Re-run: Review of 'Citizen-Soldier' Documentary Film

Film review: "Citizen-Soldier" (2016)

[Blog editor's note: This review originally appeared on the Red Bull Rising blog on Aug. 31, 2016. The movie is currently available on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.]

Before I offer a few insights and impressions regarding the new documentary "Citizen-Soldier," a few caveats up front:

1. The movie explores a recurring theme in U.S. history: How citizens routinely pick up their muskets to become soldiers. This is a theme fraught with tensions, between state and federal powers, and between those who argue that the United States must at all times maintain a large, standing, "professional" military, to those who who argue for a smaller active-duty military, augmented by citizen reservists in times of need. This is a central engine that drives much of my own research and writing. [Blog editor's note: The book "Reporting for Duty: U.S. Citizen-Soldier Journalism from the Afghan Surge, 2010-2011" was published in November 2016. The book collects reports and photos from the Iowa unit described below.]

2. The documentary depicts a unit that replaced the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division shortly after my media embed with the latter in May-June 2011. For a 9-month period, Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (I.B.C.T.) was made responsible for all U.S./coalition missions in Eastern Afghanistan's Laghman Province. Together with Iowa's 2-34th BCT and Vermont's 86th IBCT, this represents the only times a brigade-sized U.S. National Guard unit was assigned as a "battlespace owner" during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

3. There are other connections. Afghanistan was not the first time, for example, that the Red Bull and Thunderbird fought and trod the same ground. In World War II, both units were at the battles of Anzio, Solerno, Sicily, and Mount Cassino. To my particular delight, each unit boasts unique artistic pedigrees, too. The Red Bull shoulder patch was designed in 1918 by Marvin Cone, a citizen-soldier who would later become a well-regarded regional artist. Famous World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin was a Thunderbird.

I am, in short, a big fan of the 45th IBCT. I am probably genetically predisposed to like this movie.

*****

I like this movie. A lot.

That's not to say, however, that it's easy to watch. Or even fun. It is, however, necessary.

Released earlier this week on DVD and Blu-ray, the documentary "Citizen-Soldier" accurately captures the trials of people just like you and your neighbors—police officers, marketing directors, X-ray technicians—who are routine trained and transformed into soldiers. With this deployment, they tasked with fighting waves of unseen enemies, while traversing unforgivingly brutal terrain. Along the way, they adapt, improvise, and overcome.

"[O]ne thing the Guard is able to do very effectively," says Sgt. Jared Colson, who is a corrections officer on the civilian side. "We're able to look at things practically, and not just according to a manual."

Members of Oklahoma's 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment (1-179th Inf.), deployed to Combat Outpost ("COP") Najil in Laghman Province. Through footage shot by Oklahoma and attached combat camera soldiers, as well as other sources, "Citizen-Soldier" tells the story of a few platoons, follows them through various dismounted and mounted patrols, as well as an air-assault—Operation Brass Monkey, into the Saygal Valley. There are laughs, and there are tears.

An important note: Not everyone introduced at the beginning of the film survives the deployment. It does need to be said, however, that the violence is edited tastefully, and the reverence and respect Oklahoma has for its fallen is apparent throughout the journey home. These are sights that may be unfamiliar to active-duty communities: Patriot Guard motorcycle escorts and flag-bearers. Highways lined with Guardsmen and women, rendering final salutes. Citizen-soldiers have their own traditions, their own customs.

The "Citizen-Soldier" project was managed by the directors of "The Hornet's Nest" (2014), which told stories of Eastern and Southern Afghanistan through the eyes of an embedded civilian reporter. The Oklahoma documentary, however, is framed by two elements: First are scenes of present-day Thunderbird soldiers taking part in a live-fire training exercise, which provides a thematic connection to the National Guard's "Minute Man" history and culture.

Toward the end of the exercise, and at the end of the film, Command Sgt. Major of the Army National Guard Brunk W. Conley addresses a group of Oklahoma soldiers. "Think about 1775 […]," he says. "'The British are coming, the British are coming.' And blacksmiths, and inn-keepers drop their hammers, drop their plates and towels and bedding. They drop what their doing. And they run to the greens at Lexington and Concord […]"

"We've been doing this stuff since 1636 […]" Conley tells the troops. "We need you […] to keep the title of 'citizen-soldier.' There is something noble, something honorable, something romantic about that term."

The second framing device is an off-duty gab session among former platoon mates. A casual conversation alongside a river creates a space for reflection. There, the soldiers joke, for example, that their mobilization station of Camp Shelby, Miss.—a relatively flat place located near the Gulf of Mexico—was exactly like Afghanistan, except for maybe the all the mountains.

As Colson says earlier in the film, "Everywhere is up. Everywhere you walk is up." And the bad guys hold the high ground.

If you are an adult friend or family member of a U.S. National Guard or reservist who deployed to Afghanistan, you will want to see this film. If you are a veteran of Eastern Afghanistan, you might also enjoy the added bonus of seeing some of your old stomping grounds. (The usual trigger-warnings apply, however: While the film is rated "R" only for language, there is plenty of bang-bang and roadside boom here. The kind that might keep your mom up at nights. Depending on your own deployment history, maybe you, too.)

If you are a U.S. citizen and taxpayer, seeing this film should be a requirement. This is what you sent your neighbors to do, on your behalf: Leave their jobs, their friends, their families, the comforts and safety of home. Engage an enemy. Climb mountains. Search out bombs. Build a nation.

More important than what they did, however, "Citizen-Soldier" shows you who they are.

Film Review: 'Citizen-Soldier' Documentary

Film review: "Citizen-Soldier" (2016)

Before I offer a few insights and impressions regarding the new documentary "Citizen-Soldier," a few caveats up front:

1. The movie explores a recurring theme in U.S. history: How citizens routinely pick up their muskets to become soldiers. This is a theme fraught with tensions, between state and federal powers, and between those who argue that the United States must at all times maintain a large, standing, "professional" military, to those who who argue for a smaller active-duty military, augmented by citizen reservists in times of need. This is a central engine that drives much of my own research and writing.

2. The documentary depicts a unit that replaced the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division shortly after my media embed with the latter in May-June 2011. For a 9-month period, Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (I.B.C.T.) was made responsible for all U.S./coalition missions in Eastern Afghanistan's Laghman Province. Together with Iowa's 2-34th BCT and Vermont's 86th IBCT, this represents the only times a brigade-sized U.S. National Guard unit was assigned as a "battlespace owner" during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

3. There are other connections. Afghanistan was not the first time, for example, that the Red Bull and Thunderbird fought and trod the same ground. In World War II, both units were at the battles of Anzio, Solerno, Sicily, and Mount Cassino. To my particular delight, each unit boasts unique artistic pedigrees, too. The Red Bull shoulder patch was designed in 1918 by Marvin Cone, a citizen-soldier who would later become a well-regarded regional artist. Famous World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin was a Thunderbird.

I am, in short, a big fan of the 45th IBCT. I am probably genetically predisposed to like this movie.

*****

I like this movie. A lot.

That's not to say, however, that it's easy to watch. Or even fun. It is, however, necessary.

Released earlier this week on DVD and Blu-ray, the documentary "Citizen-Soldier" accurately captures the trials of people just like you and your neighbors—police officers, marketing directors, X-ray technicians—who are routine trained and transformed into soldiers. With this deployment, they tasked with fighting waves of unseen enemies, while traversing unforgivingly brutal terrain. Along the way, they adapt, improvise, and overcome.

"[O]ne thing the Guard is able to do very effectively," says Sgt. Jared Colson, who is a corrections officer on the civilian side. "We're able to look at things practically, and not just according to a manual."

Members of Oklahoma's 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment (1-179th Inf.), deployed to Combat Outpost ("COP") Najil in Laghman Province. Through footage shot by Oklahoma and attached combat camera soldiers, as well as other sources, "Citizen-Soldier" tells the story of a few platoons, follows them through various dismounted and mounted patrols, as well as an air-assault—Operation Brass Monkey, into the Saygal Valley. There are laughs, and there are tears.

An important note: Not everyone introduced at the beginning of the film survives the deployment. It does need to be said, however, that the violence is edited tastefully, and the reverence and respect Oklahoma has for its fallen is apparent throughout the journey home. These are sights that may be unfamiliar to active-duty communities: Patriot Guard motorcycle escorts and flag-bearers. Highways lined with Guardsmen and women, rendering final salutes. Citizen-soldiers have their own traditions, their own customs.

The "Citizen-Soldier" project was managed by the directors of "The Hornet's Nest" (2014), which told stories of Eastern and Southern Afghanistan through the eyes of an embedded civilian reporter. The Oklahoma documentary, however, is framed by two elements: First are scenes of present-day Thunderbird soldiers taking part in a live-fire training exercise, which provides a thematic connection to the National Guard's "Minute Man" history and culture.

Toward the end of the exercise, and at the end of the film, Command Sgt. Major of the Army National Guard Brunk W. Conley addresses a group of Oklahoma soldiers. "Think about 1775 […]," he says. "'The British are coming, the British are coming.' And blacksmiths, and inn-keepers drop their hammers, drop their plates and towels and bedding. They drop what their doing. And they run to the greens at Lexington and Concord […]"

"We've been doing this stuff since 1636 […]" Conley tells the troops. "We need you […] to keep the title of 'citizen-soldier.' There is something noble, something honorable, something romantic about that term."

The second framing device is an off-duty gab session among former platoon mates. A casual conversation alongside a river creates a space for reflection. There, the soldiers joke, for example, that their mobilization station of Camp Shelby, Miss.—a relatively flat place located near the Gulf of Mexico—was exactly like Afghanistan, except for maybe the all the mountains.

As Colson says earlier in the film, "Everywhere is up. Everywhere you walk is up." And the bad guys hold the high ground.

If you are an adult friend or family member of a U.S. National Guard or reservist who deployed to Afghanistan, you will want to see this film. If you are a veteran of Eastern Afghanistan, you might also enjoy the added bonus of seeing some of your old stomping grounds. (The usual trigger-warnings apply, however: While the film is rated "R" only for language, there is plenty of bang-bang and roadside boom here. The kind that might keep your mom up at nights. Depending on your own deployment history, maybe you, too.)

If you are a U.S. citizen and taxpayer, seeing this film should be a requirement. This is what you sent your neighbors to do, on your behalf: Leave their jobs, their friends, their families, the comforts and safety of home. Engage an enemy. Climb mountains. Search out bombs. Build a nation.

More important than what they did, however, "Citizen-Soldier" shows you who they are.

Post-Memorial Day Round-Up on Mil-Writing

One of the movers-and-shakers I met recently at Military Experience & the Arts Symposiusm 2 (M.E.A.2.) in Lawton, Okla. was spoken-word artist, editor, and impresario Kylila Bullard, who's particularly interested in telling the stories of female West Point cadets.

She's written up her own take of the MEA2 event, which I invite you to read at her own blog, "Poetic Change." She heads a non-profit of the same name. A Facebook page for the organization is here.

Keep an ear out for her stuff. I know I will.

I was also pleased to meet former corpsman and sailor Travis Klempan, who is now a writer and poet based in Colorado. On Memorial Day, the Ash & Bones on-line literary journal published Klempan's short story "Commit to the Deep." It's a great read, and perfect for navigating the discomforts and internal conflicts of Memorial Day.

Also on the virtual table-of-contents was a poem from Eric Chandler.  Chandler is a former F-16 driver for the Minnesota Air National Guard (Callsign: "Shmo"), and an outdoors enthusiast and writer in Duluth, Minn. who now flies commercial passenger aircraft. His poem "Maybe I Should've Lied" wonderfully captures the uneasy phase lines over which citizen-soldiers must cross when talking with and around their children. The poem and the situation it describes resonated greatly with me, as did Shmo's snarky internal monologue.

That it was also published on Memorial Day, I think, is both provocative and appropriate.

The editors of Ash & Bones, Andrea Collins and Katie Kuss-Shivler, are to be commended and thanked for their literary coverage of military themes. In three recent waves or "cycles" of on-line content, they've presented a compelling mix of poetry and short fiction. (You can read that military content here and here.)

These are stories of military experience, ranging from the mundane to the profane, from the subversive and the sublime. They also share a great eye for pairing images—often copyright-free images from modern military journalists—with literary words. When artist- and writer-veterans talk about ways to build bridges across the gaps of understanding between civilians and military service members and families, it's content like this for which we should be aiming: Punchy. Loving. Unsentimental.

(Disclosure: The writer of the Red Bull Rising blog had two poems—here and here—appear in the journal's second cycle.)

The Ash & Bones publication is moving on to consider other, non-military topics important to our society and culture. I hope, however, that they revisit military themes in the future. In the meantime, I'll borrow a page from the Navy signals book and transmit a "Bravo Zulu" to all those involved.

