veterans
What’s In A Cover?
As the release of Continuing Actions: A Warrior's Guide to Coming Home draws near, I thought I'd share a little bit about the cover design that the team from Ascent created for it. I might be able to write, but that is where my creative talents end--I am not a visual arts kind of guy. For both of my books, I have outsourced the creation of the cover design with little-to-no guidance about what I wanted them to look like. Usually my instructions to the design team went something along the lines of, "I don't want this, or that. I want [...]
New Interview in Encinitas Magazine
My apologies if this post is too small to read clearly. Here is a link to the online issue of Encinitas Magazine where you'll find this article on pages 16 and 18: Encinitas Magazine
Dr. Jonathan Shay Has Written The Foreword For Continuing Actions
I intended to have Continuing Actions completed and available for sale by last May--thank god I blew that deadline. If I hadn't, I would have missed out on an opportunity that felt so remote I hardly allowed myself to consider it a real possibility. But I delayed publication, took a chance, and Dr. Jonathan Shay agreed to write the Foreword for my second book. For those who don't know Dr. Shay, here's a short list of his credentials and accomplishments: He's a clinical psychiatrist (MD) with 20 years working with Vietnam veterans at the Boston VA, a classical scholar (PhD), the best-selling [...]
Continuing Actions v.s. After Action
"What's the difference between Continuing Actions and After Action?" This is the response I've gotten from several people after I told them about my upcoming second book. In fact, I've heard that question enough times that I decided to write this post to explain the difference. To begin with, let me list their similarities: Both books are non-fiction, both about combat and its after effects, both include my personal experiences in Iraq and afterward, and both were written to fill gaps in our modern understanding of what it means to be a warrior. They both contain information I wish someone had [...]
Update on “Continuing Actions: A Warrior’s Guide to Coming Home”
After a year and a half of work, my second book, titled Continuing Actions: A Warrior's Guide to Coming Home, is nearing completion. I've just finished the final edits and am turning my attention to interior formatting, cover design, and cover copy. Once those final pieces fall into place, the book will be available on amazon.com in paperback and Kindle formats. When I finished my first book, After Action, I took a deep breath, patted myself on the back, and prepared to do something else. After almost three years of writing and editing, I was ready to put that book behind me and [...]
Clay Hunt Act–A Good Start
Thanks in no small part to the lobbying efforts of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act is heading to the President's desk. This bill is designed to, among other things, increase accessibility of mental health treatment for veterans. This bill only passed because the pressure applied by various veterans groups kept it on politicians' "to do" lists. That's no small feat when you remember they also had to squeeze in another vote to repeal ObamaCare (56th and counting). But they did vote on it, and pass it, and now the Clay [...]
Syria: Once More Into The Breach?
Forces are being readied for possible US intervention in Syria. These same forces have been engaged in constant combat for over a decade. They are tactically and technically prepared for whatever mission the Commander In Chief assigns them. They will carry out this mission with the honor, sacrifice, and dedication America expects from it’s warriors. But their success will come at tremendous personal cost. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Beware The Coming Storm, veterans preparing for their next deployment rarely try to unpack the emotional pain and suffering from their last one. Experiences and emotions from multiple deployments [...]
Line Of Advance: Literary Journal for Veterans
It's no exaggeration for me to state that writing has positively changed my life. Writing became the avenue through which I was able to process my combat experiences and deal with the challenges of coming home. Things I was never able to articulate verbally finally achieved expression through the written word. For these reasons, I am very happy to post this email from Chris Lyke, one of the founders of Line Of Advance, a non-profit literary journal dedicated to preserving the voices of veterans. To make this a reality, Chris is soliciting donations via http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/line-of-advance. I have never met, nor conversed, [...]
Grandma’s Last Gift
Grandma at Lena and my wedding in 2005. About a month ago I had the opportunity to give a presentation to a group of Vietnam veterans. They asked several questions at the end of my talk that would be good subjects for blog posts. This is one of them. “Have you ever thought about suicide?” The gentleman who’d asked it hadn’t seemed overly interested in my presentation--spent most of it staring at his plate of half-eaten food. I had the impression it was a subject he was acquainted with. “Yes” I answered. And then I wondered why. I’d [...]
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