The email below refers to today’s release of As You Were: … My poem, Old Soldiers, & accompanying photograph of cattails going to seed are included in this online publication. David P. Ervin did a great job of putting this together. A brief history about the poem: I showed the aforementioned photograph to a dear friend of mine, Paul Wunsch. Paul was Special Forces and I was regular infantry. We met in a creative writing class taught by Chris Rogers, a terrific writer and teacher. Paul owned a custom motorcycle shop in the Houston Heights and he and I became great friends as well as muses for each other. I would visit his place of business and we would drain ourselves talking about writing, war, and motorcycles. When I showed Paul the photo he said it reminded him of old soldiers. That clicked and it took me five minutes to write the poem.
Sadly, Paul died on September 21, 2003 from throat cancer. Yes, he smoked filterless camels all his adult life but in my humble opinion the Vietnam War killed him. Also, he was half-finished writing his Vietnam story. I read what he had written and it was damn good.
For Paul …
“Greetings All,
Tomorrow, [Today/Monday] May 29, 2017 at 0900 EST we will announce the release of As You Were: The Military Review, Vol. 6. It is completed and is accessible from the main website page under the “Publications” tab when you scroll down to AS YOU WERE and then over to Volume 6.
Over the next couple of months we will feature each story, poem, and art piece individually on our social media outlets as well.
Once again, congratulations, and thank you. This is an exceptional volume and I am grateful for the hard work involved in creating it. I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day.
Sincerely,
David P. Ervin
President and Editor-in-Chief
Military Experience & the Arts, Inc.