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Drew Webb’s writing room is in a tree house he built in a quiet neighborhood in Monterey. When he is working there, he keeps the windows open and the lines of sight clear. One can be forgiven for thinking his yard looks a little like one of the military compounds where he was stationed during his 32 years of military service in places like Bosnia, Kuwait and South America.
This is where he wrote “Unbreakable Valor,” his meditation on the years he spent in Afghanistan in the early 2000s as a Special Forces medic, when he was just as likely to pick up a rifle as to reach for his medical kit. This was where he began to share his understanding of “Moral Injury,” a condition first defined in 2009 by Brett Litz.
“Moral Injury,” Webb told BenitoLink, “is a sin that was committed or precipitated on you, that you really can’t get over. It’s something that lives with you until it affects your ability to enjoy a prosperous and fulfilled life. Something that’s holding you back.”
Saying he is not an academic, Webb only offers examples of Moral Injury from his experience, not a definition. But he was able to first identify it within himself, he said, when he watched two nurses fumbling an intubation on a woman who had been crushed in a car accident.
Webb knew the procedure well, but not being certified at the time, he could not step in. He stayed by her side, with her holding him and looking into his eyes, and he watched her die.
“I wanted to help so much,” he said. “I’ve held on to it for many years because I should have intervened when I had the chance.”
For Webb, there are important differences between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Moral Injury. PTSD, he said, is a fear-based wound: it’s not someone’s fault and does not come from weakness. It’s biological, he said, an aspect of a “fight or flight” response.
People impacted by it, he said, may experience “hyper-vigilance,” be startled by small noises, isolate themselves or avoid specific people and places associated with their trauma.
“I knew I didn’t have any of that,” he said, “because I was very calm. The more adrenaline that I had in the war, the calmer I got. I just didn’t feel fear. I didn’t feel anxiety. I didn’t feel any of those feelings.”
Moral Injury, he said, overlaps to an extent with PTSD; it is a soul-based wound that “never stops bleeding,” involving guilt, shame, betrayal, and critical loss of identity.
In the book, he characterizes it as a deep fracture between who someone once was and what they had to become to survive; the damage that occurs when someone witnesses or does things that violate their values.
“Moral Injury,” he said, “is ‘I’m a loser’ or ‘Why did I let my friend die?’ ‘I should have been better trained.’ ‘You know, I didn’t have to shoot that guy.’ ‘Dude, I shot that guy, and it felt so good. What’s wrong with me?’”
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Ryan Grimes, honored as one of the two 2025 Veterans of the Year, also served in Kuwait and Iraq and has since gotten a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He said that many service members honestly believe that there was something they could have done to prevent unnecessary deaths, which he believes “in probably almost 100% of the cases is not true.”
“That builds a guilt in them,” he said, “and they wonder, ‘What could I have done to keep them alive? Or ‘Why was it them and not me?’ It puts you in a position where you may know the right thing to do, but you might not want to do it because the outcome may not be the right one.”
Moral Injury is now researched by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which offers definitions and examples that parallel Webb’s.
Treatment options, however, are only in the trial stages involving current service members or Veterans, which will “inform whether they are effective in reducing Moral Injury.”
The condition was only recently recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, following a 2025 study. It is now included as “Moral Problem” in the newest version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Researchers Tyler VanderWeele and Jennifer Wortham wrote, “If we are to truly provide person-centered care, the very real possibility of moral distress and Moral Injury needs to be acknowledged.”
But it is very clearly illustrated through the first-person narrative of “Unbreakable Valor,” filled with the tension of encounters with Afghan locals, both friendly and unfriendly, sudden firefights, and desperate attempts to save lives in the field.
There is a taut, staccato rhythm to the writing, but there is also a natural flow from the cold-steel realities of life in wartime to a more contemplative tone as Webb brings the reader along while he deconstructs each one, exploring its differing facets of moral impact.
“I didn’t define what ‘Moral Injury’ is,” he said, “because not a lot of people can. I wanted to describe Moral Injury and to give examples, because I wanted veterans to see themselves in my book.”
Though the story has a distinct timeline, each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently. There is a clarity to the writing that makes even the most technical parts of the story—the alphabet soup of acronyms, the complex terminology of emergency medical procedures, the array of battlefield weaponry—accessible to anyone.
Yet the main audience for the book is clear from the first pages: Webb is writing to his fellow service members, particularly those who are going through their own struggle with Moral Injury.
“I wanted my book to be something that people pondered,” Webb said. “And I wanted them to understand that their situation is in my book. And that’s the critical key: once they can identify themselves in one of my chapters, now they have a name, or an understanding.”
He often breaks through the first-person narrative and powerfully addresses service members directly:
“Let me speak to you for a second,” Webb writes. “If you are wondering if this life is real. If you are so tired you can’t remember which version of you is worth saving. I know the mirror you avoid. Because I’ve stood there, too. You don’t need to fix it tonight. You just need to stay.”
With his own feelings of suicide, which he writes openly and honestly about in several chapters, Webb is hoping that Unbreakable Valor can help those who have undergone the kinds of Moral Injuries he has faced.
“They have to reach out,” Webb said, “The first step is to get into a support group and be around other veterans.. There are resources to get people out of isolation. But the government doesn’t yet code for Moral Injury. Once it’s a national discussion, it will leak into academia.”
Still, he writes, his book is proof that these service members and veterans are seen and that they are not alone:
Let this book be your family tonight.
Let this be the thing that calls you back from the quiet edge.
Let this be your voice in the dark that says you’re real.
Let it carry your story forward.
Let it speak where you could not.
Let it keep one more warrior alive.
Webb will be discussing his military experience and thoughts on Moral Injury at the 6:30 p.m. American Legion’s Annual ‘All Wars Veterans Appreciation Dinner’ on March 28 at the Veterans Memorial Building, 649 San Benito Street, Hollister.
The event is limited to 300 guests, and tickets are available for $25 at the Veterans Memorial Building or through Eventbrite through 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Tickets may also be purchased at Hill’s Bookstore, at 650 San Benito Street, as well as copies of “Unbreakable Valor.” The book will also be available at the event.
Free tickets are available to veterans through the sales venues listed above. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door on the evening of the event.
Veterans who are undergoing the complications of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Moral Injury are encouraged to contact the Santa Cruz County Veterans Center, which offers one-on-one and group therapy. Sessions are also held on the first Monday of the month at the Hollister Veterans Memorial Building.
The Veterans Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day by calling 988 and pressing “1,” by texting 838255 or by online chat.
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