12 Questions for a Writer: William Yeske
William Yeske is a writer and businessman. Before that he was an airborne infantryman in the Arghandab Valley, one of the hardest parts of Afghanistan. His book Damn the Valley tells the stories.
1. Who are you, what have you written, and why?
Honestly, I’m just another one of the guys who’s trying to figure it all out like the rest of us. I feel there are a lot out there that struggle when we return to civilian life because of the curt communication style and rank hierarchy that are drilled into your head from day one in the military compound some of the issues that bubble to the surface upon leaving and make reintegration into society a challenge.
The book in question is “Damn the Valley,” about our time in Afghanistan during a hellacious combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 with the 82nd Airborne, where we experienced over a 50% casualty rate. The book followed the journey of what someone goes through at the lower enlisted level during the train-up and then ultimately deploying to the modern-day battlefield we faced in Afghanistan.
I wrote the book because something needed to be on the shelf that was written by one of the guys that had been there. It had been on my heart for a very long time to write the book, but I didn’t know the first thing about writing something in long form. There were a few pieces in the past that dealt with automotive journalism in blog format, but never anything professionally published and certainly nothing with stakes as high as this one if I got it wrong. My only thoughts once the initial manuscript came back with a “go” were that now I had a charge not to “fuck it up”.
The “why” behind the book is discussed in the chapters written, but it boils down to attempting to mend a rift that was quickly forming within the remaining men of Bravo Company because of another book that had come out in which a bunch of men had felt that the story wasn’t presented correctly. Honestly, it wasn’t until later on that one of them came forward with the keen observation that a lot of the pain being expressed was most probably due to the traumas they had experienced over the last 10+ years fighting a war for a country that had mostly forgotten about the entire thing altogether.
2. You say in the book, “I am not a writer”. But you wrote a book. What drew you to do that?
I was in the process of getting through business school as quickly as I could following my time in the army when I was told a book was being written about our time in Afghanistan. I was relieved because I had always felt the call to write about our time there, but never wanted to sit down and be the one to write about it. In the end, the call from the men of Bravo Company for a representation of the situation put forward by one of those who had been there was expressed. There were plenty of people bitching about it, but none of them were putting forth any action to counter the book that was out there or offer up their own account of the events. In the end, someone had to do it.
The unique part about the whole process was making this something that was more than just a book. I knew that if I was to be putting something out there it couldn’t just be written. It had to be a movement.
That’s where the marketing background came into helping form everything that has been able to help the book along the way, but additionally, reach people who were going to be a challenge to coax into reading a book in the first place. That’s why there has been a social media presence built into the @damnthevalleybook account and why the posts that show up there are not on a personal account of my own. It’s not my story, but it’s ours.
The final piece is the artifacts that came forward after one of the men that was over there contacted me about being in possession of the flag that had flown over COP Brunkhorst the day that it was flattened by an IED. Someone had snapped a picture of the recovery of the outpost during a moment when the flag was found and pulled out of a bunch of the rubble by a few of the men. The picture exemplified the feel of our attitudes as we held the line in an area where casualties had been stacking up to where the men referred to the area as the “meat grinder”.
It was then I called the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC to see if there was any interest in taking some of the artifacts that were now surfacing into the DOD historical archives. The location already had a commemorative paver in the entranceway memorializing the men that had been lost on that deployment with 2 Fury and it felt to a lot of us that it was the proper home for these memories to be preserved. I don’t think it really even hit me what we had done until the day before the launch event that we held there when I had the opportunity to speak with the current day group of soldiers serving in 1st Platoon Bravo Company 2/508.
This one was not written for me but for the guys to my left and right.
3. The book is a lot like a series of deeply detailed stories, like a bunch of grunts sitting around bullshitting, which gave it a “deployed” feel. How did you get to that level of detail? Did you keep a journal? Interviews?
I didn’t have any existing journals, and my timeline was all over the place when I sat down to compile everything, but I at least had a really good memory of everything. The initial draft of the book was my loose personal account, but when I started to talk around and interview the guys, it was obvious to me that I couldn’t do it justice without getting everyone involved in one way or another. There was a lot of time on the phone with some of these guys, and my old platoon sergeant actually handed me a bunch of his leader’s books from that time with much more detail. Honestly, I need to revisit a lot of those as they contain far more information than I included in this book. A historian would be over the moon to get ahold of these as they hold everything from grid square to events that happened to round counts of engagements along with the patrol members that were involved. It’s something I’ve been scanning into an archive before bringing them down to the museum as well.
The book timeline started to take shape when I looked at the casualty events and began to piece together the framework from the losses we took. It was a huge jumble of stories with no real order, but once that was established, it became easy to compile and then re-write the book to flow better. Some of that choppy break up came through, but it was important for the men to insert as many of these stories that would make sense to the reader while expressing the accounts of the other men that were there. Everyone had a part in getting through the struggles we faced in the Arghandab, so it was important to me that they had the opportunity to be heard.
