Celestial Lands The Religious Crossroads of Politics, Power, and Theology

Tag Archives: Warrior

Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq

This is a repost of an Article from last year. Today makes it four years since my friend Travis was killed in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. I wear his memory bracelet through November and December. Rest in Peace, Trav. On December 6th, 2006, a friend, military partner, former Read more →

A Soldier’s Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq

On December 6th, 2006, a friend, military partner, former roommate, and man I owe my life to was killed by an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq. His name was Travis Patriquin, and he and I served in the 7th Special Forces Group as enlisted and support soldiers (he as Read more →

It’s Time We Studied War

The few weeks around Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day tend to be heavy preaching for me. In several of the services this year, I was reminded of one of our standard hymns during this time, declaring that we will “Study War No More”. What struck me is that, though it Read more →

Returning Home, Warriorship, and the Society for Creative Anachronism

The morning after I came home from serving as a Peacekeeper in Bosnia, a friend knocked on my door at some early hour. I wanted to sleep in, but he had another plan. There was something we absolutely had to go do, something he had become involved in that he Read more →

Heroic Repression

Recently I have been thinking about American culture around military issues these last six years since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq. Specifically, I have been thinking about what it means to be a hero, and why some segments of American culture have attempted to make “heroes” of every Read more →