The After: A Veteran's Notes on Coming Home

When Michael Ramos enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to serve as a chaplain’s bodyguard thirteen days before 9/11, he had no idea he would soon be sent to Iraq. But he embraced the posting, combat service, and career for a decade, until, at age thirty-four, the military told him his skill set was no longer relevant. Through divorce and remarriage, his son’s choice to enlist in the Marines, the loss of friends to war and suicide, and his inability to sleep or rest, Michael struggled with...