A Story Meant For Memorial Day

For those who came home broken and those who never made it home

Hey there,

For those of you who somehow don’t know, I am a combat veteran of the US Army, with two deployments under my belt in the years between 2001 and 2005. I spent the first year of the Iraq War with the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor in Iraq, first as our battalion’s mortar infantry platoon leader (with the stress during this time period on the infantry aspects of the job), and then as what we called a Battle Captain, the officer in charge of our Tactical Operations Center, mostly during the night shift while everyone else was either asleep or out on a night mission. We lost a handful of soldiers during that year, and more in the years after we came home.

I also lost a handful of closer friends from West Point (Joe Lusk ‘01, a teammate from my Army Sprint Football days first among them), and then later, in the years that followed, I buried two more friends in Arlington (Benjamin Tiffner, ‘00 and a fellow West Virginian) and at West Point (Torre Mallard, ‘03, Sprint Football, again).

I have carried these men with me ever since, along with others who gave their lives earlier, especially Dustin Shannon ‘00.

I wrote the story “Into the Casbah,” recently published in the anthology The Midnight Labyrinth, to remember and honor those who fell in battle and those who may have seemed otherwise make it home safe, but ultimately fell to the demons they brought home with them. In essence, never really making it home at all. Colin Hoyseth and Justin Fregia, ‘00, this is also for you.

I hope you give this one a read. The anthology is free with Kindle Unlimited, and only a few dollars otherwise as an ebook.

I am donating what I made from this story to The Mission Continues, a fantastic non-profit that helps veterans find purpose and continued service in their communities all around the country. I volunteered with them in Nashville over several years and in NYC after Hurricane Sandy. They do great work for both vets and those in need.

Thanks for standing strong, and going on this journey with me.

-JG