Matt Ufford, center, was a platoon commander with 1st Tank Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (Courtesy Matt Ufford)
If you follow sports on the Internet, you’ve likely heard of Matt Ufford. The Marine veteran has turned his quick wit into a writing career on sites like Kissing Suzy Kolber, With Leather and SB Nation, churning out both analysis and off-color humor from his lair in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ufford has touched on his military service on occasion in the past. Still, his new piece on GQ.com will probably resonate with the many readers here who were involved in the initial invasion of Iraq 10 years ago this week. Ufford was a platoon commander with 1st Tank Battalion, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif:
I’m divorced from my own memories. The images of death in my head, the memories of killing, feel so distant from my life now that it’s more comfortable to think of them as implanted from someone else’s brain. It’s a funny thing, to be so intensely proud of something you can only see out of focus. The connective tissue is the people who were with you in war, witnesses to the chaos and death. Their memories clarify your own hazy images and—more importantly—assure you that you’re not insane, that that sh– really happened.
Read the whole thing here. Also, if you haven’t yet checked out our series marking the 10th anniversary of the invasion, you can find that here.
