Home Fires: Retelling the War

After the multiple Academy Award nominations for two war movies, “The Hurt Locker” and “The Messenger,” the editors of Home Fires asked contributors, all veterans of the wars in either Afghanistan or Iraq, for their thoughts on these movies and the wider subject of war and narrative. What roles have such books and movies played in their own lives? How do they see the retelling and packaging of war stories and their effect on the public consciousness? Do they shed light on or simplify our understanding of actual conflict?
Their responses will appear in the Home Fires series in the week leading up to this year’s awards ceremony, on March 7. They will include:

Maurice Decaul, a first-time contributor, on a childhood steeped in the drama of war literature and the shame he felt following his comparatively “easy” tour in Iraq.

Michael Jernigan on the war movie nobody wants to see.

Brian Turner, after a screening of “The Hurt Locker” in Hanoi, on the unexploded bomb within us.

Erik Malmstrom on “The Hurt Locker,” “The Messenger” and why war doesn’t need Hollywood’s help.

Roman Skaskiw on the war between memory and narrative.
NYT