Gung Ho For Privatization

How a troubled army recruit from a privileged background became an angry advocate for veterans health care privatization.

Demilitarization of Police Means Disrupting the Army-to-Police Pipeline

Demilitarizing police is an urgent demand in this moment. But with the police force and army so entwined — both in terms of personnel and weaponry — demilitarization won’t be easy.

The US Must Do More to Address the Impact of Agent Orange

This week is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. The poisonous Agent Orange used by the US in the war continues to have destructive effects on the Vietnamese people, harms for which the US government still bears responsibility.

The GI Bill Made Art

The GI Bill is proof: if people have access to education and the means to live, they’ll create meaningful art.

To Defeat the Radical Right, End American Empire

The American military has long been fertile ground for the far right. To weaken the radical right’s power, we need to dismantle the warfare state — and build in its place a humane welfare state that provides for all.

The Medicalization of Dissent

Bowe Bergdahl’s case shows how military veterans’ antiwar actions are depoliticized by chalking them up to mental illness.

Comrades at War

Governments want us to respect World War I veterans in an apolitical way. But we should not forget the thousands of veterans who returned home to fight for their rights.

War Is a Racket

The life and times of Smedley Butler.

Trump’s Pentagon Chief Pick Wants to Privatize Veteran Care

Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has come under fire for a checkered past and lack of relevant experience. He’s also shown himself to be zealously committed to privatizing military veterans and service members’ health care.

PTSD Is a Nightmare. A Fully Funded VA Can Provide Relief.

PTSD is a scourge for military veterans. The good news is that the VA system provides specialized, high-quality care for PTSD; the bad news is that corporate-friendly politicians are privatizing this vital public health system.

The Burden of Atrocity

Nick Turse’s otherwise exhaustive account of the atrocities committed in Vietnam gives short shrift to the movement that made those crimes known.

The Exploitation of Veterans Day

How should we observe Veterans Day? By working to eradicate war and the economic system that helps produce it.

The Seventh-Inning Stretch Under Socialism

It’s possible to elevate the working class without the jingoism.

Smedley Butler Helped Build American Empire. Then He Turned Against It.

Smedley Butler was born to privilege and power, becoming a powerful general in the most powerful military in the world. But he realized he was playing a key role in an evil system, US imperialism — and used his privilege and power to speak out against it.

Soldiers of Fortune

In the 1970s, American mercenaries traveled to Angola and Rhodesia, seized by racist, anti-communist dreams and delusions of grandeur.

The University of Phoenix Army

For-profit colleges are making Wall Street firms even richer. Bush’s 2008 GI Bill helped make that possible.

The Myth of the Hardhat Hawk

In the popular imagination, opposition to the Vietnam War was driven largely by the privileged, while supposedly reactionary blue-collar workers supported the war effort. That memory is wrong.

The Killing Never Ends

Veteran Brittany Ramos DeBarros Is Running for Congress to Stop America’s Endless Wars

In New York’s 11th Congressional District, two veterans are competing for the Democratic nomination. One is a centrist who will strengthen the military-industrial complex; the other is a democratic socialist who built her career fighting it.

For the Antiwar Movement, Soldier Trauma Was Another Argument Against War

In the Vietnam War era, radical psychiatrists and antiwar veterans developed a concept of trauma stemming from perpetrating acts of violence. Over the next decade, the idea of soldier trauma was depoliticized and put at odds with antiwar critique.