*****

I SAY AGAIN: JUNE 1, 2015 DEADLINES FOR TWO IMPORTANT JOURNALS

Military writers, take note! Two noteworthy print journals have deadlines for short fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, interviews, and more coming up on June 1:

First is "Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors" from Southeast Missouri State University Press, an annual anthology now in its fourth year.

Second is the annual journal "Consequence," which covers literature regarding the culture of war.

Like the Red Bull says: "Attack! Attack! Attack!"

In other words, keep writing! And keep sending out submissions!

Notes from a Veterans-in-the-Arts Symposium

MEA2 event organizer Jason Poudrier, MEA founding president Travis L. Martin, and
current MEA president David. P. Ervin celebrate a successful veterans-in-the-arts
symposium  conducted May 14-17, 2015 at Cameron University, Lawton, Okla.
PHOTO: Military Experience & the Arts

More than 100 military veterans, writers, artists, scholars, therapists, and others assembled in the second Military Experience & the Arts Symposium (M.E.A.2.) May 14-17, 2015. The event was held at Cameron University, Lawton, Okla., near the Fort Sill military installation. Participants attended nearly 75 workshops, performances, meet-ups, and seminars on the communication of military experiences through expressive arts, including music, writing, dance, painting, and more.

The first such event was held 2012 in Richmond, Ky. Each symposium has been under the banner of Military Experience & the Arts, a Kentucky-based non-profit organization.

News reports about the event included this broadcast from ABC affiliate KSWO-TV Channel 7: "Veterans Create, Display Art." (See text, video at link.)

The Cameron campus was lush and green, the dirt red, and the weather relatively cool and blustery. (Wind conditions kept me off the on-campus disc golf course.) The region has gotten plenty of rain this year, and flash flood concerns were often as high as local waterways. Some friends from Wisconsin had to find hotel rooms at the last minute, after the cabin they'd reserved on Fort Sill turned about to be high and dry, but surrounded by a moat impassible to anything but tactical vehicles.

Still, to update that old Army saying about the weather and training: "If it's raining, we're still painting!"

While it was impossible to participate in every workshop or experience, I hope the following notes provide some sense of the talents and topics available at MEA2.

DAY 1:

Saw lots of friends from MEA1. Met friends I didn't know I knew already. ("Who I am depends on who you are and where we are ...") Met entirely new friends. Even friends who'd said they'd gotten published via venues identified at the Red Bull Rising blog. Oklahoma, in short, is a very friendly place. 

In the evening, former Marine and poet Suzanne Rancourt read from her work in a theater setting, and made me cry. And then, former Marine Roman Baca's Exit 12 Dance Company took the stage, and performed a ballet about motherhood and separation and deployment. They also made me cry. 

When the lights went up, the mother who commissioned/choreographed the piece was suddenly in the audience, as well as one of her two sons, who is stationed at nearby Fort Sill. And later, the troupe re-purposed a dance to an impromptu Native American flute performance by Albert Gray Eagle. 

"Magic" does not adequately describe all this.

DAY 2:

Made DIY comic books with Steve Gooch and Marc DiPaolo of Oklahoma City University, then learned about contemplative photography from Buddhist and Army veteran Tif Holmes from the non-profit Engage the Light of Lubbock, Texas. 

Wrote about the homefront through prompts suggested by Amber Jensen of South Dakota State University, a writer and Army National Guard family member, whom I first met back at Great Plains Writers' Conference 2014. 

Then, dinner with the jazz musicians of 77th Army Band ("The Pride of Fort Sill!"), followed by provoking insights about Military Sexual Trauma issues from Miette Wells, Phd., an Air Force veteran. 

Finally, video presentation from Ben Patton, grandson of WWII Gen. George S. Patton, and founder of "I Was There" Film Workshops. The latter uses digital film-making as a collaborative therapeutic intervention for people diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

So much energy here! So many sparks!

DAY 3:

Got the gouge on self-publishing from MEA president David P. Ervin (author of "Leaving the Wire: An Infantryman's Iraq"), then learned about flash non-fiction techniques from Rob Roensch of Red Earth MFA in Creative Writing at OCU. 

After lunch, Tara Leigh Tappert of The Arts and the Military blew my mind by academically connecting the Arts & Crafts movement with the origins of occupational therapy as a profession, and the establishment of craft shops U.S. military installations in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Scholarship like that puts veterans and arts organizations such as MEA into historical context. "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again." 

