‘At War,’ The Times’s Renegade Blog From the Front Lines, Returns by Lara Takenaga – New York Times
A retired Marine sergeant on what it’s like to kill for the first time, a foreign correspondent on his kidnapping by the Taliban, a veteran’s parents on the suicide of their son — all of these deeply personal firsthand accounts from America’s military conflicts in the Middle East originated on At War, a somewhat rogue operation of a blog that The Times ran from 2009 to 2016.
On March 20, the 15th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, At War officially returns. Now part of The New York Times Magazine, the new iteration will continue to tell stories of the American war experience while expanding its coverage to global conflicts and their outcomes, including the continuing refugee crises. The first essay looks back at March 20, 2003, through the eyes of a veteran Marine lieutenant who led a platoon of six tanks into Baghdad.
“There’s no question At War is more structured than its old self,” C.J. Chivers, a veteran Marine and writer at large for The Magazine who lobbied intensely for the blog’s revival, wrote in an email. “But we hope it can often remain low-ranking, offbeat and at times outright odd. We want to retain the old renegade spirit.”
Lauren Katzenberg, who co-founded the popular military blog Task & Purpose, is the first dedicated editor for At War. She will oversee a team comprising Mr. Chivers, John Ismay and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, all of whom served in the United States armed forces and contributed to the original blog…