ASTRO-H White Paper - High Resolution Spectroscopy of Interstellar and Circumgalactic Gas in the Milky Way and Other Galaxies

We describe the potential of high resolution imaging spectroscopywith the SXS on ASTRO-H to advance our understanding of the interstellar- and circumgalactic media of our own Galaxy, and other galaxies. Topics to be addressed range from absorption spectroscopyof dust in the Galactic interstellar medium, to observations to constrain the total mass-, metal-, and energy flowout of starburst galaxies.