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[ Vietnam:
The Peace
)
First published
in the Washington Post Magazine spring travel issue, March
27, 2011
Vietnam
wasn't an obvious destination for her and her husband, who was
just back from a MASH-type unit in Afghanistan. But it offered
what they needed.
*
* *
...Enjoying
a vacation in what used to be enemy territory may be a small,
banal act, but somehow it's restoring my faith in a larger truth:
that war wounds can be healed. My husband is one deck below,
taking pictures of the passing, dreamy bay. In Afghanistan, one of
his collateral duties was taking pictures in the operating room:
amputations, brain surgeries, exposed beating hearts. He spent his
time over there in the bloody O.R., in the morgue, at the bedside
of dying Afghan soldiers. He hasn't talked about it much in the
weeks since coming home. He's still in the numb phase...
Read
the entire article in the Washington
Post Magazine. To return to this website after
reading, click the back arrow on your browser.
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[ The
Battle Ahead: This Is War ]
First
published in the Washington
Post Magazine, July 4, 2010.
As
a civilian USAID worker in Afghanistan, you can expect tough
negotiations with tribal leaders, anger from villagers and
constant enemy fire. And that's before you actually get there.
*
* *
The
two-story yellow-brick building had seen better days. Laura
Mendelson followed the American soldiers guarding her and
the rest of the team of U.S. government employees up the crumbling
concrete steps. The dimly lighted lobby was loud with the strident
voices of a crowd of women in headscarves and long tunics. They
shouted for the team's attention. They wanted something.
"Don't stop," said the soldiers. "Keep
moving..."
Read
the entire article in the Washington
Post Magazine. To return to this website after
reading, click the back arrow on your browser.
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[ A
Change in Mission ]
First
published in the Washington Post Magazine, June 21, 2009.
Lt. Arthur Karell and his Marine battalion were sent to Now Zad, Afghanistan, to train Afghan police. Instead, they had to fight the insurgents who had taken over the town.
*
* *
"Fix bayonets."
Not long after giving that order, 1st Lt. Arthur Karell was hunched in a dirt trench crowded with Marines. The hushed darkness bristled with eight-inch blades fitted beneath the barrels of dozens of M-16 assault rifles.
You fix bayonets when you expect to need the aggressive combat mind-set that's produced by the primal sight of massed blades...
The problem was, Karell didn't know what to expect. He was from Arlington. He'd traveled the world. This place, though, was like nowhere he'd ever been...
Read
the entire article and view the slide show in the Washington
Post Magazine. You can also read a transcript
of Kristin's live online chat with readers of the article, hosted
by washingtonpost.com. To return to this website after
reading, click the back arrow on your browser.
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[ Us
and Them: Their War ]
First
published in the Washington Post Magazine, July 22, 2007.
Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population serves in our military. In a time of war, what should that mean to the rest of us?
*
* *
Miles
of chain-link fence run through the coastal Carolina pine forest. Armed Marines guard the gates. Pass through those gates, and, at first, you might not realize you've left the civilian world behind. Inside this cluster of military installations are tidy neighborhoods, shopping centers and a golf
course. But deep in the fenced-off woods, at the edge of a firing range, a sergeant stands over a Marine. The cords in his neck strain as he roars: "You don't have time to watch your rounds go downrange! You got Iraqis shooting at you! Reload!"...
Read
the entire article in the Washington
Post Magazine. You can also read a transcript
of Kristin's live online chat with readers of the article, hosted
by washingtonpost.com, or listen to the radio
discussion
on Australian radio. To return to this website after
reading, click the back arrow on your browser.
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[
Anticipatory
Grief ]
First
published on Military.com, July 2007.
While my husband, a Navy chaplain, was in Iraq with the Marines, I imagined a knock at my door. I imagined uniformed Marines telling me that my husband was dead. I imagined the funeral.
I cried in the shower, sometimes felt like I couldn't get enough air, and one day in church had an almost uncontrollable urge to get up and run out.
Not only did I not know all this craziness had a name -- anticipatory grief -- I didn't know there were techniques to cope with it...
Read
the entire essay on Military.com.
To return to this website after
reading, click the back arrow on your browser.
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[ Deployment
Survival Guide ]
First
published in Military Spouse Magazine, May/June 2006.
Stress or trauma isn't just "in your
head." When you imagine your spouse getting injured or killed
in a war zone, your body responds as if it's really happening.
Changes rush throughout your brain, body, and nervous system.
Glands release hormones, your heart beats faster, less blood flows
to your arms and legs. Your bowels may act up, you may get
heartburn, acid indigestion, and find it hard to relax or sleep. A
few simple techniques can help you
start getting all that stress under control...
Read
the entire article.
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Read
Kristin's columns on Military.com.
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