Winston Churchill, a soldier and writer long before he was a politician, said “there is nothing more exhilarating in life than to be shot at with no result.” That somewhat captures the veteran mindset: someone who has had his or her life almost taken by someone else (on purpose) but survived. Many veterans have been to the edge of the abyss and stared death in the eye only to come back a changed person. The ones who choose to tell their tale are truly special.

Veterans have seen and done things the average person hasn’t which has given them a perspective on life and death that’s hard to explain. When they find their voice and an outlet to share their incredible experiences, the outcome can be moving and can even help others.

Reading a book by a veteran is many times enlightening because it’s a book about life written by someone who is comfortable with death. The ability of the veteran author to capture what it’s like to stride through life looking everyone in the eye because there’s nothing to fear from humans is cathartic. They have a unique ability to find the words we all want to say like Army Lieutenant Matt Gallagher who described the people of Baghdad as “too tired to hope, but too human not to” in his book Kaboom.

The vernacular of the soldier is unlike anyone else’s. Veterans have a way of stringing together the most obscure, yet direct words and phrases to make a point. In the Army, fuck can be a measure of anything: length, strength, temperature, intelligence, or anything troops can dream up. Something can be long as fuck, strong as fuck, cold as fuck, dumb as fuck, or the coup de grace when describing a boned up person, place or thing; wrong as fuck.

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines also do dumb things in combat that end up being the funniest stories you’ll ever hear. Humans always find something to do that is inherently risky and has the potential for loss of life. In the military the risk is galactically higher because of 1) live ordnance 2) heavy equipment and machinery and 3) the previous two being under the control of relatively young people. I spent 24 years in the Army and not only saw troops doing dumb things, but was that guy who did them. I landed a parachute in a tree, stood underneath an artillery gun when it went off, nearly rolled a Humvee down a mountain, nearly blew up the same Humvee, let off a trip flare in front of a bar, and ran the most dangerous weapons range ever. Capturing these moments in words was therapy for me and a good laugh for the reader.

There are too many great veteran authors to list, but some who have survived combat to write amazing memoirs and novels like Homer Hickam, Colby Buzzell, James Michener, Kurt Vonnegut, Gary Linderer, and Matt Gallagher will be featured on my website BooksByVeterans.com. If you are a veteran and have a story to tell, let me know. The barriers to being a published author are not as difficult to surmount as you might think.