thedrifter
06-26-06, 03:15 AM
Posted on Mon, Jun. 26, 2006
5 young Marines inspire author
A former captain tells tales of the men he calls “heart and soul of our country.”
By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net
KINGSTON – David Danelo’s written words evoke images of combat, courage and loss. The stories he has retold in his first book belong to five young Marine squad leaders he met in Iraq.
“They were probably just old enough to buy a beer,” he said.
The former captain left the Marine Corps in 2004 to pursue a career in writing. His book, “Blood Stripes: The Grunt’s View of the War in Iraq,” was released last month and a second printing is planned.
The warrior-turned-writer misses the Marines he served with in the Corps, some of whom are in Iraq or scheduled to return for another tour of duty. “Those are guys that are always going to be part of my life.”
He feels a strong responsibility to advocate for those who served. “This is really my gift to these guys.”
His wife, Mary, supported his life-changing choice to become a writer. She admitted slight apprehension at first, but she believed in his pursuit. Her philosophy: “It’s important to do what you really like.”
She wanted to return home to this area after retiring from a career in the Navy as a hospital corpsman. The two met while she was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and married in 2002. “Dave moved here at my urging,” she said. The couple lived temporarily with her father, Sam Reggie. She bought him a desk and he wrote a large portion of his book in the stark third-floor attic of his father-in-law’s house. “It was very much like me,” he said. “It was Spartan.”
Danelo considers himself to be an apprentice in the craft of writing. He believed he would succeed at it, an attitude he attributes now to “naiveté and determination.”
Danelo was at Camp Fallujah from February to September 2004 with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was involved in a couple of skirmishes associated with the Battle of Fallujah.
He served as a convoy commander and a staff officer. “I wasn’t a frontlines guy, not like the guys were,” he said of the men in his book. “We’d talk and they’d tell me their stories.” Danelo started keeping a mental file of what he might like to write about.
“It tells the story of guys who I believe represent the heart and soul of our country,” he said.
Danelo, 30, chose the Marines rather than the Navy when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1998. He laughed at himself recently as he tried to explain that he chose the Marine Corps because he thrives on a certain degree of challenge, misery, difficulty and struggle. “I tend to be that kind of person.
“That was useful when I decided to get out of the Marine Corps and pursue a writing career,” he said.
Danelo had other writings published while still serving in the Marines. That’s when he received an e-mail from Steven Pressfield, author of “Gates of Fire,” an epic novel of the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece in 480 B.C.
“He wrote me back and he said you should try to write a book,” Danelo said. “It’s sort of like Babe Ruth telling you you are a good baseball player.”
Writing “Blood Stripes” was a challenge that Pressfield and several other mentors helped him meet. “I can’t recall the number of times I felt like throwing in the towel,” he said.
Danelo interviewed then-Maj. Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis for the book. He had commanded the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. After the interview, Danelo said, “Sir, I don’t want to screw this up. What is your advice?”
The general’s reply became his motto. “Trust your instincts. Enjoy yourself and never quit.”
Touching others
The five Marines in Danelo’s book returned home from their tours in Iraq, but one lost his best friend in an urban firefight. “His buddy had to drag out his body,” he said.
Danelo later interviewed the dead Marine’s parents for his book. They told him about returning from church services on an Easter Sunday. They didn’t notice the government vehicle as they pulled in to their carport.
That dreaded knock came. They opened the door and were told that their son was killed in action. “I worked with his parents on capturing the moment when the knock came at the door.”
Recreating that family’s experience was an emotional one for the author. “I cried after I wrote the scene. I kind of had to take a few minutes. That was tough.”
Danelo said people have told him his book reads like a novel, which is what he had wanted to accomplish. At book signings he meets veterans, some who served in Iraq. “Getting their thanks is very meaningful,” he said.
One local Iraqi war veteran Danelo met at the local Barnes & Noble book signing was preparing for his fifth tour of duty. He had volunteered to return to the war zone. “All his friends are there,” Danelo said.
In a Boston Globe interview, Danelo expressed concern that those who served in Iraq might be considered “used goods,” not of much use to society. He said they might leave the military and “fade into the woodwork.” He said it is difficult for some people to disassociate the troops serving there from the policy on the war. “Right now this war is indefinite,” he said.
He said his book is not political and his own feelings about the war in Iraq continue to evolve. He said in the first few months after he returned from war, he felt responsible for justifying the conflict. Danelo said there are no easy answers. “I don’t know what we should do right now,” he said.
Danelo is working on a political novel he described as a cross between George Orwell’s “1984” and Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia.” He expects that book to take him several years to complete.
For now, he is traveling to promote his book and working to develop U.S. Cavalry’s counter-terrorism online journal called “On Point.” The company explains that “On Point” was created as an interactive forum for military and law enforcement professionals to find and share information on topics to make them more knowledgeable and effective in their jobs.
Danelo is energized by his role in developing that site, but he also promised there will be another non-fiction work after “Blood Stripes.”
“I’d like to write something different than this, but I’m not sure what.”
On the Net
For more information about local author David Danelo and his book, go to www.bloodstripesbook.com
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.
