Janet Reitman on A Disaster of the U.S. Military’s Own Making

Janet Reitman is a fellow at New America and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. A former longtime correspondent for Rolling Stone, she is a two-time finalist for a National Magazine Award and the author of some of the most influential journalism of the past two decades.

In this episode, she talks with Matthew about "A Disaster of the US Military's Own Making," her 2024 Times Magazine expose on the Army suicide crisis.

All good writing, Reitman says, necessarily involves letting go of material that no longer helps the piece, however painful that letting go may be. "Honestly, you can spend weeks writing a single section, writing it over and over again until it's right," she says. "And then you're told, 'This is going to get jettisoned.' This thing you've spent weeks on. And I mean, it's tragic. But sometimes it's also the best choice. It's the best decision." 

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