hands down

Let us get something real clear here. I ma not an asshole, I am a realist. Okay maybe I am an asshole, but I am much more then just an asshole. I just really do not care who I offend. I say most things I say with a purpose, or because they are on my mind. I do not know why people insist we wrap things up with a bow and make them all pretty for you. Communication is only about ten percent verbal anyway. The rest is the important stuff, like body posture, eye contact, gestures, and inflection. That is where you get the meaning of the communication. So who really cares if I say "fuck you" a lot? Maybe I really mean it, a lot. Listen to the inflections and you will find out.

Now I am all about this verbal communication being more physical, and therefore easier to do. Now lets get into writing. Grammar is the non verbal cues here. The writer has to use words carefully to paint a scene. A master wordsmith can capture those non verbal cues in their writing. Others glaze over them and let you fill in the blanks from personal experience. Then there are those that expose themselves to your constant chatter, and they do this with resiliency. These young men and women do so with a sense of purpose, and they share things with you that they have trouble sharing with there own families.

These are the contributors of the book "The Longest War". SFC John Holmes got this project together, and I thank him for it. I see pages and pages of therapy pouring off of those pages. Look at the grammar, and you can see that these are unedited accounts. These are real experiences of people that have gone to war, and many of them multiple times. In this book I remained anonymous, not because I was embarrassed of what I had wrote, but I wrote about my feelings. I did not account actual events. I did not want to take away from the impact these stories will have on my brothers and sisters that have gone overseas.

This is not a pissing contest, but rather naked rare communication. This is not the polished stuff you get in speeches from politicians that try to tell you have to live your life. These are the words of people, who often times barely made it through high school, and were moved to a higher purpose. I find interesting though, is the reactions from my friends who are reading the book right now. They did not worry about the I before E shit, they focused on the verbal communication. They shared this moment with a solider. For a brief moment they could see the horrors and joys of war, without Hollywood telling them what they should feel.

So no wrapping, no window dressing, this is pure truth delivered. It has meaning. It has purpose. So go look it up on Amazon, get it for your Kindle. Go look it up on Barnes and Nobles, and get it for your Nook. Then go out and buy the hard copy from the website. Why read some other ass hats fictional accounts of what they think war is like, we you can go straight to the source? The best part about all of this, is that you will truly be helping support your troops. Not only are portions of the proceeds going to veterans charities, but this book is therapy and closure for some many that brought back more with them than they thought. 

If you like it, review it. Get the word out. Share links. Show people where they can get a copy of their very own. Find one of the authors, have them do a reading in your local bookstore, school, or radio/television show. Seriously this is some valuable shit here, and a rare insight that most people will never get.