Details within the book were not hard as I don’t think those memories of heightened senses can ever really be dulled this early in life. I have received remarks from some of the older generation experienced combat in Vietnam and other conflicts that it brought them right back to the battlefield in their own head with some of the descriptions. It was something I tried to build in relief points during some of the darker chapters as I knew some would have a hard time facing these memories or those like them once again.
I think in the end, the interviews helped a lot in not only reconnecting but in talking about some of this stuff once again. It was therapeutic in ways for myself and I know from the e-mails, messages, and phone calls that it’s doing some good within the community as well. There are countless others now also writing their memories down as the picture expands and they have found that it’s possible.
4. Damn the Valley is obviously a labor-of-love book. Tell us about the process you undertook to write and publish it.
I talked a little about that in one of the questions above regarding why I started to write my own memories down into a 60,000-word initial manuscript that was written over 2 weeks, but when it was done, I put it aside and decided to pick up a few books to see if there were similar styles or how I should begin to translate a lot of the information that I put down into a working copy of something.
The first was Matterhorn because someone had recommended it and I knew it had influenced Ben Kesling’s Bravo Company where I show up midway through the story. I had also wanted to pick up some Vietnam conflict books because I was tired of hearing the same old stories from the same old Special Forces operators that seemed to be circulating the online social media circuit. I instantly knew after opening up the book why Bravo Company sounded the way it did and just how much influence the book must have had on Mr. Kesling’s style of writing. I also noticed that the similarities extended to even the US Marine’s language, which differed from that of an Airborne Paratrooper.
After that, I gravitated toward the book We Few by Nick Brockhausen and fell in love instantly. It wasn’t even after hearing about him on the radio or a podcast. I was in my local library and I went to the military history section where the book stood out like a sore thumb to me. It reminded me of everything that I had read in my earlier years, but in a raw manner that resonated heavily with the way I had written my own memories. This was someone who got it and had been there.
I opened the flap and noticed the publisher, so I started to research them. They had a lot of military history genre under their belt and came highly regarded in the community. On further inspection, I found the editor and decided to start a LinkedIn search where I quickly found who I was looking for. After a cold call and sending a raw manuscript in, I had a contract deal in hand.
I was after that moment that I realized that I was now under a very real self-imposed pressure. I had very honestly thought that this was going to be something I had to self-publish and I had only sent in a manuscript to see what the process was like initially. After getting the green light, I started calling others to interview, trying to get advice on writing, and figuring out how the hell I was going to put something out with a full media campaign within a year's time.
5. What did you learn in the process, both substantively and personally, and what surprised you?
No one is going to do it for you. Every setback, no answer, dead end, cold lead, and egotistical enemy holds the possibility of making you better. I have learned more in the process of getting stonewalled to where I’m thankful that it happened because the connections that I’ve solidified and the people I have met along the way that have been willing to help has been the best part. You have to learn to love the long nights and the dead ends because it forces you to become lean and dangerous if you have the right mindset. There’s a reason for everything that happens out there and now that I look back, I see that it couldn’t have happened any other way.
6. You got a lot of blurbs from senior enlisted and commissioned leaders, but the book is a grunt’s eye view of the Arghandab. Who should read this book and why?
Everyone involved in the higher echelons that endorsed the book were involved in the Arghandab conflict while we were there and on the ground. I reached out to EVERYONE in the chain of command and spared no one. I even sent in requests to former US President Obama because he had been Commander and Chief at the time. It was an executive order from him that eventually landed us in the Arghandab in the first place.
I know people are busy, but I will say that it was very clear who set aside time to support this project and get people to take it seriously. The ones that stepped forward to endorse the book read it, backed it, and have a proven track record of being men of character who were about putting the men placed in their charge a priority.
That being said, this book was initially written for the men that were there on the ground. Both as a way to preserve the history of everything that happened to them in the valley and to write it in a way that would be specifically for them. It’s proven to be much more than that over time, but the initial purpose was a very pure one.
I think the beautiful part about it has been the therapeutic effect of facing these events again while writing the book has translated over to the readers allowing themselves to open up towards the healing process. I have received e-mails and social media messages from not just combat veterans from within the community, but ones that served in different positions operating in the Arghandab River Valley right alongside us. To be reconnected as a group has proven to be a very powerful thing. It’s through each other that I’ve found we are much stronger than our own separate entities.
7. Would you write another book?
Yes, and there are a few more books in the backlog along with being formulated as I have integrated a lot more writing of my own through this. There’s also a different version of “Damn the Valley” that reads like a Tom Clancy novel that’s been started. It includes a lot more of the battlefield picture from the company-sized overview and is impossible to finish in the yearlong time frame given to get this book into the hands of readers. I think it’s a good first book, but I also know it’ll never be perfect. I even have some corrections in the mix for a second edition when the paperback hits the press and I can re-adjust the typeset to read easier this time around.
