As most of you know, I've spent much of the past 3 months working hard on the campaign for Veterans' Benefits. It's been tiring but worth doing. If you want to know more about that, visit here.
I've consequently spent a lot of time with veterans and I've learned several things:
1 - Owing to US media domination and an underfunded Canadian TV & Film industry, we really know very little about our Forces & RCMP - what they do, how they do, where they go, and why.
2 - A very high percentage of veterans are writers, of varying skill levels, many of them working on books.
3 - Veterans sure do talk a lot. Unless you have a clear agenda and are prepared to rigidly enforce it, a meeting will quickly disintegrate into a veterans' storytelling circle.
So I've decided to open my blog up to the vets!
Veterans of Canada: tell us your tales! Tell us about the funny thing that happened that time, or the horrible thing you witnessed, or the things you have thought about, or the places you have been. Write anything: short story, poem, essay, email, even just a joke. Don't worry about keeping it clear or family friendly: we want to hear all the dirty ditties and harsh realities of your experience. Talk about war, about keeping peace, about winter exercises, about domestic deployment, about walking a beat, about getting shot. The most common statement I have heard over the past few months is "You civilians don't understand." My counter is this "Us civilians don't know." So tell us and perhaps we will understand.
There's no minimum word count. Try to stick under a 5000 work max, just to keep the posts of reasonable reading length. You can post here as a reply, or email me: rosemartland@gmail.com with questions, or if you would rather remain anonymous.
Who knows? If there is enough interest, I may look into releasing them as a book. (In which case, author's would be contacted regarding publishing rights, etc.)
NOTE: Please no VAC horror stories. This about your service experiences. You can send yourr VAC complaints to me via Our Duty.
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#1 Sandy Brace 2010-11-28 17:25
ReplyDeleteBack a few years ago, the government came out with what they called an "Austerity Program". I was a Sgt at that time and our unit was preparing for deployment on a major exercise. We were all prepared and formed up for last minute orders and issue of ammo. The quartermaster sent his boys out and they proceeded to walk up and down the ranks issuing each of us a piece of paper. Curiously, we looked at the writing on the paper and were astounded that the papers recorded the number of blank rounds we were to pretend we had for the exercise. We had to safeguard the paper in case an umpire asked us how much ammo we had on us during the exercise. Needless to say, it was an unforgettable cowboy and indian experience as we all shouted "BANG" whenever we were attacked. This was during the time frame that Gen Rick Hilliar refers to as the Dark Days. Moral was at an all time LOW.