In part three of my epic conversation with Brian Turner, we begin by discussing how the Soldier Poet bears witness,
----more----and how ideas of complicity distinguish this from other kinds of war writing.
We then moved on to:
- what inspired Turner to write about war
- the stories being told by Iraqis about the war
- the war as perceived by the Generals and soldiers on the ground
- Mosul, the media and bearing witness
- how the war will be assessed by historians
- drones, video games and technology
- war films and the reality of film
- war, boredom and the intensity of the moment
- how poetry investigates the moment
- suicide and stress of war
- what Turner can and can't talk about
- 'the war has a tombstone over it'
- why the Iraq war has not ended
- Turner's own return home
- did you suffer any post-traumatic stress
- 'If you're going to send people off to war, they are going to come back with baggage'
- Veterans in need of help
- how we treat our veterans reflects the health of our nation
