thedrifter
09-30-06, 06:28 AM
Posted on Sat, Sep. 30, 2006
These words hit home front
Book collects writings of soldiers, families
By James Temple
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
DURING HIS 11-MONTH tour of duty in Iraq, Sgt. Brian Turner regularly described his experiences, some harrowing, some sad, in poetry. But the Fresno native adhered to the war zone's unofficial code of stoicism, keeping compositions like "The Hurt Locker" to himself.
"Nothing left here but the hurt," writes Turner, now a part-time professor at Fresno City College. "Believe it when you see it. Believe it when a twelve-year-old rolls a grenade into the room. Or when a sniper punches a hole deep into someone's head."
Turner is one of many soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan now breaking the battlefield silence, sharing experiences and feelings about the wars in "Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families."
Released earlier this month, the book collects nearly 100 accounts from soldiers and their family of heading into battle, losing limbs, picking up body parts, caring for the wounded, interacting with locals and missing loved ones.
Turner has published a separate book of poetry, "Here, Bullet," which won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award and other recognition. But most of the contributors are amateurs, much of the writing originating from e-mails, letters and journal entries.
The first-person, personal and often unvarnished tone breathes life into battle scenes, humanizes otherwise abstract statistics of death and injuries and underscores the extent of the sacrifices being made.
The project arose from an unprecedented request: The National Endowment for the Arts, a body of the federal government, asked soldiers and their families to write candidly and publicly about their experiences with an ongoing war. It orchestrated a series of workshops on U.S. military bases, led by authors such as Tom Clancy, Tobias Wolff and Mark Bowden, to aid and encourage prospective writers.
Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," the best-selling account of the 1993 operation in Somalia that left 18 U.S. soldiers dead, conducted a two-day seminar at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego two years ago.
He taught soldiers the basics of storytelling -- creating characters, scenes and action -- and took them through a series of exercises, such as writing about their first day in uniform and describing a significant moment in their lives.
"I have in my life received great benefits by telling the stories of military people," said Bowden, in explaining why he signed on for the project. "I think I owe them something."
The NEA asked Andrew Carroll, editor of "War Letters," a best-selling collection of correspondence from past American conflicts, to edit "Operation Homecoming." He nearly turned them down.
Carroll doubted there would be enough submissions, owing to the same resistance to displaying battlefield emotions that kept Turner from sharing his poetry within his division. He also was skeptical that the NEA would allow soldiers to openly criticize the war or paint authentically gruesome scenes from battle.
He was wrong on both counts. In fact, he was deluged with submissions, thousands of pages that he and others had to cull down to under 400. And the NEA's only guidelines for inclusion were: good writing and a diversity of voices.
In the end, the book is less about policy than survival. There is plenty of rah-rah sentiment expressed, particularly in stories about first heading overseas or going into battle. On the other hand, even the most hawkish are likely to feel queasy reading the starker scenes of death and carnage.
Carroll himself declined to state his position on the war. He said the project had three goals, none of which was political: providing a form of catharsis for the soldiers and their families; capturing history at its most raw and authentic; and helping civilians, whatever their feelings about the war, to understand the sacrifices being made.
"These aren't just soldiers, they're somebody's parent, somebody's child, somebody's spouse," Carroll said. "These are human beings that we ask to do these extraordinary things."
James Temple is a staff writer for the Contra Costa Times. Reach him at 925-977-8534 or jtemple@cctimes.com.
Excerpts from 'Operation Homecoming'
Next to the Humvee is a silver metal trash can with the smoldering remains of the rags and bloodied equipment that couldn't be cleaned, such as the dead soldier's boonie cap and his used compression bandages. ... A fragment from the bomb hit him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord. I can't imagine how scared he must have been in those final moments as he saw his life slowly slipping away, bleeding to death and beginning to lose motor function. He was a private, twenty-two, and had only joined the unit about eight days earlier. It was his first mission out into the city.
-- Robert Swope, U.S. Army, writing about an Improvised Explosive Device attack
Over time, I have learned how to be a father and a mother. It does not always go well. Sociologists and psychologists would have an absolute blast in my home. I could write a book about what not to say to young children. I've said them all in just a few weeks. The good news is that I don't think that I have scarred them permanently. I start each day with "I love you" and end it the same way. At night they sneak into my bed, kiss me quietly, and whisper "I love you, Daddy." This is a new world where our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives go to war. Gentlemen, we had better get prepared.
-- Peter Madsen, husband of a U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq
Your son was killed in action today. ... Despite intense enemy machine gun and rocket propelled grenade first, your son fought like a lion. He remained in his fighting position until all his wounded comrades could be evacuated from the rooftop they were defending. It was during his courageous defense of his comrades that Aaron was hit by enemy fire. ... With the exception of the Marines on Security, every man in the company attended the service. Aaron was respected and admired by every Marine in his company. His death brought tears to my eyes, tears that fell in front of my Marines. I am unashamed of that fact.
