Reflections on Afghanistan and Nation-Building

Periodically around these parts the audience demand for unpaywalling certain subscribers-only episodes becomes too clamorous to ignore. So it was with Members Only #286, our gripping conversation with celebrated author Sebastian Junger about his harrowing new book, In My Time of Dying.

“Please consider making this a non-members only episode,” wrote beloved subscriber James G. “Ditto,” seconded Daniel Cavelli. “I wanna send this to many people.” Similar beseechings from random_academic, Jake O’Finkelstein, [Dr.] Jeff Singer, Lara Merkel Ross, and Oren, who added: “I have a friend who barely survived a massive heart attack last month. And I can think of many others who will be inspired by this incredible conversation.”

To our longtime paying customers: We hear you! Please share the episode widely, either as a one-off or a come-on!

To our many brand new paying subscribers, brought here by a generous gift, welcome to this weird & wonderful community, and please enjoy full run of the Comments and Chat. And to those seeing/hearing us for the first time, or just flying in the very back of the plane, here is the type of content that can come with a paid subscription. As our dear old D.C. pal Maura Flynn put it, “You make my support increasingly worthwhile and I encourage everyone who can to contribute on the highest possible level. Great stuff, rock on!”

You know what to do.

•You can always start drinking again

•Enough to make ⅔ of these grown men cry

•Sebastian’s (most recent) near-death experience

•Danger in, insight out

•Momento Mori

•There’s nothing so dangerous as a wounded Apache

•Don’t have an aortic rupture in Truro in July

•ICU humor

•Hi dad

•An existential digression

•Better than the one with Will Farrel

•Ideological Duolingo

•Hot tip from an immigration officer

•Old-time antisemitism

•Bestselling author sleeps with chainsaw

•Sarajevo & the Spanish Civil War

•Men’s Journal and the good old days of war reporting

•The folly of Afghanistan and nation-building on the cheap

•Some things are sacred

•Investigating near death experiences

•Don’t test Santa Claus

•Etymology of a curse

•Atheists, physicists, and consciousness

•God of the gaps

•Yes, we are literally talking about quantum physics

•The science of myth

•The reason for the need the idea of heaven

•Restrepo

•Why we all need a tribe

•Things were better when they were bad

•If you’re not sufficiently terrified, you’re not getting it.

•A tribute to dangerous jobs

•Making meaning in a meaningless universe

•A Bostonian goodbye

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