War, U.S.A, was replaced in February 2022 by Forged, which contains an archive of many of the original reporting presented here. Please subscribe.
Battlefields at home and abroad can feel the same even if they look different. The term war is not easy to define: is a nation at war after a targeted strike, a series of strikes, once it advances into another nation’s sovereign territory, or only when it declares itself “at war”? Is a conflict the preamble to war, or war itself?
A colleague recently expressed concern about the prospect of the United States entering a civil war. Society feels on the brink of collapse, he said, noting the rise in gun sales and ammunition shortages nationwide. I dismissed his worries as alarmist. If war were coming, I reasoned, certainly the signs would be more clear.
Five years spent reporting from the Middle East hasn’t stripped me of my naivety, but there remains for me one thing I know about conflict and war: nothing is certain and everything is complicated.
The story of American warfare is not isolated in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, even as U.S. foreign policy shifts away from those conflicts. It is the story of the American struggle toward a cohesive identity, of interests both inside the beltway and scattered across the heartland.
With that, I welcome you to War, U.S.A., by me, Kenneth R. Rosen. War, U.S.A. is a newsletter about conflict and the American experience of war at home and abroad. The newsletter aims to first serve those within the policy-making community and in the news media, and more broadly to those in- and out-of-uniform.
More importantly, it’s a venue for journalistic dialogue that cannot be achieved at legacy media: War, U.S.A. reports on subjects of interest to its readers, answering questions and gathering a consensus for use in other reporting or analysis. Think of this as a miniature amphitheater: anyone from the community can contribute.
The newsletter is also a springboard to policy debates and lessons about those who have been touched by America’s involvement in centuries of war.
More About War, U.S.A.
Launched in June 2021, War, U.S.A. is a home for original reportage on American conflicts and those involved in any capacity with those conflicts.
My previous publishing schedule is included original reporting on Mondays, a Q&A or resurfacing of an old piece on Wednesdays, and a Friday roundup of military and veteran news. In August, 2021, the schedule changed to about twice-weekly. In 2022, I announced the newsletter would become a monthly dispatch as I tackled longer-term projects.
This newsletter is supported by a generous group of subscribers (like you). And do remember, this is a two-way street. I look forward to hearing from you. For inclusion in the newsletter, send pitches, submissions, tips, and articles, to kenneth.r.rosen@gmail.com.
