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Baghdad, Mexico
A story about Juárez made the rounds in El Paso last summer. Surrounded by guards, a well-dressed, impeccably polite man enters a restaurant. He apologizes as the guards round up cell phones and...
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Today in Perry: The Governor’s Campaign Continues Sliding
Evangelicals Choose a Different RickA large group of evangelical leaders gathered on the Brenham ranch of former judge Paul Pressler over the weekend and delivered Rick Perry a resounding blow on his...
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Parents of Slain Soldier Sue Dating Sites for Using Son’s Photo in Ads
In 2007, Army lieutenant Peter Burks was killed when an IED exploded next to his Humvee in Baghdad. But, almost five years later, a smiling photo of Burks in his military fatigues popped up on two...
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Remembering Chris Kyle
The memorial service for Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American military history was held this afternoon at Cowboys Stadium, a venue fitting for a man with a larger-than-life presence. As a Navy...
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The Mistress and the Narcotraficante
This story is adapted from Ricardo C. Ainslie’s The Fight to Save Juarez (UT Press). Elena first met Hernán at a bar. She was in her early twenties, hanging out in a Juárez club frequented by people...
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The Call of Battle
The last time I shot my rifle in war, I killed an old man. I wasn’t the only one shooting, but I could see my rounds riddle into him through the scope of my M4 carbine as he barreled toward us in his...
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The Long Return
Staff sergeant Christopher Schwope was a good guy with a tough job when I met him in late 2005. Back then he was a young Army recruiter working the North Side of San Antonio, and I was writing a story...
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Every year on the Fourth of July, the Austin neighborhood where I live has a fairly extensive parade. It’s about as all-American a scene as you can imagine: flags, classic cars, little kids riding on...
View ArticleGiving a Voice to Texas Veterans
Earlier this year, StoryCorps traveled to Texas to record the stories of former military soldiers and officers as part of the Military Voices Initiative, an offshoot of the nonprofit’s greater mission...
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Shooting At Washington Naval Yard Recalls Fort Hood
Update, 4:25pm: Washington police have confirmed to the AP that the shooter was 34-year-old Fort Worth native Aaron Alexis. Alexis was arrested in Tarrant County in 2010 for allegedly firing a weapon...
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Can a Female Soldier Really Be “Recruited” into Prostitution by a Superior?
Late in the day on Tuesday, a military jury found Master Sgt. Brad Grimes, who is stationed at Ft. Hood, guilty of conspiring to patronize a prostitute and solicit adultery. But the revelations that...
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Ted Nugent Will Be Speaking at a League City Event For Veterans, Which Means...
The fact that just seeing the words “Ted Nugent” tends to stir strong feelings in the reader probably the best thing in Ted Nugent’s life right now—except maybe for the chance to play “Stranglehold”...
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Police Should Be Educated About Laws Surrounding Service Animals
Here’s a charming anecdote about Governor Rick Perry: When signing legislation that involves animals, he likes to get a dog to put its paw in ink and co-sign the legislation with him. (In the above...
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Here’s Everything We Know At This Point About The Shooting At Fort Hood
From now on, the rampage of former U.S. Army Major and psychologist Nidal Hasan that claimed the lives of 13 people and injured more than 30 more will forever be known as the “2009 Fort Hood...
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Watch The Trailer For The Forthcoming Afghanistan War Movie ‘Fort Bliss’
There are only a smattering of films and television programs that depict El Paso, and most of the ones that do focus on just one aspect of the city: Namely, its proximity to Juarez, and subsequently...
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War Without End
Dave spent 21 years in the Army, served in both Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and retired at the rank of major.* As a communications officer for the support command of the 1st Cavalry...
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The Texas National Guard in the Valley Reached Out to a Local Food Bank While...
Governor Rick Perry’s decision to send National Guard troops down to the Rio Grande Valley has been a controversial one since it was first announced. Critics included sheriffs along the border, who...
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The Trailer for Clint Eastwood’s ‘American Sniper’ Gets Inside the Life and...
Clint Eastwood’s recent career has seen the filmmaker take creative detours in unexpected places: His last four films were a musical, a biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, a supernatural thriller, and a sports...
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‘American Sniper’ Is Blowing Away Box Office Records
American Sniper was destined to be a hit. The movie has an A-list director, an A-list star, and tells a complex story about a decorated veteran widely regarded as a hero by many Americans. But the...
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What You Should Know About the Bowe Bergdahl Charges
Yesterday, the news broke that Bowe Bergdahl, the American prisoner of war who was captured by Taliban-aligned forces in 2009 and released in 2014, following the Obama administration’s release of five...
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