Dave Cullen
I assume you mean the book I'm writing now (due out in 2-3 years, tentatively titled "Soldiers First."
It was really a fusion of a couple different books I wanted to write, with a huge genesis.
I dropped out of college at 21 (3.5 years in, but nowhere near graduating, having tried a slew of majors) and enlisted in the army to help sort out my life--and I guess make more of a man out of myself. (I was gay, but in deep denial about that and still in deep self-loathing about being such a worthless fag.)
I kind of expected to fail miserably, but took to it like a fish to water, loved it and got sent to Officer Candidate School to become an officer. I had my first run-ins with fellow soldiers accused of being gay, which really scarred me a bit. For many, many years, I knew I needed to write about that. That was 1983.
Then in 2000, I wrote a piece on gays in the military for Salon.com, which led me to meet an active-duty army captain, who introduced me to many more, and their life was so fascinating that I spent 5 months with them and completely changed the Salon piece into an account of their lives. (Of all the soldiers, I picked the most interesting 3: all captains.) It was an 11,000-word piece which won a GLAAD Media Award.
I always expected to follow up, but didn't foresee a book. But I became friends with the guys, stayed close, and two of them went through such amazing turmoil, it screamed out as a book.
I wanted to write their story, but also a story about my experience, and another book about the three recent US wars: The Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
As I sorted these projects out, they gradually fused into one. (The two guys served in all three wars).
It was really a fusion of a couple different books I wanted to write, with a huge genesis.
I dropped out of college at 21 (3.5 years in, but nowhere near graduating, having tried a slew of majors) and enlisted in the army to help sort out my life--and I guess make more of a man out of myself. (I was gay, but in deep denial about that and still in deep self-loathing about being such a worthless fag.)
I kind of expected to fail miserably, but took to it like a fish to water, loved it and got sent to Officer Candidate School to become an officer. I had my first run-ins with fellow soldiers accused of being gay, which really scarred me a bit. For many, many years, I knew I needed to write about that. That was 1983.
Then in 2000, I wrote a piece on gays in the military for Salon.com, which led me to meet an active-duty army captain, who introduced me to many more, and their life was so fascinating that I spent 5 months with them and completely changed the Salon piece into an account of their lives. (Of all the soldiers, I picked the most interesting 3: all captains.) It was an 11,000-word piece which won a GLAAD Media Award.
I always expected to follow up, but didn't foresee a book. But I became friends with the guys, stayed close, and two of them went through such amazing turmoil, it screamed out as a book.
I wanted to write their story, but also a story about my experience, and another book about the three recent US wars: The Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
As I sorted these projects out, they gradually fused into one. (The two guys served in all three wars).
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Gongxue
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Dave Cullen:
Just finished reading Columbine, thank you for the thorough account. It is now understood that most mass shooters have a history of violence against women or threats of violence against women, and it is clear at least Eric shared these views from his passage about raping girls. How deep did these attitudes go for each of the boys? Thank you!
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