Among these stories you’ll find shipbuilders and sailors, pilots, wild dogs, battles—both physical and emotional, misunderstandings, fistfights, and the wounds of unrequited love. There are parades and hurricanes, people getting high and some merely getting by, as well as the human sacrifices made, the losses endured, the hardships faced because of or in spite of some connection to the military.

Stories by Mary Akers, Pinckney Benedict, Zoey Byrd, Tracy Crow, Sarah Davis, Amber Dermont, Doug Frelke, Valerie Hamilton, Hannah Huber, Gabe Hudson, Kevin C. Jones, Tim O'Brien, Robert O'Connor, Bruce Overby, Chris Offutt, Benjamin Percy, Max Ruback, James Salter, Roman Skaskiw, Peter Schilling, Tom Sheehan, Kurt Vonnegut, Balise Weller, and Tobias Wolff.