On November 12, 2015, the Atlantic Council’s Art of Future Warfare Project hosted an event entitled “After the War: Veterans and Post-Conflict Issues of the Future.” The panel featured Dr. Linda Spoonster Schwartz, Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning, and three acclaimed authors of publications focused on combat and what happens to troops and civilians during the fight. The event delved into an overlooked issue in the exploration of future wars: what happens when conflicts end? Particularly, how will veterans reintegrate back into American society? Moderated by the Art of Future Warfare’s Director August Cole, the panelists exchanged views on these issues by recounting their own experiences in combat, wartime reporting, and policymaking and discussing how the changing landscape of warfare poses new challenges for reintegrating veterans into society.
In addition to the panel discussion, the event launched the Art of Future Warfare Project’s first short-story anthology, War Stories from the Future. The anthology features the project’s contest-winning fiction and art, new short stories from authors Madeline Ashby, Mat Burrows, August Cole, Ken Liu, and Jamie Metzl, as well as fiction from Linda Nagata and David Brin.
Finally, M.A. and George Lund Fellow Steven Grundman announced the winner of the Art of Future Warfare’s “After the War” short story contest: “Remote Operations” by Marika Landau-Wells. Her submission is available to read on the website of the Art of Future Warfare.
“After the War” recap: