Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey
Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey

Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey

Recorded September 12, 2025 59:35 minutes
Benjamin Fortier and Beth Bailey
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddv002886

Description

Friends and colleagues Beth Bailey (38) and Benjamin Fortier (38) about Benjamin's experience serving in Iraq, his changing views of the military, challenges he faced returning home from war, and how he channeled all of this into his poetry.

Subject Log / Time Code

0:44
Benjamin Fortier shares why he joined the military and his experience in the early days of his service.
6:00
Benjamin remembers realizing he was going to war.
9:00
Benjamin describes the difference between his expectation of war and the reality. He recalls a sense of driving around “waiting to be blown up.”
13:00
Benjamin names a balance between surviving and serving the Iraqi people. He journaled during this time. He started questioning being involved in an Occupying Force. He witnessed non-combatants being killed. “The victims of war are civilians.”
17:00
Benjamin describes coming home from Iraq, having difficulty adjusting to civilian life and seeking a discharge in the wake of the United States going to war with Afghanistan. He talks about the challenge of unpacking his experiences.
21:00
Benjamin notes the attempts of the military to ease the transition. His writing and community in fellow veteran writers helps him process. He describes needing time for reflection before he was able to write his most recent collection.
27:05
Benjamin talks about never being unable to fully deactivate from being in a war zone and the focus the military has on training folks before war, without as much support after war.
29:25
Benjamin talks about the affect his poems have on others.
31:00
Benjamin describes witnessing the United States military pulling out of Afghanistan and feeling regression in the work they had done.
34:00
Benjamin talks about the importance of being vulnerability.
38:00
Benjamin considers what he’d tell his younger self and other young people considering serving.
40:20
Benjamin encourages compassion to all.
43:30
Benjamin reads two poems from his collection “Phantoms.”
48:03
Benjamin talks about Dead Reckoning Collective and Patrol Base Abbate. He describes a moment sharing stories around a fire pit.
51:57
Benjamin describes the influence the propaganda machine of war has on young people. He reflects upon what honor, courage and commitment mean to him. He considers taking care of oneself in order to care for others.

Participants

  • Benjamin Fortier
  • Beth Bailey

Venue / Recording Kit

Partnership

Partnership Type

Outreach