  By Jay Kirell

  There’s a lot that really bothers me about this Bowe Bergdahl story.

It’s icky.  It’s slimy.  It’s filled with half-truths, rumors and five years of pent-up confusion and anger.

It bothers me that there was a foolishly-rushed news conference that Obama conducted with Bergdahl’s parents after the announcement of the transfer was made.

It bothers me that pundits and media types…

Bowe Bergdahl & The Flight of the Blue Falcons

  By Jay Kirell

  You get all types in the Army.

You find out who those types really are when a war breaks out.

Some will have your back.  Others will stab you there.

The Bowe Bergdahl story is no exception.

I became vaguely aware of Bergdahl’s story shortly after I enlisted.  In the back of the Army Timesnewspaper I used to pick up at the commissary the name “Bowe Bergdahl” was featured in the…

The Firing of Eric Shinseki: Guilty of The Crime of Being VA Secretary In An Election Year

  By Jay Kirell

  In a news conference at the White House today, President Obama announced the firing of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shineski.

“He’s a good person,”  Obama said.

It didn’t matter.

What does matter is what this firing means for veterans.

Ultimately it means one of the most qualified, dedicated and accomplished men in government – a man who, if he weren’t the current…

The Most Intense Photograph You’ll See This Year

The story surrounding this photo is unclear, but most captions seem to indicate it being a Haitian woman defending her son in the Dominican Republican.

h/t @Blackgoddess93 via twitter

A Look Back At The Mixed History of VA Secretaries

By Jay Kirell

  In the 25-year history of the cabinet-level position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs, there have been seven men tasked with overseeing the VA.

If you can recall the six men to hold the job before current VA secretary Eric Shinseki, good job, because you’re either Ken Jennings or you happened to be one of those six guys.

It’s not exactly a glamorous position, being 17th in the…

Everything You Need To Know About The VA Inspector General’s Interim Report

  By Jay Kirell

Earlier this afternoon the Veterans Affairs Inspector General released an interim report on the status of the investigation into the Phoenix VA scandal.  The investigation was in response to reports that as many as 40 veterans died while being placed on a secret waiting for care in the Phoenix facility.

Today’s 35-page report included many new revelations about the Phoenix…

My Memorial Day & The Odds Of Survival In War

By Jay Kirell

  Sometimes the odds of survival in war come down to the smallest details.  Details that begin, appropriately, in the beginning.

After graduating basic training, like sea turtles hatching from clusters of eggs on the beach - hundreds of brand new soldiers spread out across the country towards their first unit.

In my case, I was at Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training – where…