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Writing | Life Lessons | War
I Saw the Aftermath of the Afghanistan War Firsthand
My experience growing up as the son of a constantly deployed soldier.
I recently attended a great creativity workshop and found a new way to beat writer's block.
The trick is to pick a picture and write what the image makes you think about. I immediately thought of Reflections by Lee Teter. It brought to mind a poignant memory.
In the spring of 2002, my mother came to my room, “Do you want to come to the funeral tomorrow morning? Your dad is gone.”
I understood her meaning.
There’d been an unexpected battle one week earlier, which would later be called Robert’s Ridge. It was named after Neil Roberts, the first SEAL killed in the Afghanistan War.
My dad was leading that team and, ordinarily, he would be the one speaking at the funeral. But he was in Afghanistan, in the thick of it. He recently told me those were the hardest days of his 37-year career.
