“Too much complacency regarding our military, and too weak a tragic imagination about the consequences if the next engagement goes wrong, have been part of Americans’ willingness to wade into conflict after conflict, blithely assuming we would win.” In The Atlantic, James Fallows takes a look at what he calls The Tragedy of the American Military. One aspect of that tragedy: Not many of us are paying attention. From one Marine who served in Iraq: “Did we have the sense that America cared how we were doing? We did not.”

+ “We operated in a very chaotic environment, dealing with some of the most dangerous things in life — fire, oil, and gas, in addition to airstrikes.” From Buzzfeed: Meet the oil engineer ISIS wanted to hire.