A Portrait of the American Soldier at 20 Years Old

THEY WERE BORN just before 9/11, and they’ve grown up in an age of nearly constant warfare, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. All while engaging in simulated warfare from their couch with the rise of blockbuster first-person-shooter games like Call of Duty. In some ways, the threat of war has never felt more distant or our perception of it more disconnected.

—As told to Josh St. Clair