Ellie
5 young Marines inspire author
A former captain tells tales of the men he calls “heart and soul of our country.”
By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net
KINGSTON – David Danelo’s written words evoke images of combat, courage and loss. The stories he has retold in his first book belong to five young Marine squad leaders he met in Iraq.
“They were probably just old enough to buy a beer,” he said.
The former captain left the Marine Corps in 2004 to pursue a career in writing. His book, “Blood Stripes: The Grunt’s View of the War in Iraq,” was released last month and a second printing is planned.
The warrior-turned-writer misses the Marines he served with in the Corps, some of whom are in Iraq or scheduled to return for another tour of duty. “Those are guys that are always going to be part of my life.”
He feels a strong responsibility to advocate for those who served. “This is really my gift to these guys.”
His wife, Mary, supported his life-changing choice to become a writer. She admitted slight apprehension at first, but she believed in his pursuit. Her philosophy: “It’s important to do what you really like.”
She wanted to return home to this area after retiring from a career in the Navy as a hospital corpsman. The two met while she was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and married in 2002. “Dave moved here at my urging,” she said. The couple lived temporarily with her father, Sam Reggie. She bought him a desk and he wrote a large portion of his book in the stark third-floor attic of his father-in-law’s house. “It was very much like me,” he said. “It was Spartan.”
Danelo considers himself to be an apprentice in the craft of writing. He believed he would succeed at it, an attitude he attributes now to “naiveté and determination.”
Danelo was at Camp Fallujah from February to September 2004 with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was involved in a couple of skirmishes associated with the Battle of Fallujah.
He served as a convoy commander and a staff officer. “I wasn’t a frontlines guy, not like the guys were,” he said of the men in his book. “We’d talk and they’d tell me their stories.” Danelo started keeping a mental file of what he might like to write about.
“It tells the story of guys who I believe represent the heart and soul of our country,” he said.
Danelo, 30, chose the Marines rather than the Navy when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1998. He laughed at himself recently as he tried to explain that he chose the Marine Corps because he thrives on a certain degree of challenge, misery, difficulty and struggle. “I tend to be that kind of person.
“That was useful when I decided to get out of the Marine Corps and pursue a writing career,” he said.
Danelo had other writings published while still serving in the Marines. That’s when he received an e-mail from Steven Pressfield, author of “Gates of Fire,” an epic novel of the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece in 480 B.C.
“He wrote me back and he said you should try to write a book,” Danelo said. “It’s sort of like Babe Ruth telling you you are a good baseball player.”
Writing “Blood Stripes” was a challenge that Pressfield and several other mentors helped him meet. “I can’t recall the number of times I felt like throwing in the towel,” he said.
Danelo interviewed then-Maj. Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis for the book. He had commanded the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. After the interview, Danelo said, “Sir, I don’t want to screw this up. What is your advice?”
The general’s reply became his motto. “Trust your instincts. Enjoy yourself and never quit.”
Touching others
The five Marines in Danelo’s book returned home from their tours in Iraq, but one lost his best friend in an urban firefight. “His buddy had to drag out his body,” he said.
Danelo later interviewed the dead Marine’s parents for his book. They told him about returning from church services on an Easter Sunday. They didn’t notice the government vehicle as they pulled in to their carport.
That dreaded knock came. They opened the door and were told that their son was killed in action. “I worked with his parents on capturing the moment when the knock came at the door.”
Recreating that family’s experience was an emotional one for the author. “I cried after I wrote the scene. I kind of had to take a few minutes. That was tough.”
Danelo said people have told him his book reads like a novel, which is what he had wanted to accomplish. At book signings he meets veterans, some who served in Iraq. “Getting their thanks is very meaningful,” he said.
One local Iraqi war veteran Danelo met at the local Barnes & Noble book signing was preparing for his fifth tour of duty. He had volunteered to return to the war zone. “All his friends are there,” Danelo said.
In a Boston Globe interview, Danelo expressed concern that those who served in Iraq might be considered “used goods,” not of much use to society. He said they might leave the military and “fade into the woodwork.” He said it is difficult for some people to disassociate the troops serving there from the policy on the war. “Right now this war is indefinite,” he said.
He said his book is not political and his own feelings about the war in Iraq continue to evolve. He said in the first few months after he returned from war, he felt responsible for justifying the conflict. Danelo said there are no easy answers. “I don’t know what we should do right now,” he said.
Danelo is working on a political novel he described as a cross between George Orwell’s “1984” and Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia.” He expects that book to take him several years to complete.
For now, he is traveling to promote his book and working to develop U.S. Cavalry’s counter-terrorism online journal called “On Point.” The company explains that “On Point” was created as an interactive forum for military and law enforcement professionals to find and share information on topics to make them more knowledgeable and effective in their jobs.
Danelo is energized by his role in developing that site, but he also promised there will be another non-fiction work after “Blood Stripes.”
“I’d like to write something different than this, but I’m not sure what.”
On the Net
For more information about local author David Danelo and his book, go to www.bloodstripesbook.com
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.
Ellie