8. How important is it for veterans to tell their stories?
There are a lot of the guys out there I knew that subscribe to the line of thinking that these memories of the battlefield should be held sacred in that no one else other than those who were there personally has any right to know what happens out there. I had one ask me “What are we, Navy Squeals now?” when I asked him if we could talk about some of his recollections to help out in writing the book.
I had to explain the premise and where I was coming from with the whole project, but once he understood what my intentions were behind the whole thing, we talked for a few hours in a conversation that resembled one not unlike many that you may have experienced around a burn barrel during a field exercise at some point.
After having experienced it and seen it multiple times myself, I think there are unseen barriers that fall aside when veterans share their stories with other veterans around them. It creates an unseen support system through empathy and a tradition long held by warrior cultures throughout history. There are reasons Native Americans would have a very particular sequence of ceremonies when any of their tribe came back from a war party. One of the steps includes storytelling of both victories and of losses amongst the warriors before being brought back into the fold of society. Controversially enough, one of the other steps included a purification ceremony in a sweat lodge for some time which would have created a psychedelic experience for the warrior undergoing the ritual. These ceremonies have been echoed throughout history with other societies and it’s probably something our own system could benefit from studying before just prescribing pills to guys either returning from a conflict zone or reintegrating back into the civilian populace.
9. What do you want people to take away from Damn the Valley?
It’s going to be different for everyone depending on the reader’s background. I hope that others that have served in the military, especially ones that served in a combat zone, will seek out their own way to overcome any lingering effects that may stay with them over the course of their lifetime. For family members, to understand what some of these guys go through and that sometimes all someone might need is a bit of extra understanding.
Maybe higher command within the military will get ahold of it and have junior officers read it over because it gives a good picture of what their guys go through in order to complete the mission and how they can serve as a better commander with the picture presented in the raw way it was intended to be shown.
I hope that the politicians give it a read and think twice before they sign off on any legislation that funds a war without fully understanding the consequences of what they are signing the American people up for.
Any high school kids who are considering a career in the service should give it a read before signing on the dotted line. In my case, I think the military was one of the best things that I could have done for myself. I also know that there is value in knowing what you are getting yourself into before committing yourself to an organization that likes to paint a different picture when recruiting others to fill the ranks.
I also want anyone else out there to understand that there is nothing stopping them from writing their own story. One way or another, you can make it happen, but do it for the right reasons.
10. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Think about what you are going to write, but if you have something that just feels like it needs to be told, tell it. You just need to start. The editing process will happen later, but you need to start putting words to paper and roll through. There are ways to break it up, but it’s been my experience to write the first draft of something straight through.
Go back and look at what you’ve written afterward and decide how you are going to re-write it and determine at that point if it needs a complete re-write with structure this time, or can it just be added to and refined right now? You’re going to alternate between these two the entire time as your writing evolves and you find your voice within the book. There will be multiple rewrites along the way. “Damn the Valley” was written eight times throughout its evolution and it’s honestly not enough for what it should be, but you also can’t let perfectionism stop you in your tracks.
Don’t give up and make sure you take some time without pressure to write when you feel like you are burning out. Be mindful because a lot of times, your passion will consume you and you won’t notice that you’re wearing yourself thin. You can run on the edge, but just know that there is an edge. If you are writing about traumatic experiences, be aware that it’s going to bring forward a bodily response if you are putting it down on paper the right way. Prepare yourself for those.
Find a rhythm and a workflow that’s optimized for you. Ideally, you want to write every day, and you can. Don’t think writing needs to be long form. It can be anything. A reflection, a short story, or something you experienced during the day, and you need to journal the occurrence to help break it down. There will be chances to get into a day of writing once you start to figure out what your pace and goals will be.
11. What is your favorite book and why?
I don’t have any favorites. I flip from nonfiction to self-improvement, and will flip some fiction works into the mix from time to time. Everything has something to offer, although, I find myself becoming less and less interested in fictional work over time.
12. What have I not asked that I should have?
You can find more about the project along with over a year’s worth of pictures and content from the Arghandab River Valley that was provided by the guys by going to @damnthevalleybook on social media or the official website damnthevalleybook.com. The site has links to everything including a section known as the “Wall of Stories”. These have included some additional insights to the book and situations that have been shown on social media. There have also been EOD personnel that were attached to us that submitted material and a Kiowa pilot who flew above us in an IED incident as cover that provided his journal entry to that day.
I should also mention the artifacts being held at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC once again. They have been a great part in helping present everything in a very historical and respectful way when it’s comes to the preservation of the story. You have more people in your corner than you know, but you have to put something out there for anything to be done about it. Don’t be afraid to take that step.
You can get an autographed copy of Damn the Valley here and take $5 off with the code LMJ5. You can also order it from your favorite independent bookstore or get it here.