“I didn’t think being outside for five or 10 minutes would be such a risk. That was a miscalculation.” French aid worker and amateur photographer Pierre Borghi was captured by the Taliban and held for four months. In this BBC piece, he recounts his capture, escape, and the way what he calls “The Taliban Diet” helped save his life.

+ “After two long tours in Iraq in which I saw civilians killed, humvees explode, and friends lose their lives. I struggled through anger and depression until I finally found my way — only to realize that I was losing touch with the war that had made me who I was. Then I knew: I had to go back.” In Texas Monthly, Matt Cook describes how (and why) he went from being a soldier to being an embedded journalist.