An honest reckoning with the Forever War, masculinity, and the
violence of American hegemony abroad, at home, and on the psyche,
from a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who came to question his
belief in the U.S.'s democratizing mission
In the winter of 2006, Lyle Jeremy Rubin arrived at Marine Officer
Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. He'd joined the Marines
convinced he was fulfilling his duty to his country. He believed the
“war on terror” was necessary to national security, and would
help to bring democracy and freedom to Afghanistan. And he sought a
version of manhood that he thought military service could provide.
Honorably discharged in 2011, Rubin returned to the United States
with none of his ideals, about himself or his country, intact.
Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body is a story of profound
personal and political change. Rubin, a supervisor of men ordered to
kill, shares his experiences on training bases in North Carolina,
California, and Afghanistan, tracking his increasing disaffection
with military culture, and his evolution into an activist for peace.
Rubin brings us face to face in this argument-driven memoir with the
U.S.’s presence in the Middle East, all while analyzing the racism,
class divides, and culture of conquest that oil the machinery of
American empire.
