Operation Footlocker

A recurring theme on the Red Bull Rising blog is encouragement for citizen-soldiers, friends, and families to document and share their stories of deployment. Too few of our fellow citizens—including those we have elected to office—have directly experienced the sacrifices of service and war. Rather than being a nation at war, the saying goes, we are a nation at Wal-mart. We have left the fighting to our soldiers. Attention must be paid.

The movie "Memorial Day," available on DVD and Blu-ray starting May 29, tells the story of a 13-year-old Minnesota boy who challenges his veteran grandfather to tell the stories contained in an old footlocker.

According to "Memorial Day" press materials released this week, the film was inspired by the experience co-executive producer Jeff Traxler, a veteran and historical reenactor. Traxler once discovered a military footlocker in an abandoned house, which caused him to contemplate the stories inside that must have been locked away for years—and would never be told. From the same document:

"Talking about the war can be an emotional journey filled with memories that are both joyful and difficult," said Tara Staver, a neuropsychologist who specializes in the assessment and treatment of active-duty soldiers. "But the value of sharing our stories—our experiences—not only for veterans, but for us all, creates a meaningful connection with others and allows us to live in the present while understanding how to learn from and honor the past."

Coincidentally, I've written about packing my own footlocker. After I retired, Household-6 told me I needed to reduce my 20-years of Army baggage down to a more manageable size.

Here's a small challenge for this Memorial Day weekend: Find your footlockers. Open them up. Take one object and 15 minutes. And tell your story.

For past Red Bull Rising blog-posts regarding ways to document and share stories, click here, here, and here.

For some other ways to remember citizen-soldiers, click here.

First Days and Worst Fears

In 2010, while preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, my biggest dread was missing the first day of kindergarten. I worried about what it would be like to leave my young children for a year. I was worried more about how they might change, rather than how I might change.

A recent Minnesota Public Radio story about post-deployment parenting quoted Kevin Ross, 31, about how he hardly recognized one of his daughters when he returned from an 18-month deployment to Iraq in 2009. At the time, Ross was a member of 682nd Engineer Battalion, Wilmar, Minn.:

"The night I got home I remember we are standing in that final formation in the armory," he says, "and I looked out and I saw a little girl sitting on the floor crying. As I got closer I hugged my wife and realized that that was my child."

That sounded a little like my own worst fear.

The strange thing about worst fears is that they seem so different in retrospect.

The way things worked out, I didn't deploy. I didn't have to miss kindergarten, although, ironically, my Army job at the time eventually kept me away from the Lena's official first day of school.

Turns out, however, the first day of school was just another day. By the time kindergarten rolled around, Lena had already spent a summer in a school-based "camp" program. Drop-off at the school building was just another day at the office. A non-event.

The last day of the 2011-2012 school year was last Friday, so, for us, today was the first day of summer. On the school rolls, Lena is now counted as a second-grader. Rain is preparing for kindergarten. Both kids went off to school "camp" this morning.

Rain is more of an introvert than his sister. While dropping him off this morning, he skirted the perimeter of a large room of kids and adults playing tabletop games, promptly found a set of toy tools, and set to building something by himself. I hardly got a good-bye out of him. He was wearing a hard hat when I left him, ready to get to work.

I wasn't expecting it to be so easy. Or so hard.

Walking outside to my car, I suddenly felt like I'd been smacked by a ball peen hammer, right between the eyes. That hasn't happened for a long time. Still, it made me remember everything that's happened in the past couple of years. And also to appreciate that I've been around to see most of it happen.

Time passes. Fears change.

And kids grow up, no matter what.

'A Sergeant in Motion Outranks an Officer Who's Not'

More than once or twice, I've mentioned my admiration for the work of Howard Tayler, the writer and artist of "Schlock Mercenary." Every day (for free?!), with tongue in cheek and plasma guns set on ominous hum, Tayler explores strange new worlds, intricate plots, and military-themed humor. In the past, I've likened it to a combination of "Hammer's Slammers," "Starship Troopers," and "Red Dwarf."

The title character, the fun-loving and Ovalkwik-consuming Sgt. Schlock, is a little harder to describe. The closest 21st century analogue I've found is a claymation character from a toilet commercial on Japanese TV. Let's ... not go there.

I thought I'd again mention "Schlock Mercenary" on the pages of Red Bull Rising today, if for no other reasons than these:

• Tayler recently reiterated his Mercenary Maxim No. 2—"a sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on"—in glorious Sunday multi-panel comic form. (See inset for excerpt.) In that particular strip, Tayler even suggested this corollary: "If you have to ask whether you're having a Maxim No. 2 moment, then, yes, you're having a Maxim No. 2 moment."

• I'm obviously a sucker for epigrams and maxims. Remember Sherpatude No. 26? "Humor is a combat-multiplier. Except when it isn't." I rotate a set of 12 Mercenary Maxims—a digital bonus from the Schlock Mercenary 2012 wall calendar (now on sale at reduced price!)—as pictures on my computer desktop. (For the record, May is "Close air-support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.")

• It affords me another opportunity to once again publish a picture of Tayler (above), who gamely posed for an Army buddy of mine at Gen Con 2011. Some people go to Disney World when they come home from an Afghan deployment. Others put on their riding leathers and go out on the road. My friends? They go to gaming conventions. Forget combat! Roll for saving throw!

• In addition to enjoying Tayler's art and writing, I continue to learn from his creative approaches to marketing and media empire-building. Recently, in celebration of his upcoming eighth Schlock book (available for pre-orders today!), he challenged readers to Tweet, Like, and Blog about Schlock Mercenary. Do you see what he did there?

"That tingling? That means it's working!"

Check out "Schlock Mercenary" today!