Turner writes requiem for future soldier

I'm not a veteran, nor have I ever pretended to be. Maybe that's why it's so important for me to read what veterans have to say. That was true of Vietnam, the war of my era, and now of Iraq.

One of the best literary works to come out of Iraq (thus far) is Brian Turner's "Here, Bullet." Turner's an Army combat veteran who landed a book contract while still serving in Iraq with the Third Stryker Brigade combat team of the 2nd Infantry Division. "Here, Bullet" was published in November 2005 by Alice James Books, one of the best of the independent literary publishers. Turner was supposed to be in Austin in March 2006 for a reading at the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs' (AWP) conference. But he was sick at home so a stand-in read some of the poems from "Here, Bullet." Not quite the same.

He's one of the writers for the New York Times' "Home Fires" blog. His latest post was "Requiem for the last American soldier to die in Iraq." Painful and poetic to read. But read it you must (that's an order!) at http://homefires.blogs.nytimes.com/. Scroll down to the Oct. 31 post.