New Pew Research Center poll finds 43% of Americans have lost jobs or wages due to #COVID. The real Q Reid Wilson is how much less they may earn when they reenter the labor market? FTR, among those who lost full-time jobs after the Great Recession earned 21.8% less.

"On these days, it’s hard to feel like we—the infantry—are doing anything meaningful at all. We’re just here, way out here, disconnected from the world, digging holes in the ground, providing 'security,'" John Vrolyk writes for The War Horse. thewarhorse.org/marine-corps-o…

An exceptional story. John Vrolyk strikes at an essential undercurrent found in any modern U.S. combat. deployment - this one resonated with me. The War Horse. thewarhorse.org/marine-corps-o…

"I’m surrounded by 15 full sandbags, the untied green tops sticking up like new shoots of a plastic plant. I’m holding my e-tool just above the blade like a trowel and I feel like a demented gardener trying to grow plants that won’t be harvested..." thewarhorse.org/marine-corps-o…

"The U.S. military and broader national security community should expand their thinking about military competition with China." tnsr.org/2021/03/the-fu…

Excellent first person account of Marines ops by John Vrolyk thewarhorse.org/marine-corps-o…

"We spend a lot of our time wondering, mostly alone, sometimes aloud, if what we’re doing makes any difference, to anyone, at all." What its like inside the Marine Corps’ fight to ‘degrade and defeat ISIS’ using ‘Reagan-flavored’ Kool-Aid taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-co…

Just posted a photo @ Camp Pendleton instagram.com/p/CNSJdYggNC5N…

Thrilled to publish a new essay in this month’s Wrath Bearing Tree looking for what meaning can be found in loss or sacrifice. wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-no…

** APRIL 2021 Wrath Bearing Tree IS UP! ** Reviews: Adrian Bonenberger on Brian Castner 's STAMPEDE. & Michael Carson on Nico Walker's CHERRY. New essay from John Vrolyk: "Black Bracelets." Poetry from Kevin Honold: "Elegy for the Emperor Frederick II." wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-po…

Great essay by John Vrolyk on deployments, FOMO, and the changing meaning of memorial bracelets in an ever-youthful Marine Corps where combat experience has dwindled to a rarity wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-no…

A powerful piece of writing on why young infantrymen long for war. “Stay awhile, you’ll get your chance.” wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-no…

In "Black Bracelets," John Vrolyk analyzes military culture through the lens of the Marine Corps' policy to allow black memorial bracelets as part of the official uniform. Smart, thoughtful essay in the April Wrath Bearing Tree : wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-no…

"Napoleon said armies fight on their stomachs and for little pieces of colored fabric and he wasn’t wrong" Check out April nonfiction-John Vrolyk: the illuminative "Black Bracelets" wrath-bearingtree.com/2021/04/new-no… John Vrolyk Wrath Bearing Tree Andria Williams Matthew J. Hefti Adrian Bonenberger @thebenleroy

On Tuesday, I'll be pitching the establishment of a Democracy Seed Fund aimed at innovatively disrupting digital authoritarianism as part of CNAS's "The Pitch" competition during the #CNAS2021 conference! Listen in from 11-2pm EST at: conference.cnas.org

NEW: Finalists for The Pitch have been announced. Congratulations to all our contestants, and tune in next Tuesday at 11:00am ET to watch them present their pitches. conference.cnas.org/session/the-pi…

Thank you to CNAS for the opportunity to pitch my idea for using a VC-model to fund startups bent on disrupting digital authoritarianism. If you liked it, vote at menti.com/9vx15uxivn!

Congratulations to Jasmine Butler and Carisa Nietsche on being selected as winners of the 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich Jr award!