If every soldier is authorized to make one mistake, then we lose the war.

Any war or conflict you enter where you are likely to lose more Americans and expend more treasure is something worthy of very detailed debate. There ought to be a lot of skepticism. There ought to be a lot of discussion.

My very identity as a soldier came to an abrupt end. I'd been soldiering as long as I'd been shaving. Suddenly I'd been told I could no longer soldier, and it felt as though no one really cared if I ever shaved again.

I had known Colonel Charlie Flynn since he was a lieutenant 23 years earlier, and I remembered how his first child, Molly, had been born while Charlie was deployed to the first Gulf War.

I knew from history that war comes with frightening regularity, often fought over the same ground and similar causes as previous conflicts.

The reality is when you make 'America First' a bumper sticker and pump it overseas, what you're telling them is 'America Only'.