We’re privileged to announce the release of As You Were: The Military Review, Vol. 19.
This installment includes the works of nearly three dozen writers, artists, and poets, individuals who have chosen to artistically convey what they know and feel. These works are not simply war stories. The presence of militaries in societies has incredibly broad impacts whether those forces are at war or not. Service can incur significant health risks. Children’s parents serve at home and abroad, reshaping family dynamics. Spouses and partners deal with absences as well as the joys and potential hardships of their loved ones’ return. Friends and neighbors agonize over the fate of children born into military families, wondering if they’ll carry on a fraught legacy. These many perspectives are representative of only a few of the many ways in which military service affects us all.
The works included in this edition are also emblematic of the intense efforts involved in crafting creative work. Each finished piece or poem comes only at the end of a long, difficult process involving countless drafts and iterations before their creators submitted them to us. In most cases they have continued the process of revision with our editors, who collaborate with them through draft after draft, honing their skills in their respective crafts and polishing their works in preparation to bring them to you, our readers.
Everyone involved shares in the conviction that this is a necessary labor in order to ensure that our society is informed, and that the human experience is recorded. We deeply appreciate your role in this endeavor and hope you can find entertainment, enrichment, and edification in the pages of As You Were: The Military Review, Vol. 19.