Paying tribute to those that serve in any capacity in the military is something that we have a chance to do every day - at the store, online, in our neighborhoods, work environments, etc.
Do we take time to do it? No judgement toward you here. I'm only going to judge myself.
I could do more. Most of my gratitude is in my head. I'm not sure when, but somewhere along the journey I decided that veterans didn't want to share their war stories or deep thoughts with me, even if I was interested. But, in high school and college I conducted tons of interviews with veterans and had life changing experiences in the process.
Listening to their experiences is one way to respect their service. And, reflect on your own commitment, service, and priorities.
Fast forward. I've talked to a few veterans on this podcast. One of my virtual friends, Brenda Christensen, recently mentioned that I should interview someone she knew, a person who had served in the Army Reserve for thirty years.
Colonel Kenny. Kenny Dupar.
Kenny is a subject matter expert (SME) and a retired Lieutenant Colonel. He spent eight of those 30 years in active duty. A year after 9/11, he was mobilized under Operation Enduring Freedom.
He's written a book about his experiences called Scoundrels in Iraq, the primary book we discussed in our interview. His second book is a romance novel (a surprise venture for him) called Pin-Up Dolls and Class Cars. There is also a third book in his head waiting for him to download it on to paper.
Kenny shares his experience with war. It's hard, humbling, and humorous. As always, there was so much more to discuss than we were able to delve into here. He's anxious to share and doesn't hold back. I listened to the book too fast and missed some of the key themes he was hoping to present. But, I got my own lessons out of it. And, I'm anxious to listen to it again to picked up on what I missed in my haste.
Since I cannot write a better introduction than he did to his book and our conversation, here's a quote from him:
"Most Soldiers aren’t the Infantry Boys runnin’ and gunnin’, performing harrowing missions. People have seen a one-sided, violent representation of the war in Iraq. Some Americans leave for war straight from their neighborhoods and families. Many of these citizen patriots have wicked skills and low impulse control.
Men shooting their guns in dramatic fashion is a tiny fraction of wartime activity. The sizeable contributions of female Soldiers in Iraq have been largely excluded in media. Engineers, military intelligence, police, psych ops, aviation, transporters, commo, finance, postal, medical, staff pukes, the ash and the trash, itty bitty units that plan, man guard posts and make water safe to drink haven’t been given their due.
Scoundrels in Iraq relates the gritty adventures. I inadvertently explained the result of the war, how and why ISIS appeared; still finding the ridiculous and funny in order to continue the march: providing a glimpse of the anguish of being separated from family, the worry of getting hurt and the fear of coming home when your loved ones have moved on without you."
Tune in to learn more from Kenny. Buy his book. I've started reading his second book too.
Thank you for your service Colonel Kenny!
Website: https://kennydupar.com/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/u1MXnWi7In0
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realkennydupar/
Books: https://kennydupar.com/books
#veterans #armyreserve #military #militaryservice #usmilitary #operationenduringfreedom
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