Part memoir, part history lesson, part absurdist situational comedy, A LIFE AWAY follows the course of one young officer’s deployment as part of the now 13 year-long War on Terror.
Trained as an architect, he had been recruited into the US Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps while still a student, a half year before the attacks of September 11th. Fresh off the completion of his first tour in New Orleans and only months into his second posting, the still quite green Lieutenant was abruptly called up for emergency deployment to Afghanistan, as one of the Navy’s first “Individual Augmentees” sent to support the Army overseas.
These missives were sent back to the States on a weekly basis to a continually growing list of readers — some eagerly awaiting peeks inside the opaque military apparatus, others searching to find out “just what the hell we’re doing over there,” and still others (probably the majority) merely trying to keep tabs on the young man’s whereabouts.
The original letters have been lightly edited for clarity, and annotated sparingly.
An extended epilogue, entitled "Requiem," is a collection of newly written essays, reflecting on the entirety of the experience, including its aftermath, from a safe distance.
Trained as an architect, he had been recruited into the US Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps while still a student, a half year before the attacks of September 11th. Fresh off the completion of his first tour in New Orleans and only months into his second posting, the still quite green Lieutenant was abruptly called up for emergency deployment to Afghanistan, as one of the Navy’s first “Individual Augmentees” sent to support the Army overseas.
These missives were sent back to the States on a weekly basis to a continually growing list of readers — some eagerly awaiting peeks inside the opaque military apparatus, others searching to find out “just what the hell we’re doing over there,” and still others (probably the majority) merely trying to keep tabs on the young man’s whereabouts.
The original letters have been lightly edited for clarity, and annotated sparingly.
An extended epilogue, entitled "Requiem," is a collection of newly written essays, reflecting on the entirety of the experience, including its aftermath, from a safe distance.
