I'm Rachel Martin, host of NPR's Wild Card podcast.

I've spent my entire career learning what kinds of questions prompt the most honest answers.

What's the biggest sacrifice you've ever made?

What's a belief you had to let go up?

Oh.

What's a goal you're glad you gave up on?

Now I'm putting those soul-searching questions to guests like Jenny Slate, Bowen-Yang, and Chris Pine.

Follow Wildcard, wherever you get your

podcast only from NPR. This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And my guest today, Phil Kly, has written

extensively over the years about the human cost of war by drawing on his experiences as a Marine

Corps veteran serving in Iraq. His writing examines the

moral complexities of combat, including the disconnect between soldiers and civilians. This

Veterans Day, Cly is reflecting on the future of our military, from the policies we could expect

from the incoming Trump administration to our nation's support of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

There's still a lot we don't know about Trump's plans,

but throughout the campaign, he has given us a vision

that could dramatically shift the role of our military and society.

He's pledged to recall thousands of American troops from overseas

and stationed them at the U.S. border with Mexico.

He's also spoken about using troops to round up and deport undocumented immigrants and weeding out military officers who are ideologically opposed to him.

Phil Kly has written several books in short story collections, including redeployment, for which

he won a National Book Award in 2014, which takes readers to the front lines of the war in Iraq,

...