MilSpeak: Warriors, Veterans, Family and Friends Writing the Military Experience

by Sally Drumm

Overview

This is the true story of the creation of MilSpeak Foundation, Inc., a non-profit arts and education organization for the military community. MilSpeak's creation is told through the experiences of Sally Drumm, founder and creator of MilSpeak Creative Writing Seminars, MilSpeak Memo and MilSpeak Books. The highlight of this anthology is the essays, spanning the Korean War to the Gulf Wars, written by members of the military community at Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, SC, during MilSpeak Creative Writing Seminars led by Sally from 2005 - 2008, and sponsored by Marine Corps Community Services. The entire project was designed to discover how far a peer group could go without funding to help each other assimilate the military experience in a positive way during the early 21st Century when PTSD was mainly considered a theory, seldom addressed, and severely stigmatized. During each of eight workshops, these military people, many of whom had no writing experience, chose a singular event in their lives to explore through the workshop method. In doing so, they each discovered a new pathway to understanding themselves and each other. When a publisher asked to publish these works, the group as a whole recognized the life-saving value sharing their stories might hold: "if you made it through, maybe I can, too." Not wanting to profit from sales of the anthology, the group elected to form a non-profit organization. This anthology is perfect for book club or classroom to begin a conversation about wartime experience and military life. What are our troops and their families really enduring to answer the call to duty? Revisit the Korean War and Vietnam War on your way to the Gulf Wars as you learn about military life in the words of those who lived it.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940000800522
Publisher:	MilSpeak Books
Publication date:	12/24/2009
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	490,321
File size:	582 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

SALLY DRUMM served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1978 through 1998. Sally developed and leads Milspeak Creative Writing Seminars (MCWS), a free program for military people who want to write about their lives. She is the acquisitions editor for Milspeak Books and editor of Milspeak Memo, an online literary magazine dedicated to freedom of speech and sharing military life in the words of those who live it.

Sally’s writing has been published in Gargoyle, The Gettysburg Review, Lowcountry Weekly, Mythic Passages, ArtNews and other venues. Jick’s Journey, a play written in collaboration with Dennis Adams and John Blair, was performed at the University of South Carolina Beaufort Performing Arts Center during March 2007. During May 2007, Mythic Passages, journal of Mythic Imagination Institute, published Jick’s Journey. “Letting Go” (published in The Gettysburg Review ) earned honorable mention in Best American Essays 2005. Scars On My Heart: Military Life in the Words of Those Who Live It, a play composed of 14 vignettes excerpted from the MilSpeak anthology, was performed at Beaufort Performing Arts Center during July 2009 in celebration of the anthology’s publication.