Op-Eds & Articles By Ryan McDermott
Ryan McDermott is an Iraq War veteran, author, and national security writer whose essays explore military history, warfare, leadership, trauma, veteran reintegration, and the human dimensions of military power. Drawing on firsthand experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and later work in finance, the Pentagon, and defense policy, he examines the relationship among war, political purpose, technology, and the people who ultimately sustain national power.
These essays and articles expand on themes from Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet, McDermott’s award-winning Iraq War memoir, while exploring the Iraq War, military strategy and history, Lehman Brothers and the financial crisis, veterans and military families, artificial intelligence and autonomous warfare, and the changing character of war.
Kendall forces readers to confront questions many would prefer to postpone. He is certainly correct that autonomous systems will play an expanding role in future warfare, and the United States cannot afford to ignore that reality. But perhaps the most important question is not how autonomy changes military operations. It is how autonomy changes war itself.
RealClearHistory: A Veteran Remembers Operation Iraqi Freedom
(March 20, 2026)
We planned to the airport. We executed the opening campaign with historic speed and discipline. And then the real test began – one that would shape a generation of Americans, Iraqis, and soldiers who carried the war home long after the headlines moved on.
RealClearHistory: What Pearl Harbor Vets Taught the Iraq War Generation
(December 5, 2025)
On December 7, 1941, Americans awoke to a quiet Sunday that would end in war. Sixty years later, on another unremarkable morning, I walked into my unit to sign in.
Service doesn’t end when a soldier comes home. It shifts onto spouses, children, and parents who keep life moving while navigating the aftershocks of war.
Reintegration programs discuss jobs, housing, and benefits. Those matter. But the harder challenge is cultural: I left a world of shared mission and returned to one of individual metrics and shifting purpose.
RealClearHistory: How Best to Honor Our Veterans
(November 7, 2025)
Few veterans have helped us feel that cost more clearly than Wilfred Owen. A British infantry officer killed a week before the armistice, he wrote in the wet cold—wire snagging wool, mud swallowing boots, thunder that never rolled away. His poems don’t condescend. They witness.
On April 4, 2003, as the invasion of Iraq reached its critical phase, the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, seized Saddam International Airport–codenamed Objective Lions–on the western outskirts of Baghdad. The operation marked one of the most decisive conventional victories of the war.
Charisma: I Found God In My Children’s Eyes
(July 27, 2025)
We live in a world that celebrates independence, ambition and personal achievement. But those things, as I learned the hard way, can leave you empty if not rooted in something greater.
The battle for Objective Peach—a forgotten yet flawless feat of combined arms—opened the road to Baghdad and offers vital lessons for tomorrow’s wars.
In our time of division and disillusionment, we would do well to reclaim the legacy Washington embodied. Resilience isn’t the denial of pain but rather transformation through it. And the only vision worth holding on to is the one that unites us in building our future as a nation.
While the spotlight often shines on veterans, it’s important to remember: trauma touches all of us. Whether it’s a soldier returning from war, a parent coping with loss, or a teenager navigating a world that feels increasingly fragile — we all carry invisible wounds.
AG: Why America Still Needs Warrior Poets
(June 27, 2025)
America doesn’t just need warriors or poets—we need warrior poets: men and women with the courage to fight and the wisdom to feel, lead, and heal.
RealClearPolicy: PTSD Isn’t Just a Veterans Problem
(June 23, 2025)
We honor strength. But sometimes, survival means allowing ourselves to break—and learning how to rebuild.
We honor the sacrifices dads make — their hard work, protective instincts, quiet love. But for many fathers, especially those who’ve served in uniform or carried other unseen burdens, the greatest gift might be something simple but rare: a moment of real understanding.
HuffPost: Remembering Our Fallen Heroes
(June 1, 2010)
At Fort Stewart, Georgia, the home of the 3rd Infantry Division, Eastern Redbud trees line the parade grounds to honor fallen soldiers. The pathway is known as Warriors Walk.
HuffPost: The Invasion Of Iraq: Reflections Seven Years Later
(March 20, 2010)