First, let’s talk physical fitness. Marine Corps boot camp is the toughest basic training of all the United States Armed Forces. For guys, you’ll be expected to do 3 dead hang pull ups, 45 crunches in two minutes, and run three miles under 28 minutes. Keep in mind these are the minimum standards. If you don’t want to be singled out by your drill instructors on a daily basis, aspire as close to the max as possible. Do 20 dead hang pull ups, 100 crunches in 2 minutes, and run three miles in 18 minutes, and you’ll have a perfect score of 300. This is Sparta.

Next, you’ve got to be disciplined to do the right thing. Every day in boot camp, you’ll be abruptly awakened, and you’ve got to hurry to throw your cammies on, make your rack, and get on line looking perfect. Might as well start now. Make your bed every morning, shave, hygiene, and get moving. Fast.

Research what you’re getting into. Marine Corps Recruit Depots make Marines, and they don’t hold back. Here’s a video to get you started. Use the internet and recruiters to your advantage. If it was easy, anyone could and would do it. But it’s not. You have to earn the title. The few, the proud. Semper Fi.

The publishing world is overrun with Iraq War books right now:

A recent trip to Barnes & Noble tells me this is true. However, every book about the war seems to be an account by politicians, reporters, and contractors. There are very few first-hand accounts of combat written by the person who experienced it. That is why my book is different. Not only that, but it was written during the deployment, capturing the raw emotion, sensory detail, and energy of the situation and environment. I would not be able to write the book if it weren’t for the journal I kept.

There needs to be a story line, a decisive battle, an idea of where I fit into the big picture:

The truth is, I don’t know where I fit into the big picture. All I know is that I was able to affect the lives of some Iraqi civilians positively, and some negatively, and I hope that one day they will see me as a good person and thank me in their heart for what I tried to do. When I left Iraq, the war was still raging. Furthermore, the war hasn’t left me.

There weren’t any politics, approval polls, opinions, or theories about the war at my level. There was just the knowledge that at the end of this street, or the next one, or the next one, someone was going to try and kill me. I am trying to get that part of the story out. The last chapter of the book may raise more questions than it answers. That is wholly intended. I still have questions to answer for myself.

There isn’t a large battle where we decisively engaged the enemy and returned victorious. Sorry, but there’s no Hollywood endings here. Everyday was a fight for our lives, on a small scale, but no less engaging. One person firing at you or two hundred, as long as the bullets are hitting their mark, it makes no difference to me.

Agents are not going to be willing to take on many new clients that aren’t a sure thing:

This is completely true. I am aware that the literary industry is feeling the economy just as much as everyone else, and they will be more stringent in taking on new authors. Continued visits to my website and interest in the book will help. Hence the plea for more visits!

As it stands now, the first 10 days of the month have garnered 518 visits to the website. We’re not quite on track to reach the 2000 visit goal for me to add the first chapter of the book to read. I really want to get it out there, so help me out so we can get the 2000 visits!