Hard to believe I’ve only written about music nine times since starting Time Now, but so it is the case. Honestly, there just doesn’t seem that many songs about Iraq and Afghanistan out there, although the list here names a few of which I wasn’t previously aware, and I’m sure there are others. Whatever, I enjoy writing about music and several of the posts below rank among my favorites. Some of them speak more personally of my own deployment than the typical Time Now post. The songs I loved were vitally important to me while I was in Afghanistan. I’m sure it was the same for most of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines with whom I deployed, and remained so in the jangled-up years after return.
Can You Take a Five Finger Death Punch? November 26, 2018. Artist featured: Five Finger Death Punch.
Two Songs, Ten Years: Music, Memories, and Going to War, October 6, 2018. Artists featured: Thao Nguyen, The Walkmen.
Khost, Afghanistan in the Western Musical Imagination, July 10, 2016. Artists featured: Three bands, each named “Khost.”
Where Have All the War Songs Gone? February 7, 2015. Artists featured: Old Crow Medicine Show, Jason Isbell, The Offspring, Josh Ritter.
Newsted’s Heavy Metal Tribute to Pat Tillman, January 3, 2014. Artist featured: Jason Newsted.
A War Music Sampler: Country, Folk, Hip-Hop, July 11, 2013. Artists featured: Jimmy Rose, Zac Charles, Jason Moon, Emily Yates, Chamillionaire, Soldier Hard.
Jason Everman, July 4, 2013. Artist featured: Jason Everman.
Daniel Somers, June 29, 2013. Artist featured: Daniel Somers.
Mike Doughty, June 22, 2013. Artists featured: Mike Doughty, Linkin Park, Adele.
Time Now: The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in Art, Film, and Literature 
There are a ton of responses to the Iraq war in classical music. The one that I’ve been using quite a bit is Max Richter’s Shadow Journal.
Hi Roman, thanks for the gentle reminder that there are huge swaths of the musical landscape I might have paid more attention to! In my defense, I have noted in passing over the years the many musical adaptations of Brian Turner’s poetry, as well as Brian’s own music made as part of the Interplanetary Acoustic Team, and I’ve also mentioned the operatic version of Brian Castner’s The Long Walk. Overall, though, it’s fair to say I haven’t searched hard for the contemporary classical music response to 21st-century war, and what better place to begin to look than the music selected by the great Exit 12 Dance Company for choreography? I look forward to exploring Max Richter’s Shadow Journal and any other modern composers you recommend.