Hey guys/gals need your help. I've been digging up all of my material from my time in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and laying out the foundation for my story. So far the outline looks pretty good, however I need your guys' help to further solidify the book's contents. I am basically looking for what you guys would like to hear about. Nothing is trivial in this case. Trust me, I want to know what you guy's are especially looking to read about. I DO NOT want to get this thing written, read it a few years from now and miss a minor detail that could potentially affect the book's potential. So please, help me out.

Here is a broad outline of what is to be written about:

Basic Training

Airborne School

82nd Airborne Division: Kosovo, Sinai Egypt

173rd Airborne Brigade: Iraq, Sniper School, Afghanistan

Thanks much junkies,

Brian

Books sell well, that make the reader feel.  I would maybe try to make a theme for each of your basic outline portions.

 Basic training - excitement, why, honor

Airborne - pride, honor, hope

82nd airborne, fear, courage, relationships, trust (your superiors)

173rd, tiredness, worry, fear, courage, loss, understanding.

I am not sure whether your book is bio, non fiction, or compilation fiction, but we need to feel, everything the protagonist faces.

Just my 2 cents.

 Hi Brian!

 I thought I would ask the family since I read this and get the perspectives of everyone from my husband to my two daughters and I.   I've come up with questions and they cover the spectrum,  some are also from 2 online friends who know very little about the military - I thought their perspective might come in handy. 

So here goes,  I'm not sure if it's helpful. 

Basic Training: 
If you went through this during the time we were at war,  what's changed?  What did your
instructors tell you about Iraq and Afghanistan?
What applied to when you got there and what would you, if you were to become an instructor, tell your own troops as they head there?
How did it change you from who you were before to who you were after?
Do you make friends there that stay with you throughout your service or is it usually in the field or after you're
assigned to units?
How do you get assigned or pick a job?  Do they have counselors?  Is there any recourse if you're assigned something that you don't like at the beginning or decide you don't like afterwards?  What is the process of changing a MOS like?

Airborne School:

Is everyone in the military now airborne trained, since they are almost universally transported via plane and helicopter?
Do they still maintain the WWII tradition of tucking their pant legs into the boots at least ceremonially?
When you're being transported,  do you have to run emergency drills like we do when we're taking a cruise or
hear safety lectures like on domestic airlines?  Are they different and how?



Deployment:
What kind of interaction did you have with the locals?   What corresponded with things from your home town and
what was very different?
What were the words you brought home or found yourself picking up and using from the country or area you
were in?



Sniper School:

What are the rigors of this job?  How do they prepare you mentally for it?
What is the trick to stillness for such a long period of time?   From my daughter,  what happens if you have to go (she's very practical and thinks you might have a handy little plastic jug but wants to know if you're not allowed to move how do you use it?) 

Are all the rifles standard or do you get to pick your own and or dress it up?  (paraphrased;  my husband asked this with all kinds of language I didn't understand about scopes and such)


Overall:
What is a typical soldiers day?  I know nothing is typical in those situations but being taken through one day from
morning to night would be very interesting.

What are some of the unique culture of our warriors and servicemen?  Some people have described it as a huge
high school,  others a fraternity,  some as a cohesion of teams thats both scary and comforting. 

What are the frustrations and joys you've experienced wearing all your various hats?

What is it like to interact with different military forces?  Do you salute their superiors or are you subject to their
regulations when on base? 

When you're under NATO or another country's invitation,  what is the chain of command like?

How do the rules of engagement change from situation to situation? How did Iraq differ from Afghanistan and both
differ from Egypt or Kosovo?

When you are in places like Egypt or Iraq or Afghanistan with so much history,  so many ancient sites,  are you
ever startled by something old and historical with what is going on now in the present?

Did the people in those places seem to have more of a sense of history than Americans?

How do you get yourself calmed down after something really scary happens?

How do you keep yourself awake for such a long time?

What do you talk about if you're on missions when nothing is really happening?

Are you allowed to put anything on your uniform that isn't given by the military?

How do you talk to the locals if you don't have an interpreter?

What do you do if your radio isn't working?

How do you know where you are - does everyone use GPS?   How do you know where the nearest base is to
find it?   Have you ever gotten lost and what do you do if that happens?

Kosovo:  
What were your impressions?  Does it seem to have filled them with hope?
What is America's basic job on the ground there now? 
Are tensions still high with the Russians?  What's the average soldiers guidelines dealing with any kind of
hostility other than to consult with a superior?

Iraq:
Were there AID agencies that were able to go out among the people where you were at?  Did they stay with
you or outside the bases?  Are they basically made up of locals and natives who do the outreach?

What are your observations about the children? 

