rlfj: Blog

Chapter 65 is the whole Medal of Honor thing. It has been almost three years since the fight at Outpost Whiskey, and now the Army comes calling. Where have they been until now? Why has this taken so long? This is obviously not the end of the story. Much will become clear in Chapter 66.

One item I learned was that it is not at all uncommon for errors to show up in the 214 form. Many young soldiers are so eager to leave the service they don’t pay attention to their 214, which can differ from their 201. This can lead to problems getting benefits down the road and is a real pain to fix.

As I was writing this story, I always had it in my mind that Grim would get the MOH. I concocted all sorts of fanciful combat scenes for this but ended up doing what I should have done all along. I went to the actual narratives and commendations for those who have received the MOH. Several recipients rescued fellow soldiers by going outside their lines to do so, and the final scene, where Grim called in artillery on his own position, was taken directly from Audie Murphy. PS: Grim’s marksmanship is taken from Alvin York, another MOH recipient.

One question occurred to me while writing this story. At one point I asked, ‘Just how rare is the Medal of Honor?’ I Googled that question and got some strange answers. One number which repeatedly showed up was 11,000 to 1, which simply made no sense. The numbers work if it was only restricted to combat medals, which not even one in ten soldiers receive. I did the numbers old school. We have had about 2.5 million service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan and currently (written/posted in 2015) have a count of four in Iraq (all posthumous) and thirteen in Afghanistan (three posthumous.) That works out to roughly 150,000 to 1, with a 40% chance of dying, and a 100% chance of being seriously wounded/maimed/crippled. Your best method of earning the MOH? Jump on a grenade, but even that isn’t a guarantee, and the odds are that you won’t survive.

FYI – A lot of these guys have some serious PTSD issues. Almost to a man they will describe that specific battle as the worst day in their lives. Then, when they actually have to have it all dredged up again and put on national television, it is like ripping a scab off an ugly wound. Some have attempted suicide. Grim’s PTSD is relatively mild for some of these recipients.

Quite a few readers were wondering whether I was going to have Kelly be killed/kidnapped/raped/etc. by the Bolling gang. Some wanted him to have a shootout with them over her, or a big car chase. Sorry, guys, but it never even crossed my mind. I think that would be a bit too melodramatic for the story. It just didn’t fit with my overall concept.

I was surprised when a reader didn’t understand the phrase ‘better to be judged by twelve than be carried by six.’ Judged by twelve implies a jury trial, typically twelve people. Carried by six refers to a typical coffin, which usually gets six pall bearers.

I heard from a variety of readers about some of the oddball events cops get called in on. One reported a loose emu. Others told me about piglets, horses, and chickens in various schools. Another Googled ‘high school prank goat’ and found numerous incidents. The best was when some kids put three goats in a school and painted “1”, “2”, and “4” on them; the staff spent hours looking for Number 3. (I also heard that this was done with piglets.)

Chapter 63 sees Grim seeing some more action. After reading this, my wife told me, “Kelly needs to keep Grim on a shorter leash! He’s always getting into trouble!” I replied, “How much shorter can it get? He was standing next to her!” I also told her that I could have easily split Chapter 63 in half, but that would probably result in riots. She agreed, and said readers would hunt me down, and come to the house with pitchforks and torches.

Everybody liked the story about the goats. If I have learned one thing writing this book, it is that all sorts of silly stuff happens with the cops. For instance, in Utica, NY, a rogue cow once was on the loose all over the city for almost four months. Every time there was a sighting, two outfits were called, the local television station (WKTV) and the Utica Police Department. Ultimately cowboys from upstate NY (yes, they really exist) were called in to track down the critter. You can’t make this shit up!

I received an email detailing the tax consequences of the elder O’Connors gifting the lakefront property to Kelly and Grim, and how that should be structured. I think that would be too much to put into the story; Grim is not a banker. As long as they can use it/sell it/build on it he and Kelly will be happy. I left this alone. This is why I love my readers! I learn stuff all the time. Thanks.