Army Sgt. Tina Beller, 29, survived a devastating mortar attack on the "green zone" in Baghdad. She wrote her parents how she replayed the images of the victims in her mind: "The horrified looks, their confused looks, the blood dripping on them, the sheer and utter pain mirrored on their faces, they all played like a silent movie in my mind all day and night."

Writing poetry was one way Army Sgt. Brian Turner found "to deal with everything that was happening," he explained. When a buddy vented his frustration fighting a faceless enemy, and how he wanted to find them and put them away in a "hurt locker," it became the title of a Turner poem:

Writing is also a way to handle the downtime and tedium of life on a base overseas. Sgt. [Sandi Austin] had played the guitar since she was 8, and wrote "[Stuck] in the Sandbox" in the middle of 'nowhere.'