Strong piece of fiction about American combat soldiers in Afghanistan

Will Mackin's story in the current New Yorker, The Lost Troop, has the ring of authenticity; it's obvious that Mackin has served in combat in Afghanistan and that he draws heavily on his experience in his short fiction. In fact, his writing probably touches on journalism or memoir, but by pitching his tent in the fiction camp he's given himself the necessary freedom to build composites and to imagine his way into the consciousness of others. Good decision. This story is a powerful one that helps us understand both the ever-present mortal danger of this assigned to combat duty and the all-pervasive boredom that infects the lives of soldiers and sometimes leads to stupid decisions. The story begins with the troop feeling so isolated and w/ so little to do that the narrator imagines that perhaps the war has ended and they just haven't received word. Eventually, their troop leader asks the guys for suggestions as to what night-time missions they might undertake, rather than sit around in base camp. They take on 3 (consecutive?) night missions: taken by chopper to a local graveyard that one of the soldiers thinks may include false graves beneath which lie enemy tunnels (it doesn't), slight to a former battle area so they can scatter the ashes of a comrade who died in combat there (mission accomplished, but of no military value - does remind us of the danger that can strike at any time or place), and excursion to the home of a man who was a (cruel and mean) teacher of th Afghan interpreter who's working with this troop (mission of no military value but lets the interpreter get a degree of vengeance on ex-teacher - what wouldn't want to do that?!). Story or selection ends with the teacher on his knees, terrified, asking: "What did I do?," which is a great question that in a sense permeates all the acts of war in this story and beyond. There have been a few - very few - strong pieces of fiction about recent American wars, and Mackin is definitely in the list.

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