Did you see any strange glimpses of home when you were out in Iraq?  I remember a letter saying that a soldier
got a kick when he spotted a young Iraqi wearing a tshirt with the name of his favorite metal band.

What are the differences in the bases?   What do you think of the inclusion of so many private companies and warriors,
did you have any contact with them?

Can you visit any mosques or is that only for Muslims no matter what?  Can an American Muslim soldier go into
a Mosque?


Afghanistan:

The girls really want to know if the women have come out of their burqua's from what you observed.  Also are
the female children able to get widespread schooling or just in the larger more progressive areas?

Egypt:

Did you get to see the pyramids?
What is America doing in Egypt?

Sinai:
If this was on the border with the settlements, did you get to witness that situation?  Is it one where the military
has complete control over the population?  What is that like?

About the military:

What are standard medals that everyone is given and what denotes something above and beyond?

When a returning soldier doesn't want to talk about his experiences, is it best to continue asking or just leave it be
from your perspective? 

What was the best thing you ever received from home?

From my daughter who has been looking into joining possibly when she graduates:

Can you tell me about female soldiers and whats different now that they have many more jobs (not just nurses or
drivers etc.) than ever before especially in a war zone.

This might not be anything you were looking for but those were the questions and things they were interested in knowing.

edited to add:  I wrote these all down in Word but when I pasted them here the formatting went all wonky.  Sorry.
 

Hi Brian! I can only tell you for myself, i like the personal side of stuff. When i "adopt" my soldiers, i like to know the details of their living conditions, what their room looks like, what they ate for breakfast and about life at home and all the "little" things. I think if I were to read a book by you, knowing it's by you, i would feel like it was a pretty big ommission to leave out the Anysoldier site that came out of it. I'd like to hear about personal stories more than overall themes.... like who was the guy on your left and right, not so much the war "tactics".... like I would love each section to be told thru a series of personal stories rather than an "explanation". I'm guessing this'll be on the sales&donations page?! ha! Good luck in the writing! I'm sure it'll be great! Shelly

I also like the personal stories and want to know how soldiers are feeling.  If you look at posts from some of our AS soldiers/marines who were "must reads" like Gary Bourland, Kirk Kuebbing, and John "Taco" Bell and others, you'll read lots of funny stories.  Things like the mouse who had babies in your shoe necessitating an ongoing hunt, how the muck swallowed the truck you were driving around camp and the tank that was needed to unstick it, the eating contests of disgusting things that no normal person would engage in...these hold my interest.  I also like poignant stories about your battle buddies or the local children  (they have the ahhhhh factor).  Your trials about missing home and family, your wishes for when you came home...personal interest items are engaging.  If you want to include really sad stories about lost friends that's fine too...we have lots of tears shed over what we read and that's okay.  I am less interested in the logistics of it all, although there must be enough information so that I understand you (the military jargon can be confusing to us non-initiated folk).  Oh, and photos are nice if you can do it.   

Kathy

Hi Brian,

If you want suggestions, you came to the right place!

I've been reading a lot of books recently about and by soldiers (see this link: Books by Soldiers, about Soldiers) to try and get a better idea of what life is like for a soldier, especially in OEF and OIF, and I absolutely agree with what people have already said: I want to know facts and history, but ultimately I want to know how it affected you, how you felt, how your family and friends felt, how your experiences shaped who you are.

My absolute favorite recent "war" book is "Operation Homecoming", because with each story/poem/letter, there's so much feeling. Another one I really liked was "Just Another Soldier" for the same reason. The author (an infantry soldier) is a goofy, smart alleck guy, and that came through with everything he wrote. That book made me laugh out loud on one page, and cry a few pages later. I felt like I was hearing him tell me his story, instead of a "polished" version of the story.

I think this is a great project, and if I think of any more advice, I'll be sure to tell you!   I think more people (civilians) need to hear from guys like you (military) so that the general public can get a better idea of just what it is you guys do.

Edit: NOTE - both books I mentioned above are listed in the link I posted, with the authors names, for anyone who is interested.
 

Brian Hello!

Start with a young age Brian to build a foundation on. Make it as short or long as you want.

You will possibly edit the story many times.

Give us a basis of your mind set during growing years. An interest in bugs, volcanos, or astronomy? 

We will need to see your outlook, interests, likes and dislikes.

What age were you when the girl in school gave you butterflies when she walked bye?

The first kiss is always good.

Be sure to include your favorite car you always wanted? We even want to know the color?  

What did you want to be when you "grew up"?

Did you aspire to be like some one real or a imagined comic book superhero?

Buy a roll of white freezer wrapping paper for your timeline. Unroll it and on the left end in about six feet put your starting date of your timeline in pencil. The extra space at the start is if you decide to ad more that you hadn't planned. Draw a line to the end and then go back to mark this calendar chart of your life. Ad names or footnotes as you remember them.