-- Douglas Zembiec, U.S. Marine Corps, writing to the mother of Aaron C. Austin
NONFICTION
• TITLE: "Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families"
• EDITOR: Andrew Carroll
• PUBLISHER: Random House
• PRICE: $26.95; PAGES: 386
Ellie
These words hit home front
Book collects writings of soldiers, families
By James Temple
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
DURING HIS 11-MONTH tour of duty in Iraq, Sgt. Brian Turner regularly described his experiences, some harrowing, some sad, in poetry. But the Fresno native adhered to the war zone's unofficial code of stoicism, keeping compositions like "The Hurt Locker" to himself.
"Nothing left here but the hurt," writes Turner, now a part-time professor at Fresno City College. "Believe it when you see it. Believe it when a twelve-year-old rolls a grenade into the room. Or when a sniper punches a hole deep into someone's head."
Turner is one of many soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan now breaking the battlefield silence, sharing experiences and feelings about the wars in "Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families."
Released earlier this month, the book collects nearly 100 accounts from soldiers and their family of heading into battle, losing limbs, picking up body parts, caring for the wounded, interacting with locals and missing loved ones.
Turner has published a separate book of poetry, "Here, Bullet," which won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award and other recognition. But most of the contributors are amateurs, much of the writing originating from e-mails, letters and journal entries.
The first-person, personal and often unvarnished tone breathes life into battle scenes, humanizes otherwise abstract statistics of death and injuries and underscores the extent of the sacrifices being made.
The project arose from an unprecedented request: The National Endowment for the Arts, a body of the federal government, asked soldiers and their families to write candidly and publicly about their experiences with an ongoing war. It orchestrated a series of workshops on U.S. military bases, led by authors such as Tom Clancy, Tobias Wolff and Mark Bowden, to aid and encourage prospective writers.
Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," the best-selling account of the 1993 operation in Somalia that left 18 U.S. soldiers dead, conducted a two-day seminar at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego two years ago.
He taught soldiers the basics of storytelling -- creating characters, scenes and action -- and took them through a series of exercises, such as writing about their first day in uniform and describing a significant moment in their lives.
"I have in my life received great benefits by telling the stories of military people," said Bowden, in explaining why he signed on for the project. "I think I owe them something."
The NEA asked Andrew Carroll, editor of "War Letters," a best-selling collection of correspondence from past American conflicts, to edit "Operation Homecoming." He nearly turned them down.
Carroll doubted there would be enough submissions, owing to the same resistance to displaying battlefield emotions that kept Turner from sharing his poetry within his division. He also was skeptical that the NEA would allow soldiers to openly criticize the war or paint authentically gruesome scenes from battle.
He was wrong on both counts. In fact, he was deluged with submissions, thousands of pages that he and others had to cull down to under 400. And the NEA's only guidelines for inclusion were: good writing and a diversity of voices.
In the end, the book is less about policy than survival. There is plenty of rah-rah sentiment expressed, particularly in stories about first heading overseas or going into battle. On the other hand, even the most hawkish are likely to feel queasy reading the starker scenes of death and carnage.
Carroll himself declined to state his position on the war. He said the project had three goals, none of which was political: providing a form of catharsis for the soldiers and their families; capturing history at its most raw and authentic; and helping civilians, whatever their feelings about the war, to understand the sacrifices being made.
"These aren't just soldiers, they're somebody's parent, somebody's child, somebody's spouse," Carroll said. "These are human beings that we ask to do these extraordinary things."
James Temple is a staff writer for the Contra Costa Times. Reach him at 925-977-8534 or jtemple@cctimes.com.
Excerpts from 'Operation Homecoming'
Next to the Humvee is a silver metal trash can with the smoldering remains of the rags and bloodied equipment that couldn't be cleaned, such as the dead soldier's boonie cap and his used compression bandages. ... A fragment from the bomb hit him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord. I can't imagine how scared he must have been in those final moments as he saw his life slowly slipping away, bleeding to death and beginning to lose motor function. He was a private, twenty-two, and had only joined the unit about eight days earlier. It was his first mission out into the city.
-- Robert Swope, U.S. Army, writing about an Improvised Explosive Device attack
Over time, I have learned how to be a father and a mother. It does not always go well. Sociologists and psychologists would have an absolute blast in my home. I could write a book about what not to say to young children. I've said them all in just a few weeks. The good news is that I don't think that I have scarred them permanently. I start each day with "I love you" and end it the same way. At night they sneak into my bed, kiss me quietly, and whisper "I love you, Daddy." This is a new world where our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives go to war. Gentlemen, we had better get prepared.
-- Peter Madsen, husband of a U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq
Your son was killed in action today. ... Despite intense enemy machine gun and rocket propelled grenade first, your son fought like a lion. He remained in his fighting position until all his wounded comrades could be evacuated from the rooftop they were defending. It was during his courageous defense of his comrades that Aaron was hit by enemy fire. ... With the exception of the Marines on Security, every man in the company attended the service. Aaron was respected and admired by every Marine in his company. His death brought tears to my eyes, tears that fell in front of my Marines. I am unashamed of that fact.
-- Douglas Zembiec, U.S. Marine Corps, writing to the mother of Aaron C. Austin
NONFICTION
• TITLE: "Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families"
• EDITOR: Andrew Carroll
• PUBLISHER: Random House
• PRICE: $26.95; PAGES: 386
Ellie