I Serve

​​Nadja West spent more than 40 years in the U.S. Army, rising to become the Army's first Black surgeon general and the highest-ranking woman ever to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She retired in 2019 with the rank of lieutenant general. In 1990, West was deployed to Operation Desert Shield with the 197th Infantry Brigade, providing care for troops at a time when women were...

Maj. James Capers Jr. served as a U.S. Marine Corps reconnaissance officer during the Vietnam War. He led Team Broadminded, a specialized group of Force Recon Marines that conducted some of the most dangerous and clandestine missions in Vietnam.   Capers received multiple decorations related to his Vietnam service, including three Purple Hearts. This June, U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Caper...

Kayla Williams served in the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist for five years. She was deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2004.  Officially, women at the time were barred from direct ground combat, based on a 1994 Defense Department ruling. But because there were so few Arabic speakers in the military, Williams ended up joining her male colleagues on patrol in Baghdad. More from Williams: Love My Rifle M...

H.R. McMaster spent 34 years as a U.S. Army officer, with tours of duty in the first Gulf War, Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq.  In 1991, his cavalry troop destroyed an Iraqi Republican Guard armored brigade in 23 minutes at the Battle of 73 Easting—one of the most decisive engagements in modern U.S. military history. He came home with a Silver Star.  And in 2017, McMaster was appointed national...

Elliot Ackerman spent eight years as a U.S. Marine and CIA paramilitary officer, serving five tours of duty across Iraq and Afghanistan, including some of the heaviest urban combat of the post-9/11 wars. In 2004, he fought in the Second Battle of Fallujah and came home with a Silver Star.  More from Ackerman: 2034 Red Dress in Black and White Waiting for Eden I Serve is a production from Foreign P...

Every service member has a story worth telling. On I Serve, a new eight-episode podcast from Foreign Policy and With Honor, men and women from the U.S. and allied armed forces tell those stories in their own words. From tank battles in the Persian Gulf to helicopter extractions under fire in Vietnam, I Serve goes deep into the defining moments and enduring values of the people who wore the uniform...