Jessica Scott

The other night, I made it to Austin’s RWA meeting. I feel continually horrible because I don’t get down there nearly enough and I’ve been struggling through so much crap at home that the thought of driving over an hour each way was enough to keep me away. But the stars aligned and despite some really horrible news that I can’t share publicly yet that morning, I managed to get down there. Emily McKay and Robyn DeHart gave a fantastic workshop on revisions, which is exactly where I’m at right now. If you haven’t had a chance to hear them stop by and definitely sit in on one. It’s both hysterical and informative.

But afterwards, when we were all heading home, one of the gals (and I won’t name her b/c I haven’t asked her permission) stopped me. She said she knows that everyone always says thanks to the troops but she wanted to tell me herself how much she admired my service. She mentioned that her dad and her grandfather had both served in Vietnam and World War II. I asked her to pass along my thanks to her family’s soldiers but then something else hit me.

I asked to particularly say thanks to her dad because when he came home, there were no parades and thank you’s. No celebrations. Even now, more three decades since our soldiers finally came home, we as a nation look back on that war and the warriors who were part of it with a bag of mixed emotions. Today, politicians lie about having served but back then they were heading for the hall of education instead of the airplanes taking them to war.

I didn’t live during that time but my parents did and several folks that I talk to regularly. I’ve asked for help on research during that time period for a book that I will someday finish and get into revising but still, understanding a society that was so hostile to our soldiers who, at that time, were drafted. Some volunteered but most were there because they didn’t have a way into the Guard or to get a college deferment.

I’m not here to comment on the war or the way that administration carried it out or the politics behind it.

Today, I just want to say thank you to our Vietnam Veterans. You bore the country’s will into an unpopular battle and did what you had to do to come home to your families. You were asked to fight a war our people did not support and became the focus of rage toward a government that refused to listen to its people. Thank you. Thank you for your service. You stood back when protesters spit on you and called you names that they should be ashamed of because while they were sitting back home, safely doing pot and getting in touch with nature, you were in touch with nature in the jungles and the heat and the rain.

Thank you. You more than any other group of our soldiers deserve our thanks because you, more than any other group, have borne the heaviest legacy.

Thank you.

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I’ve been passively working on my family tree for a decade or so. Around 2000, when my last grandmother became sick, I developed an obsession to find out more about my grandparents and their lives.

Then I stopped because I was overcome by events. The folder went to my mom’s where it sat. When Gramma passed away, I as given boxes of pictures,which I put into albums and made my parents sit down and label.

So I’m pretty lucky. I’ve got 2 ginormous albums of my grandparents and their brothers and sisters. Pics of my parents and their siblings as kids.

But the coolest thing, I think was having pictures of my grandfathers in World War II. I’ve got Grampa Scott’s basic training graduation picture. I’ve got Grampa Cupero’s enlistment records from ancestry.com. Before he passes away, my Great Uncle Anthony told me that Grampa Cupero had been in the 9th Infantry Division, so I went a did some history. They were part of the invasion of North Africa during World War II.

I don’t have a ton. I’ve got pictures of my grandfathers posing in those typical GI photos with their buddies. Their friend’s names have been lost in history.

I think its pretty cool to be able to look back on my family’s history and see military service in there. My daughters will one day be able to look up their dad and me and find our military records out there. My grandfathers were part of World War II. My husband and I are both part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

With any luck, by the time they’re old enough to understand all that, the wars will be viewed as having been worth it. As having been the right thing to do. We’re too close right now to be able to make those judgments. Maybe with time, we’ll be able to see things more clearly.

Remember that this weekend is not about barbecue and picnics. Take some time to teach your kids about our military traditions. Teach them to say thank you to the grizzled VietNam vet you pass in the store. Teach them that there are those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the last century so that their moms and dads could live in peace and raise them, knowing that there are wolves guarding the gates.

But above all, remember the fallen this weekend. Remember those who have served. Their names might have been lost in the sands of time, but their sacrifice has not been.

