American - Writer | 1983 -
I'm not anti-war. I served in a war, and I served proudly. But just or not, necessary or not, war is the industrial-scale slaughter of other humans.
Phil Klay
WarJustNecessaryOtherHumans
I never thought anyone would pity me because of my time in the Marine Corps.
TimeMeThoughtNeverMarine Corps
I suppose it is the lot of soldiers and Marines to be objectified according to the politics of the day and the mood of the American people about their war.
DayPoliticsWarPeopleAmerican
Pity addresses the perceived suffering, not the whole individual.
SufferingIndividualWholePity
Pity sidesteps complexity in favor of narratives that we're comfortable with, reducing the nuances of a person's experience to a sound bite.
ExperiencePersonComfortableSound
I didn't want to write a 'this is how it is' Iraq book, because the Iraq War is an intensely complicated variety of things.
WarBookComplicatedWantWriteHow
Going to war is a rare experience in American culture, so it's easy for simple notions to gain a lot of weight. The reality is always more complex.
CultureExperienceSimpleWarEasy
It's very strange getting out of the military, when you've lived in Iraq, and people you know are going overseas again and again. Some of them are getting injured.
PeopleYouKnowStrangeMilitary
I like the ethos of the military and the idea of joining an institution in which, at the very least, everyone who signs up believes in something.
MilitarySignsEveryoneUpSomething
I literally went straight to New York City from Iraq, which was bizarre and complicated. I was walking down Madison Avenue, and it was spring, and people were smartly dressed, and it was so strange because there was no sense that we were at war. It was something to grapple with.
WarNew YorkSpringPeopleCityNew
For me, leaving the Marine Corps was more disorienting than returning home.
HomeMeLeavingReturningMoreThan
I've certainly thought a lot more about things like tyranny and patriotism and violence. I think I found some kind of clarity - definitely a thicker understanding.
PatriotismThinkThoughtViolence
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