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A secret war, strange new wounds and silence: The gunners who came home damaged

By Dave Philipps & Matthew Callahan
New York Times·
26 mins to read

A secret US offensive in 2016 and 2017 used an unusual strategy to defeat the Islamic State.

The plan: Put a minimal number of American boots on the ground, and have the troops pound the enemy with relentless artillery fire.

What no one foresaw was the devastating toll it would take on the troops who did the firing.

When then-Lance Cpl. Javier Ortiz came home from a secret mission in Syria, the ghost of a dead girl appeared to him

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