In The Long Walk, Brian Castner writes about his three Middle East deployments while in the Air Force, during which he became commander of an explosive ordnance disposal unit. He and his squad endured the extreme tension and danger of bomb removal in an active combat zone. Castner now lives near Buffalo with his wife and four sons, but the memories of war still linger. . . . more »

Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East, two of them as the commander of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. Days and nights he and his team—his brothers—would venture forth in heavily armed convoys from their Forward Operating Base to engage in the nerve-racking yet strangely exhilarating work of either disarming the deadly improvised explosive devices that had been discovered, . . . more »

Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East, two of them as the commander of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. Days and nights he and his team—his brothers—would venture forth in heavily armed convoys from their Forward Operating Base to engage in the nerve-racking yet strangely exhilarating work of either disarming the deadly improvised explosive devices that had been discovered, . . . more »

After the Civil War, men returning from combat suffered from “Soldier’s Heart.” In World War I, some experienced “Shell Shock” and in Worl