Back from war

Only those who have been to war know war. Elliott Woods, now a journalist, spent six years in the National Guard. He knows war. In a recent piece for Granta, Woods shares a glimpse: "In March 2005, I came home from Iraq and spent a few months drinking up my savings and traveling the world—making up for lost time—before I began studying at the University of Virginia. The hard part wasn't dealing with the things I'd seen—it was moving amid crowds of civilians who had no idea there was a war going on, and didn't want to be reminded. Although I was only three or four years older than my classmates in terms of age that first year of school, I felt a hundred years older in terms of experience. I had friends who'd been blown up by a suicide bomber, and there was no good reason it wasn't me. Nothing else seemed remotely serious."