Category: Press Coverage

Military Experience & the Arts invites submissions in the genres of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and artwork for publication in the upcoming publication As You Were: The Military Review.

As You Were, three words spoken quickly by non-commissioned and commissioned officers who choose to drop rank and get to business, is meant to put troops “at ease.” Military Experience & the Arts, in its singular, collaborative approach to publishing, has long sought to provide an atmosphere in which veterans and their loved ones can feel “at ease” when expressing themselves.

Our title also connotes a hearkening back, an exploration of the self and the past. We’re interested in those words and works of art that are brave enough to cut through rank and time, presenting military experience honestly, free of the white-washing that is so common in today’s war literature and art. We’ve published six volumes since 2011, providing each contributor–regardless of whether that contributor has published 25 words or 25 books–with some form of one-on-one consultation.

Here’s our review process: When you submit prose for consideration, you will first be assigned a “reader” who will read your work, critique it, and provide you with guidance meant to help you meet the standards of your genre’s managing editor. When you submit poetry, it will be blind-reviewed by the dozens of authors, educators, and veterans in our reader group. Artwork will be evaluated by our professional art historian and, if chosen for publication, included in an edited collection.

Our approach helps maintain quality standards while giving every contributor the opportunity to improve.

For specific directions from the managing editor of your genre, follow the links below.

Fiction – Managing Editor, Daniel Buckman

Non-Fiction – Managing Editor, Brian Mockenhaupt

Poetry – Managing Editor, Randy Brown

Artwork – Managing Editor, Tif Holmes

Joseph Miller served as a platoon leader, executive officer, and Iraqi Army Advisor before leaving active duty to become an ROTC instructor. In 2011, he was named Officer Instructor of the Year. Joseph is a regular contributor to PTSD: A Soldier’s Perspective and a member of Team Red, White and Blue. He recently defended his Master’s Thesis and is a PhD student at the University of Maine. His dissertation will explore institutions in North America that absorbed veterans following the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars (The US Custom Service, British Veterans’ Battalions, and utopic French veterans’ colonies in Texas).

At MEA, Joe is the editor of Blue Nostalgia: A Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth, the literary journal of The Veterans’ PTSD Project which recently released its first volume. “On Nostalgia,” Joe’s introduction to the volume, was featured in part on Khronikos, a blog showcasing the accomplishments of history students at the University of Maine.

Read “New Narratives in an American Story of War and Growth” on the Khronikos blog here.

David P. Ervin served as an infantryman in the Iraq War in 2005. We covered his work Leaving the Wire: An Infantryman’s Iraq in another post. At around the same time David joined one of our writing workshops and completed a story for the recently released Blue Nostalgia: A Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth, the literary journal of the Veterans’ PTSD Project.

Joe Harting, the show’s host, calls David’s book “brutally honest” in the interview and hopes that the work will connect those who haven’t served with those who have. We agree and want to congratulate David in getting some well-deserved coverage. You can watch the whole interview below:

Suzanne S. Rancourt, who is taking over at the helm of Blue Streak: A Journal of Military Poetry following the publication volume one this fall, was recently asked to write about the workshops she leads for underserved populations.

Poets & Writers was founded in 1970 and “is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers.”

Their mission “is rooted in the belief that literature is vital to sustaining a vibrant culture. We focus on nurturing literature’s source: creative writers. Our mission is to foster the  professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.”

In her remarks, Suzanne claims that “writing transports the artist to someplace,” reiterating the very approach she brings to her own poetry and her work to help others:

That’s why many of us write. Writing as an Expressive Arts / Creative Arts therapeutic modality is serious business. You are accessing memories, emotions, activating neural pathways that can lead to change with the appropriate guidance and support. There are specific practices that we follow in our daily living, and our continued passion to seek, learn, experience and become more competent in our profession; to be a better human. Be Authentic.

Read what Suzanne had to say for P&W in its entirety here.

Suzanne’s work also appeared in our second Journal of Military Experience. Here are some of her poems from that volume:

• Ghost Nets
• The Hunt
• Tsunami Conflict
• Visions of Clara

In November, when we release the inaugural volume of Blue Streak, you’ll be able to read more of her work, including this poem:

Why I Don’t Meditate

—Suzanne S. Rancourt

they said, “close your eyes” “relax” “let your mind see”
roads, I see roads, keep my head down, don’t look left don’t look right.
narrow, dirt roads, summer mountain meadow roads where there are goat paths, where the faeries live, or so the locals say,
I see roads lined with tamarack, yellow stone pine, fine sand dusty roads
that ruin camera lenses and jam automatic weapons.
I see white sand beaches that are not alpine and they take me to New Mexico, White Sands, Alamogordo, Three Rivers, St. John, North West Scotland, there is warmth and I travel through Guantanamo, Si Bonne, (Castro’s favorite)
and there in Santiago on the steps at the plaza, the men play dominos
when the women aren’t around
or revolutions aren’t being waged
or eyes gouged
no retina scrapes clean.

Montgomery, Alabama – I’m pumpin’ gas ‘round midnight
with the ghosts still blowin’ down Rosa Parks Boulevard.