a-story-of-war-and-the-life-that-follows accountability action adventure adversity afghanistan afghanistan-war american american-history american-military american-soldiers anthropology assistance autobiography battle battle-scars belonging biography bomb-disposal bombs bravery brian brotherhood camaraderie castner challenges combat combat-experience combat-experiences combat-stress combat-veterans coming-home coming-of-age community companionship conflict consequences-of-war contemporary coping coping-mechanisms courage death deployment determination duty emotional emotional-healing emotional-impact emotional-journey emotional-scars emotional-trauma empathy endurance existential existentialism exploration exploration-of-self exploration-of-trauma family friendship grit group-dynamics guilt haunted haunting healing history homecoming homeland hope human-connection human-nature human-psyche human-psychology human-resilience human-spirit humanity identity injury inner-demons inner-strength inner-struggles inspiration inspirational introspection introspective iraq iraq-war iraqi-war isolation journey leadership life life-after-war loss love love. loyalty memoir memoir-writer memoir-writing memoirs memoirs-of-war mental-health military military-experience military-experiences military-families military-family military-life military-memoir military-service narrative-nonfiction non-fiction nonfiction overcoming-adversity patriotism perseverance personal-account personal-accounts personal-growth personal-journey personal-memoir personal-narrative personal-stories personal-story personal-struggle personal-transformation perspective physical-&-emotional-scars physical-and-psychological-tolls physical-and-psychological-trauma physical-endurance physical-injuries physical-injury post-conflict post-traumatic post-traumatic-stress post-traumatic-stress-disorder post-traumatic-stress-disorder-(ptsd) post-war post-war-life post-war-trauma postwar profound psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychology ptsd readjustment reconciliation recovery redemption rediscovery reflection reflections rehabilitation relationships resilience sacrifice self-discovery self-reflection sense-of-purpose service social-bonds society soldier soldiers soldiers-experience soldiers-journey soldiers-perspective storytelling struggle survival the-long-walk the-long-walk:-a-story-of-war-and-the-life-that-follows therapy tragedy transformatio transformation trauma tribal-instincts tribe triumph true-story unity us-army us-military veteran veterans violence war war-aftermath war-experiences war-literature war-stories war-veterans