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  • Ah Long spent years building a life in Shanghai. Then the pandemic arrived. China's Zero-COVID policy cost him his job, his relationship, and eventually his faith that he could build a future there. So he did something almost unimaginable: he set out alone for the United States, crossing the Darién Gap, surviving robberies, and surrendering[...]
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Monologues (The War Horse Sessions): The Reason Why Soldiers’ Christmas Care Packages Wind Up in the Trash

Leftover Halloween candy isn't as exciting a gift as it seems.

Words: Laicie Heeley
Date:

When former US Navy Intelligence Officer Andrew McCormick spent the holiday season in Kandahar in 2013, attempts at holiday cheer were everywhere. But few were more out-of-touch than the generic care packages sent from civilians who knew nothing about him — or the war he was fighting. 

Part of our series of monologues in partnership with The War Horse. 

Additional Resources

Care Packages a Powerful Symbol of the Military-Civilian Divide, Andrew McCormick, The War Horse, 2020 

Image: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Boase, an intelligence chief, Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team “Rakkasans,” 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), walks with two soldiers dressed as “Santa’s Helpers” while they deliver care packages at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, Dec. 25, 2012. Photo by Spc. Brian Smith-Dutton, courtesy of US Army.

Author bio

Laicie Heeley

Editor in Chief

Laicie Heeley is the founding CEO of Inkstick Media, where she serves as Editor in Chief of the foreign policy magazine Inkstick and Executive Producer and Host of the PRX- and Inkstick-produced podcast, Things That Go Boom. Heeley’s reporting has appeared on public radio stations across America and the BBC, where she’s explored global security issues including domestic terrorism, disinformation, nuclear weapons, and climate change. Prior to launching Inkstick, Heeley was a Fellow with the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program and Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Her publications include work on sanctions, diplomacy, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, along with the first full accounting of US counterterrorism spending after 9/11.

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