Information Age Trench Poet

So here's the skinny on me.

I'm a USAF helicopter pilot. I'm also a writer and poet (are they two separate things? I don't know, but I have better things to worry about. Go waste someone else's time with silly questions. Thanks.)

I've long held the belief that stories are the crown jewel of the human experience. Storytellers of some form are revered in every human culture on the planet. We, as humans, seem to feel the need to share our experiences with one another, as if by doing so we can create a connection that wasn't there before. Moreover, we actively seek out the stories of others. We read books, watch movies, surf the internet or become addicted to reality TV because we are fascinated by the experiences and imagination of other people. Stories carry the essence of humanity.

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to take a class titled "The Literature of War". Besides being one of the best lit classes I'd taken, that class helped me define why I felt the way that I did about stories and storytelling. In it, I learned that within the literary canon, the stories of wars and warriors have always had a unique niche. Soldiers' Tales, as they are often called, seem to resonate with an authenticity and credibility seldom seen in other genres. (Genre? How the hell do you pluralize that, anyway?)

With the explosion of the Internet, Soldiers' Tales have taken on a new dimension, mainly in the form of milblogs. GIKate, of "My American-Iraq Life" (see sidebar) is an excellent example. Her blog is a classic Soldier's Tale. It's raw and authentic, and it serves as a vehicle for her stories about her experiences both while deployed to a combat zone, and after she's returned.

So, this is my story. Or a piece of it, anyway. GIKate and others like her have inspired me to join the ranks of the Information Age Trench Poets and tell my stories here.

I'd like to say "I hope you like them", but that's not the point. The point is that I tell them.