Divide it up however you want. Be sure to put dates and major important things in your life. When you start writing you can use it for reference.

The biggest things in your life should be the biggest things in your story. Hopes, Dreams, Loves, Desires, Struggles, Anger and what makes you - You?

Be sure to relate back with a connection from the adult Brian to Brian as the boy. Give us your retrospective thoughts. 

Something like "As I watched the falling star in the night sky of Afghanistan arriving from a place so distant that  I thought of it and myself both being here and so far away from home."

Laughing and crying will come through and your readers will become seated next to you as you show them the journey through your world.

Make us feel what we can't see.

Most of all be patient with yourself.

Plan on writing and reading and throwning out and writing again. If you use paper be sure to get a small basketball hoop over the trash can so you can practice while you wad up balls of paper to shoot.

You may decide to change it all and start over.   

Be prepared for a journey.

On this journey you will meet who you thought you wanted to be as a boy. Some days you may not recognize the stranger.   

Be kind to yourself.

The world will be at the end of your fingertips. This will be a new world where you have total control how the world hears your story and sees everyone you know through your eyes.

Know that we will be here supporting you 100%.  

We are your support team.

That is what we do best.

May strength be with you, door 

I am inclined to agree with Kathy C.  Give us a book about WAR .  Don't hold anything back.  Tell it like it is and was.

AND ABOVE ALL, DO NOT CANDYCOAT ANYTHING. 

Brian

I do a lot of research on WWII, including helping to edit the newsletter that my grandfather's infantry division association (24th) puts out. I have read a lot of stories from infantry and I have read several from guys that flew B-29's in battle. They are all wonderful, but they run the gammut from all facts-hard data to one of my favorites written by a tailgunner that explains what he went through and also what was going on at home during that time. Another one I read is from a German American and what he went through during WWII serving in the US Military. Very powerful stuff you perhaps unknowingly hold in your head! Let us share it! *G*

I have to say that in reading and editing stories for the newsletter, I am interested in knowing the real facts, but the story of the soldier, more so than the story of the Army. I am editing an article now that we are trying to make about one soldier and his time in the Pacific, but there is so much more material about the Army and what was happening in the Pacific at the time, and it is hard to get a clear view of this man.  I think I would like to know your impressions of what was happening, how you think what you did made a difference. Tell us about interraction with locals at each location you have served in, good or bad. Tell us stories about your experience through basic through to your return home. What was the difference between one location or another? What was the biggest culture shock you had to get over. How did the junkies from Anysoldier affect you?

Tell us about YOU. How all this made an impact on you. How has it changed you as a person? I love the idea of a day in the life of you. That is a great idea.

Good luck with your endeavour!

Heidi

 Hey Brian -  I like reading books that tell it like it is over in the sandbox or Afghanistan.  "Boots on the Ground" and "Dawn over Baghdad" by Karl Zinsmeister,   and "A Greater Freedom" - Stories of Faith from Operation Iraqi Freedom by Oliver North and Sara Horn gave me some good night time reading. I craved more from Karl - because I felt he wrote the truth.  

Most people who haven't experienced what it's like over there, the everyday life of a transplanted soldier or other troop member away from home, the lack of common everyday things over here, that you went without or treated as gold when it came in a care package, the interaction with the local people, the humorous times, the holidays, and even the sad times, won't get it from the news.

A book would be great.  I just recently mentioned it to one of my old contacts, who wrote wonderful emails to me and others, who has 20 years in the Marines, that he should consider writing a book.  You guys and gals have so much to share, that people like me would love to read about. 

Brian,

I think it is great that you want to put your story down for people to read.  I can't help but wonder sometimes how children, like my nephews and neices (ages 7months to 12 years) are going to remember these wars. I can vaguely remember watching footage of Desert Storm when I was (very) young, but I don't remember much about it other than what I have read afterwards.  It is always good to have history books that are written by the guys who were on the ground.

As far as what to write, one of the best war memoirs I have read is Infantry Soldier by George Neill, about the Battle of the Bulge.  He goes through his experience from the time he found out his reserve unit had been called to active duty through the day the war ended.  He goes through what may seem like mundane details of his days (digging trenches, pitching tents), but they give the story more depth, because it helps the reader to better understand what life was like for the soldier.

Another very good memoir I have read is from a survivor of the Bataan Death March in WWII.  Again, he starts at the very beginning of his military service and goes through to the end.  And again, it is often the seemingly mundane details of his everyday life during the war and his imprisonment that add depth to the story and remind the reader that this is a real person writing about their experiences and not a third person account.

I look forward to one day reading your story.

Krystyna