The Army seemed like an attractive proposition to young Joy Damiani. Recruited for the job of Army journalist in the aftermath of 9/11, she enlisted and was sent to Baghdad as a public affairs specialist - "just like journalism," the recruiter swore. From naive recruit to disgruntled veteran, If You Ain't Cheatin', You Ain't Tryin' chronicles one skeptical soldier's uncensored misadventures in creatively coping with life, the military, and a mission full of oxymorons in the early years of ...

American veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan offer invaluable firsthand perspectives on what made America’s post-9/11 wars so costly and disastrous.Twenty years of America’s Global War on Terror produced little tangible success while exacting enormous harm. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States sustained tens of thousands of casualties, expended trillions of dollars, and inflicted massive suffering on the very populations that we sought to “liberate.” ...