Smithsonian Magazine’s Special January/February Issue – America at War
Smithsonian Magazine’s special January/February issue – America at war brings into focus who is fighting and the why, where, and what they’ve left behind.
In “Military Intelligence,” Smithsonian reveals a new poll, conducted in partnership with Stars and Stripes, in which troops and veterans take aim at military policy and conditions in the armed services, including support of President Trump’s deployment of armed forces at the U.S. border with Mexico, approval of transgender people in the military and revealing stats about females experience with sexual discrimination while in the military. You can see the poll here.
In “Name, Rank and Gender,” photographs by Jeff Sheng spotlight transgender service members and delve into how the service of transgender troops has become the military’s most controversial issue. You can read the entire piece here.
For centuries immigrants who who served in the military could become American citizens. But are the women and men photographed in this article by Christie Hemm Klok among the last? In “Fighting to Be American,” Robb Bradley explores the military’s imperiled path to citizenship. You can read the entire piece here.
In “A Warrior Comes Home,” photojournalist Victor J. Blue documents the journey of a wounded Marine’s return. You can read the entire piece here.
Jennifer Percy delves into the story of an army interrogator in Iraq’s most notorious prison, who came face to face with a shocking truth about the war — and himself, in “The Priest of Abu Ghraib.” You can read the entire piece here.
Twenty five years after Black Hawk Down, the disastrous battle chronicled in the best-selling book, the author, Mark Bowden, argues in “The Legacy of Black Hawk Down,” that we’ve learned the wrong lessons about fighting terrorism overseas. You can read the entire piece here.
In “Where We Fight,” Stephanie Savell along with 5W Infographics reveal a new map that shows, for the first time, that the United States is now combating terrorism in 40 percent of the world’s nations. You can read the entire piece here.
Rebecca Frankel, author of the best seller War Dogs, recounts how things got wild when she brought a seasoned veteran dog of combat in Afghanistan, into her home, in “War Dog.” You can read the entire piece here.
In “What We Leave Behind,” C.J. Chivers explores the archaeology of our latest wars and explains that the once-fortified outposts that protected U.S. troops are now relics of our ambitions in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can read the entire piece here.
Americans have erected countless monuments to wars gone by. In, “War and Remembrance.” Elliot Ackerman ask, “How we can pay tribute to the fallen in a conflict that might never end?” You can read the entire piece here.