Evening performances included readings of flash fiction by Veterans Writing Project Managing Editor Jerri Bell (from whom I learned lots of new sailor slang. Household-6 will be very pleased), and physical comedy (Masks! Mime! Puppets! Juggling!) from Hoosier Doug Berky. Berky's re-telling of the Korean fable, "The Tiger's Whisker," is a family-friendly tale of one family's journey of healing from PTSD. I hope to invite him to Iowa someday.

Bottom line: The Military Experience & the Arts Symposium 2 provided a unique opportunity to exchange insights on expressive arts techniques, tools, scholarship, advocacy, and healing on veterans issues—and encouraged veterans, students, educators, and arts practitioners to try new things.

Godspeed, and God bless! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Dance Troupe to Showcase at Veterans-and-Arts Event

New York-based Exit 12 Dance Company also performed at the inaugural Military Experience & the Arts Symposium held 2012 in Richmond, Ky. PHOTO: Military Experience & the Arts

Telling stories with military themes through the art of ballet, New York-based Exit 12 Dance Company will be showcased at the Military Experience & the Arts Symposium (M.E.A.S.) to be held at Cameron University, Lawton, Okla., May 14-17, 2015.

The dance company was also featured at the first such symposium, conducted in July 2012 in Richmond, Ky., and will appear at the 2015 event thanks to a recent grant from the low-residency Red Earth Creative Writing MFA program at Oklahoma City University.

"It's essential that veterans’ stories are heard," says Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, director of the Red Earth MFA program. "Writing serves as one kind of emotional therapy to help with after effects of service. The stories themselves are part of the American story. New stories add to the ancient genre of veterans' and soldiers' writings, which include parts of the Old Testament, trench poetry from World War I, writings by Kurt Vonnegut (among others) on World War II, and Vietnam stories and poems."

Military Experience & the Arts is a Kentucky-based 501(c)3 non-profit that seeks to gather and empower military veterans, advocates, arts practitioners, and others interested in exploring healing, history, and communication through the expressive arts. The organization's inaugural 3-day symposium  comprised workshops, demonstrations, and performances by an engaged and diverse group of veterans, advocates, and artists. This year's event promises to be a similarly empowering environment.

Iraq War veteran Jason Poudrier, author of the poetry collection "Red Fields," is the local coordinator of the MEA symposium in Lawton, as well as an instructor of writing at Cameron. The MEA continues to seek corporate and organizational sponsors for the 2015 event, in addition to individual donations.

Proposals for workshop presenters and facilitators are also welcomed. The group is also seeking volunteers to assist with activities at the event. Direct queries via e-mail to David P. Ervin: president AT militaryexperience.org.

For a non-refundable $20 fee, military veterans and spouses can register via Submittable for the May event. At minimum, the event will provide:

• Daily workshops and classes in the creative, healing arts.

• Breakfast bar and at least one hot meal per day.

• Mightly events. performances, and speakers.

• Accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

• Booths and tables from veteran service organizations.

• Free writing and art supplies.

Other information about meals, lodging, and other accommodations is still pending.

Past "Red Bull Rising" blog coverage of the MEA organization and its related literary journals is collected here. A blog post reflecting on the 2012 symposium is here.

Disclosure: The Red Earth MFA in Creative Writing program is also a past sponsor of the Red Bull Rising blog.

'As You Were': Veteran Group Re-launches Lit Journal

Military Experience & the Arts (M.E.A.), a veterans- and arts-advocacy non-profit based in Richmond, Ky., has announced that it will re-launch its family of four annual journal titles under a single quarterly banner. The new on-line publication will be titled "As You Were."

Military service members and veterans will recognize the phrase as one frequently heard in drill and ceremony, in which it is used to revoke a preparatory command. (See FM 22-5, Section 2-1, paragraph D.) A nautical equivalent might be "belay that."

"Our title also connotes a hearkening back, an exploration of the self and the past," the editors write. "We're interested in those words and works of art that are brave enough to cut through rank and time, presenting military experience honestly, free of the white-washing that is so common in today's war literature and art."

The group will continue to foster a collaborative culture and methods. "We've published six volumes since 2011, providing each contributor—regardless of whether that contributor has published 25 words or 25 books—with some form of one-on-one consultation."