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Well, in order to stop focusing on all the things in my unit that I have no influence to change, I’m starting a new book. Actually, I’d written the first few pages about a week ago when I had the start of the idea that will eventually form into the new project but I threw most of that out as it wasn’t quite right.

What’s really interesting about this book is the research that’s going into it. I have to learn a ton about how the mind works and the different aspects of PTSD other than nightmares.

And I’ve chosen to make this book a comparison between the Iraq war and Vietnam. I find it amazing that when I talk to Vietnam vets, their stories are remarkably similar regarding the anti war sentiment. I spoke with an active duty major today whose father was in Vietnam and he made an interesting discovery.

He said that soldiers are still regarded with contempt. He was very blunt when he said that people pay lip service to the ‘soldier as hero’ but when it comes right down to it, soldiers will still be condemned for the actions they are expected to in order to come back home.

His thoughts and the thoughts of other Vet’s who’ve already talked with me really got me thinking about our society. About what’s really important. My mom told me that during Nam, the nightly news was about the body count. Every night was the latest news from Nam. A retired Air Force colonel told me that where she was in Vietnam that the protests were surreal and far away from the realities of the war. Different people, different places and different perspectives.

I find it interesting that an active duty officer would say that the people who praise the soldiers aren’t really supportive. I find it interesting that some civilians who support the troops would never support their children entering into the military. And most interesting is the perception that if you can’t find anything else to do, join the military. Its only an option for people who have no other way out. Hell, that’s how I got here and it was the best decision I ever made.

So learning about my parent’s generation and my parent’s war is very interesting so far. The soundtrack to my WIP is all classic rock, despite working on a contemporary novel. We’ll see where it goes.

I just hope that the people who’ve helped me so far and continue to offer guidance will enjoy the final product.

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Okay so I need help.

I’m starting a new book and I really want to tie in PTSD from Vietnam to my new character home from Iraq, who is seriously screwed up. I’m hoping you’ll take a look and email me with answers, impressions or anything else you think I might be able to use.

I guess the first thing I’m looking to know is who did you know that went over there? What was it like when they came home? How bad was the anti soldier sentiment? What did these guys do when they came home? How were they different? What did they say? Did they talk about it? Where there any significant events that started people changing the way we as a society looked at our soldiers (when was the turn around from baby killer to hero?) I know Dad didn’t go and he was busy protesting and all but what was it like for you and him back here at home? How did you feel when you watched the news? How is the media coverage different today than back then about the war?

Seems like that should be a good starting point. And I know you, you’re going to rally the troops and get me all kinds of information. I want this to be personal observations, not like Wikipedia entries…

Does that makes sense? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated

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I was craving a book that had a real emotional impact. I wanted some characters that I could care about, that I would cheer for and truly be happy when the end came for them. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d find it in an author I hadn’t read since I was a teenager.

You’ll recall a couple of weeks ago, I posted about how Laura Kinsale was cool enough to fire me off a sample chapter of her new book, Lessons in French. I thought it was pretty neat, considering that A) she’s quite possibly the best romance writer out there and B) I’ve been a fan of hers for years. One of the few books I’ve held on to over my many PCS moves has been The Shadow and The Star.

Somehow, I’d never read Seize the Fire and as I’d fallen away from historical romances in general as I moved from adolescence into adulthood, I’d set her books on my shelf. But when my idea sparked for my next book delving into PTSD, I thought that I needed to go back to the true master of tortured heros. I’d originally planned on My Sweet Folly but discovered that Seize the Fire was truly about a tortured war hero.

It takes a lot to make me cry. I haven’t cried at the end of a fiction book in years. But when I finished Seize the Fire, I felt this incredible sigh, this powerful emotion. She wrote it years ago, when VietNam was still a fresh wound on our nation’s veterans. There were still VietNam vets in the army back then and they were still held up among our younger soldiers with the eyes of a generation untested in war’s dark secret.

Ms Kinsale did wrote an absolutely amazing story. I’m grateful that she did not trivialize what her hero had done and that the heroine loved him regardless. I only hope that all of our returning heros somehow find the same love and acceptance from their families and our society when the war is long gone.

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