12 Questions for a Writer: Jason Angell
Jason Angell served as an enlisted Marine infantryman and an artillery officer, the perfect resume for a member of 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO). We discuss his Iraq memoir.
1. Who are you, what have you written, and why?
My name is Jason Angell and I served in the United States Marine Corps during the early years of the global war on terror (GWOT) to include the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and two other combat deployments to areas such as Ramadi and Al Hit, during the height of the insurgency. I wrote a book titled Running Towards Gunfire: Courage and Brotherhood in Ramadi, published by Koehler Publishing. The book is a first-person account of my Air Naval Gunfire Liaison (ANGLICO) team, and the various units we worked with, as we battled the deadly insurgents and the ever-present roadside bombs in one of the deadliest cities on the planet at the time. I initially wrote this book because I wanted to tell my children what I had done during my war. Eventually, it became a way for me to stress to other veterans that they should write or record their stories. The GWOT generation of combat veterans isn’t getting any younger. I urge my fellow veterans to tell their stories so that all we did over those years is part of the written history.
2. Writing is a solitary pursuit, you’re a husband, a dad, and work hard. What is it that compels you to write?
Being a working father and husband means that my free time is very limited. However, where there is a will there is a way. Over the course of about fifteen years, I wrote the manuscript, never sure if I’d be able to publish it. That reality didn’t deter me. I found time to write early in the morning or late at night. My wife, Joni, has been nothing but supportive, realizing the process was therapeutic. Even now, I’m doing research for a non-fiction book about an incident in Iraq that occurred in late 2005. Detailing the sacrifice and courage of those that served in combat has given me important goals that keep me connected to the Marine Corps and ultimately my fellow Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen that served in Iraq, especially Ramadi.
3. Memoir is fraught with dangers…you might get it wrong from the perspective of someone important to you and/or the story, you risk alienating or lionizing your subjects, and details can be hard to verify, especially in combat. Tell us about the process you undertook to write “Running Towards Gunfire.”
You are a 100% correct. That was an issue that I had to deal with. However, the book is about US Marines and soldiers that I served with. They are my target audience. Knowing that they would be reading this book forced me to be as blunt and honest as I could. I didn’t want to sugar coat anything or exaggerate details knowing that they would call me on it, and rightfully so. Did I inevitably get certain things wrong? Yes, I did, but that is the reality of telling a story that happened almost two decades ago.
4. What did you learn in writing this book and what surprised you?
Good question. What really surprised me is that the closer I got to being finished, my anxiety increased. My concern wasn’t the book, my fear was that my target audience, those that I served with, would not like it or wouldn’t approve. Some veterans scoff at the idea of writing a book. They maintain the view of Silent Professional, and anyone that writes a book is self-centered or a braggart. In the end, I obviously decided to have it published. I realized that one day, when I’m an old man on my deathbed, I would regret not having it published. Once the book was out, I realized I had made the right decision because I have received email after email from fellow Iraq veterans thanking me for writing the book and telling these stories and experiences.
5. I served not far from you and about a year earlier. I found the details in your book very evocative. How often do you think about that time and what is the prism through which you view it?
I think about those times long past every single day and have since they occurred. I look upon them with pride and a little apprehension. The apprehension comes from the reality of combat, at least the combat I saw. While fellow Americans were killed and maimed, while civilians were inadvertently caught up in the fighting, I focus on the absolute courage, selflessness and perseverance shown by our fellow Marines, sailors, soldiers and airman that fought in Iraq. These men and women came from all over the country, from all walks of life and endured the violence, boredom and craziness of the situation. I focus on the brotherhood.
6. I think Iraq was as big a foreign policy blunder as our country has made. Your thoughts? How do you look at Iraq now?
I agree with you 100%. In my view, the geopolitical and political reality of that war proves that it was a blunder. However, I can separate the politics of it from the men and women on the ground. Every single Iraq War veteran volunteered to serve their country. That says something about the GWOT veterans. Their service, their sacrifice can be celebrated and remembered knowing they fought for each other, regardless of the abject errors made by politicians far removed from the fighting.
7. What advice do you have for aspiring authors, particularly fellow veterans?
The advice I give fellow veterans that want to write is to start writing. Put their ideas or stories on paper. Don’t be afraid to take a risk and try. People want to hear their stories so they should start writing them down.
8. What is your favorite book and why?
One of my favorite books is A Rumor of War, written by Philip Caputo. It’s a story of a young Marine Corps infantry officer that lands in South Vietnam in March of 1965. Well written and direct, Philip Caputo tells the story of a platoon commander as he navigates the realities and frustration of combat in America’s newest war in Vietnam. In the early 80s, Hollywood created a made-for-TV mini-series about A Rumor of War. I recall sitting in front of my grandmother’s TV set mesmerized by the movie. The author wrote that book just 10 years after serving in Vietnam during a time when many people simply didn’t want to talk about Vietnam.
9. You obviously loved the Corps and, like many of us, bridled at some of its constraints. How do you look at it almost two decades later?
I look back on those issues, shake my head and simply just laugh. What else can we do? In my mind, I laugh it off as the Green Machine being the Green Machine. It is what it is and Marines have had to deal with that reality for almost 250 years. In the end, the Corps is a huge bureaucracy that acts as such but that’s not the real Marine Corps in my view. Marines join and re-enlist for each other and the lifestyle – not the bureaucracy.
10. What do you want people to take away from this book?
I want readers, especially those that never served, to see a small glimpse of what many of us endured during the early years of the Iraq war.
11. What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m doing research about a Marine Corps Cobra, callsign Gunshot-66, that was shot down by a surface to air missile on 2 November 2005 just north of the Euphrates River near Ramadi that resulted in the death of two outstanding pilots, and a US soldier that was part of the response. Immediately afterwards, a Huey gunship, Gunshot-66’s wingman, landed and picked up five Marines from the 8th Engineering Support Battalion and landed them near the crash site to provide security until a larger TRAP force could be assembled and inserted via Ch-46s. These Marines, while not trained for TRAP missions, did what Marines have done over the course of our history by improvising, adapting and overcoming the challenges they faced. They proved Every Marine a Rifleman and I think the American people should know this story. The challenge has been finding the actual investigation as a base of the story, without it I won’t be able to write it. The DOD FOIA is tough to navigate so I’m dealing with that reality.
12. What have I not asked that I should have?
I can’t think of anything more. You’ve been very thorough.
Jason Angell’s Running Towards Gunfire: Courage and Brotherhood in Ramadi, published by Koehler Publishing, is available here.