The re-launch comes soon after the announcement of a May 2015 symposium to be held in Lawton, Okla., which will welcome artists, advocates, and veterans to military experience through the expressive arts. Registration for the event is open here.

Previously, literary titles published annually by Military Experience & the Arts included:

• The Blue Falcon Review: A Journal of Military Fiction

• The Blue Streak: A Journal of Military Poetry

• Blue Nostalgia: A Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth

• The Journal of Military Experience

Submission instructions for "As You Were" have been consolidated here. The organization now uses the on-line service Submittable to manage submissions. Editors seek artwork, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Scholarly articles will no longer be considered.

In Nat'l Guard Mag, Mil-blogger Revisits Korean War

In the current issue of GX Online, journalist and mil-blogger Susan Katz Keating delivers a fast-paced, fact-packed article about Korean War history that was inspired by her citizen-soldier father, Norman Katz. GX Online is an official magazine of the U.S. Army National Guard.

Keating chronicles National Guard mobilizations including California's 40th Infantry "Sunshine" Division (40th Inf. Div.) and Oklahoma's 45th Infantry "Thunderbird" Division (45th Inf. Div.). Between Aug. 14, 1950 and Feb. 15, 1952, she writes, the National Guard contributed approximately 138,000 reservists to repel North Korea. Norman Katz was a member of the 40th Inf. Div., and a Purple Heart recipient.

Troops fighting in Korea braved sub-zero temperatures, unforgiving mountain terrain, ubiquitous spies, and inferior supplies and equipment. One pharmacist veteran describes for Keating how he'd mix codeine into syrup, to suppress coughing that would give away their fighting positions. Another tells of being welcomed by a group of liberated Korean and Chinese prisoners of war while on a supposedly secret mission—informed by their former jailers, the prisoners knew more about the mission than the U.S. troops.

The issue is available FREE as a PDF file here. Keating's article, "Enduring Courage," appears on print pages 58-63, and PDF spreads 30-33. You can read her blog post about the GX Online article here. Her Facebook fan page is here.

Lawton, Okla. is Site of 2015 Military and Arts Event

The Richmond, Ky.-based non-profit Military Experience & the Arts (M.E.A.) recently announced plans for a May 14-17, 2015 symposium of military veterans, advocates, arts practitioners, and others interested in exploring healing, history, and communication through the expressive arts. The event will take place on the campus of Cameron University, Lawton, Okla.

The organization's inaugural 3-day event, conducted July 2012 in Kentucky, comprised workshops, demonstrations, and performances by an engaged and diverse group of veterans, advocates, and artists.

Past "Red Bull Rising" blog coverage of the MEA organization and its related literary journals is collected here. A blog post reflecting on the 2012 event is here.

The MEA is currently seeking corporate and organizational sponsors for the 2015 event, as well as potential workshop presenters and facilitators. The group is also seeking volunteers to assist with activities at the event.

Starting Aug. 15, military veterans and spouses can register for a non-refundable $20 fee. Information about meals, lodging, and other accommodations is still pending.

In related news, the MEA has recently reopened submissions to its family of literary journals. Writers are encouraged to submit original fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and visual art through the organization's new Submittable portal. Simultaneous and previously published submissions are not accepted.

One caveat: Writers considering submission are strongly encouraged to review the organization's copyright and privacy statements. Because of previous licensing relationship, for example, submissions published in The Journal of Military Experience remain the intellectual property of Eastern Kentucky University following publication.

Traveling 'Citizen-Soldier-Artist' Previews June 26-27

The traveling "Citizen-Soldier-Artist" exhibition was first previewed to the public at Mid-America Arts Alliance headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. earlier this month. It will be available for public view again June 26-27, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For a Facebook slideshow, click here.

"Citizen-Soldier-Artist," a traveling adaptation of artist-veterans' work, will be previewed at the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., Thurs., June 26 and June 27., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The address is 2018 Baltimore Ave., Kansas City, Mo.

The "Citizen-Soldier-Artist" exhibition features drawing, painting, print-making, photography and more by artist-veterans who are geographically located or originating in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas. Also featured is the poem "Welcome Home," by writer Jason Poudrier of Oklahoma.

