Matthew Cancian concluded his service in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2013, but in some ways he never left his Afghanistan battlefield experience behind. A rising fifth-year doctoral candidate in political science, Cancian researches what motivates people to enlist and to engage in combat. “It could be said that my dissertation is a poorly disguised attempt to understand myself,” says Cancian. During a seven-month tour of duty in Helmand province, Cancian served as an artillery officer responsible for delivering high explosives to strategic hot spots, locating and taking on the…
