Back Home From Iraq: Soldiers’ Stories

November 12th, 2007 by Larry Smith

vet_cartoonjpg.jpgIn honor of Veteran’s Day, I thought I’d mention some highlights from some of the work I’m most proud of at SMITH, Michael Slenske’s outstanding Back Home From Iraq series. For the past 18 months, Slenske has engaged some of the United States’ most controversial, interesting, and intense vets in long conversations about their time serving in Iraq—and their life back home. In his most recent interview, Slenske talks to Cpl. Jacob Schick, a 24-year-old machine gunner who served with the 1/23rd Marines, Bravo Company, and one of the soldiers profiled in HBO’s Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq. (A soldier’s “alive day” is the day they barely escaped death on the battlefield.). Earlier this year, Slenske’s talked to Todd Bowers, a Marine reservist whose slideshow, Iraqi Graffiti, is a look at the war unlike any I bet you’ve seen, John Bruhns, the winner of a MoveOn video contest, and soldier-turned-playwright Sean Huze. They are just of few among many other colorful characters with personal, unpredictable war stories to tell, all of whom SMITH has been honored to showcase.

Vet cartoon via Flickr user goeatsmsht.

 
SMITH Magazine

SMITH Magazine is a home for storytelling.
We believe everyone has a story, and everyone
should have a place to tell it.
We're the creators and home of the
Six-Word Memoir® project.