As part of its mission, the M-AAA develops traveling exhibitions to be featured in its "ExhibitsUSA" or "NEH on the Road" touring programs. The original 2013 exhibition was presented in Michigan City, Ind., at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts' Hyndman Gallery, Michigan City., Ind. Independent scholar, archivist, and art consultant Tara Leigh Tappert curated the works presented in each effort.

According to the arts organization:

Citizen–Soldier–Artist is an exhibition exploring how veterans in the United States are using the arts to constructively process and heal from the physical and psychological wounds of war. In addition to the images, music, and poetry they produce, a grassroots network of organizations has also grown to nurture and support these artist veterans.

This show, which is in early development for a touring exhibition, offers a compelling and moving look at the person inside the uniform as they struggle to reintegrate into civilian life.

A slide show of the exhibition preview is available on the M-AAA organizational Facebook page here.

Artist-Veterans Sought for Kansas City, Mo. Exhibit

A regional arts non-profit is seeking the work of visual artists in six Southern Plains states who are also military veterans. The pending June 2014 exhibition is an adaptation of a "Citizen Soldier Citizen" exhibition that originated at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Ind.

Mid-America Arts Alliance is seeking artists working in 2-D formats such as drawing, painting, print-making, paper-making, and photography, who are geographically located or originating in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas. Deadline is April 7, 2014.

The exhibition focuses on the artists' experiences as members of the armed services. The original Indiana show was previously mentioned on the Red Bull Rising blog here.

Submission of photographs documenting an artist's work can be made via e-mail. Send to: tim@maaa.org

If sending digital discs or print photo submissions by postal mail, in advance please call 816.421.1388 ext. 224 or e-mail. Mail to:

Tim Brown
Mid-America Arts Alliance
2018 Baltimore Ave
Kansas City, MO 64108

New 'Line of Advance' Lit-Journal has Afghan Roots

Two former citizen-soldiers are now co-editors of Line of Advance, a non-profit literary e-journal of military writing. The recently launched quarterly publication is available for single-issue purchase or yearly subscriptions, and in either Kindle or ePub formats.

The 84-page premiere issue of Line of Advance is a mix of historical snippets of military poems and prose, paired with more contemporary examples. Co-editors Chris Lyke and Matt Marcus, along with co-founder Ryan Quinn, have created an flexible storytelling platform that is likely to avoid easy categorization in future issues.

Lyke and Marcus came up with the idea for a literary journal in 2009, while deployed to Eastern Afghanistan's Laghman Province as part of the Illinois National Guard's 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment (1-178th Inf.). (Members of Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division and Oklahoma's 45th Infantry "Thunderbird" BCT might recognize the description of Combat Outpost Najil.)

"Matt and I are both writers and that’s why we were friends overseas," Lyke wrote at the SpouseBuzz blog in July 2013. "We’d share books and talk about writers and music when we spoke late at night on guard duty. [...] There were about fifty Americans and about the same number of Afghan army soldiers."

Lyke continues:

We occupied the outpost on the side of a mountain overlooking the intersection of three valleys. We patrolled and guarded and protected our little sector of Laghman Province. There were almost no creature comforts.

So when there was down time—precious little there was—we often took notes, sketches really, of what was happening. I was a squad leader and received all the mission briefs and locations and paperwork documenting what we were doing. All of that went into the footlocker on the way home. We knew, without talking about it, that we’d be writing about our time over there. We’d eventually start documenting it, creating some kind of art from the experience.

Depending on submissions, future issues may be organized around special themes, or include experiments in form and format.

"As for categories of work, we're open," Marcus says during a short e-mail interview with the Red Bull Rising blog. "We have several people helping us review submissions, and as a committee we all have individual preferences. I love short stories. Chris loves poetry. And on from there. We've even considered publishing a novel in a serialized format over a span of issues."

Above all else, however, the editors seek authentic voices. "We're looking for creative work that is authentic to the individual veteran's experience," Marcus says. "We ask that people not write or express what they think other people want to read, but write what they want. Something amazing happens when creative writing really conveys personal narrative."

Submissions guidelines are here. Upon acceptance, editors will ask for validation of military or veteran status prior to publication.

The cover of the first issue features a work of Chicago artist Bryan Butler, which depicts a modern combat helmet alongside an ancient Roman helm, each rising like black smoke from an inkpot below. According to the publication's submissions page, there may be a limited number of opportunities for visual artists and photographers in future issues.

A website for Line of Advance is here.

A Facebook for the publication is here.