Some Write to Remember, Some to Forget

As many of you know Potomac Books released my first book, a memoir entitled, Father of Money: Buying Peace in Baghdad, earlier this year.  Seeing Father of Money on the bookstore shelf was the culmination of nearly three years of work and an incredible amount of good fortune.  The feedback from both veterans and civilians has been overwhelmingly positive, and I take pride in knowing that I succeeded in telling not only my story, but also a story that many of my fellow veterans can use to help facilitate their own narrative.

If there is one thing that I can validate, after travelling around and talking to hundreds of veterans, it is that everyone does have a story to tell. So, over the next few weeks, I am going to post some of the tips that I used to write Father of Money, starting today.  So, lets get started:

First question: what are we writing? 

For now, we will stick to the basic division, Fact or Fiction? 

Fact

Writing a non-fiction novel based on your own experience is a great way to spend some serious time figuring out who you are. Almost everyone can identify an event or moment that rebounded and changed their life for the better or worse.  The challenge is drawing out a meaningful lesson that will appeal to people outside of your immediate family.  Stories of self-help and overcoming obstacles have become fairly clichéd, but there are infinite ways to tell an interesting story other than those overdone formulas.

Fiction

Fiction writing is different from non-fiction in one important way - you have no idea where the story will take you.  I am working on a fiction novel now, that I hope to finish by early next year, and I have changed my mind about the pacing and the characters too many times to count.  However, you can always use a fiction book to make the points that you do not feel comfortable with in your non-fiction world.  Most writers crib from their real lives when they write fiction. For example, If you or a family member struggled to adjust after returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, you may feel more comfortable working that into a fiction book - which is perfectly fine.

Summary

Writing can be a great way to contextualize a process after it comes to a close. As Iraq winds down, it is natural for those who have been affected by this conflict to ponder how it all began. A pencil can be a great tool for unlocking some of your best revelations.

Next week: Timing

Fighting for Anonymity

Soldiers take pride in their commitment to service, even long after that service is complete.  Usually, veterans relish the opportunities to come together and tell their stories of youth and glory.  So, why do these same veterans forego opportunities to share their stories with a larger audience?  At a recent reception in Washington DC found myself surrounded by a cluster of military officers from Central Europe. Some of them were still active, and some were not, but all of them had a chest full of ribbons, medals and accolades attesting to their days of service since past.  It occurred to me that I had seen more deployments than some of them and more combat than all of them. So why was I the only one not wearing any military decorations?

It may seem strange that a soldier, who spent his years in service overachieving for as many medals possible, will bury those same medals deep in his closet as soon as he is discharged. The relationship between the American soldier and the public is a complicated one.  There is no federal law which describes the method of wearing military medals and decorations with civilian clothes for veterans, although regulations state that veterans may wear medals on civilian clothing on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, and Armed Forces Day, as well as at "formal occasions of ceremony and social functions of a military nature."  Yet, even if validly authorized, there are essentially three reasons that a veteran would rather not display his medals in public.

Inkspots Reviews FOM

If you are a miltary or natsec professional and you are not reading Inkspots regularly, you are probably being described as a 'muppet' behind your back.  Read the blog, learn something, and see what they say about FOM.

"If you read one book on what guys on the ground faced during deployments to Iraq (and presumably Afghanistan as I have not been there), Father of Money should be it." Click here for the full review (and bookmark the page!)