There’s nothing more punk rock than joining the U.S. Army, writes Colby Buzzell.
Colby Buzzell is the author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq and Lost
In America: A Dead End Journey. He served as an infantryman in the
United States Army during the Iraq War. Assigned to a Stryker Brigade
Combat Team in 2003, Buzzell blogged from the front lines of Iraq as a
replacement for his habitual journaling back in the states. In 2004
Buzzell was profiled in Esquire’s “Best and Brightest” issue and has
since contributed frequently to the magazine. The Washington Post
referred to his article “Digging a Hole All the Way to America” as “A
Tour de Force Travelogue,” and his article “Down & Out In Fresno and
San Francisco” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2010.
His work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and on This
American Life. He currently lives in West Virginia.
The lessons Colby Buzzell learned studying abroad with the Army paid off back home on campus.
Only a handful of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found their way to a job fair intended for them, reports Colby Buzzell.
Detroit is hungry for work, and so are veterans, yet a job fair there for them is expected to have two positions offered for every person who shows up seeking work, reports Colby Buzzell.
Veteran Colby Buzzell on why we shouldn't look away from the photos of soldiers posing with corpses.
From blackmarket $40-a-pack Marlboros to free smokes bummed at car-bomb checkpoints, nicotine is a soldier’s best friend—and addictive in a way a civilian can never understand.