War Stories

Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau is the Ernie Pyle of the Mid-East war.

Like Pyle, who covered WWII from the perspective of the common grunt, Doonesbury chronicles Afghanistan and Iraq from the viewpoint of the men and women who are fighting there. And he tells their stories for real.

BD loses a leg and develops post-combat anger. Havoc deals with corrupt warlords and incompetent underlings, like Jeff Redfern, who's set up a fictitious identity for himself as the Red Rascal. Toggle strives to recover from aphasia after having a bomb explode in too-close quarters. Melissa, raped by her commanding officer, seeks counseling and eventually re-ups.

Years ago, certain factions called Trudeau unpatriotic because of his take on soldiers' lives, but apparently the troops loved it. After all, they're the ones who smuggled him into the country to see for himself.