So Long

The Global War on Terror ended for some of us with our enlistments and commissions, and it ended for others when they broke down the boardwalk in Bagram. It ended for others when direct action raids transitioned into advising roles and for many it ended when we watched HKIA fall and witnessed a country we fought for handed over to the Taliban overnight. This collection of poetry is about endings and where we go when it's over. Warriors come in all forms, but there are common threads; these anthologies have served as the rope formed from those threads weaved together in strength and solidarity. "So Long: The Anthology of Poet Warriors (Vol III)" is a farewell to war and the closing of a chapter on romanticized violence and victimhood. It is the welcome party to a new beginning, a send off, a departure toward new definitions of self, of service, and of country.