Seeking Purpose in the Written Word

When I retired, the main question people asked me was, What are you going to do? Now it’s fairly common for folks coming out of the intelligence and special operations communities to leverage their hard-won experience into contract work of some sort. I can’t say that I was immune to the lure of high-paying contracts, but I quickly realized that the real reason I retired was that I wanted to do something else. Really, anything would have been better. I was ready for a change and so was my family. What I didn’t know at the time is that I would soon be seeking a new purpose and find it in writing.

Removing the Safety Net

When I walked out the door for the last time, I didn’t know what I wanted, but I had some idea of what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to be beholden to the government any longer, so I let my clearance lapse. If you’ve ever been there, it’s a little scary. I knew that as long as I had it, there was a safety net. I could always find work. The second thing I knew was that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life away from my wife and boys, something I had done most of my adult life. I mean, what’s the point of retiring if you’re not going to enjoy it?

Searching for Purpose After a Life of Service

So, I got into technical and wreck diving. As anyone who has spent time tec diving will tell you, it’s neither cheap nor forgiving. My wife thought that taking me to Key Largo, Florida, for six weeks of non-stop SCUBA diving might get it out of my system. Instead, she came home with the same underwater addiction. It’s something we love to do together, but it wasn’t scratching that purpose itch. Don’t get me wrong, it was great. I love being under water just watching the life on reefs or a exploring shipwrecks.

I had a bunch of hobbies when I retired, none of them were inexpensive and all were time intensive, at least if I planned on surviving them. You see, I’m a bit of an adrenaline junky. Driving fast cars, check. Flying small airplanes, check. Skydiving out of those same small planes, check again. Besides being really expensive hobbies, none added purpose. I wanted something more than self gratification.

Flash back to when I first enlisted in the Army, way back in 1990. Desert Shield had just kicked off, and war with “battle-tested” Iraq loomed large in the national psyche. Before Desert Storm kicked off, expert analysis for the first week of combat ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 American casualties and included the use of chemical weapons. Fortunately for us, the intel sucked and Desert Storm turned into a rout.

The follow-on mission, Operation Provide Comfort, left the infantry with a lot of time to read. Soon after, I was a big fan of thriller authors like Tom Clancy, John LeCarre, Robert Ludlum, and Frederick Forsyth. My introduction to fantasy fiction through Robert Jordan’s excellent Wheel of Time debut novel, The Eye of the World was another eye opener. I highly recommend it, but that’s another kind of story. Reading, surprise, surprise, is a great way to learn about what you want to write and I really liked the action packed military, political and espionage thrillers.

So Why Join the Legions of Authors?

I started tinkering around with the idea that would become my debut novel, A Debt of Honor, in mid-2023. I wanted to write something that would appeal to troops deployed down range and the men and women who hold the line here at home, and the patriots who supported us each step of the way, even after we’ve moved on to the real world.

Not everyone gets to be a secret agent or a special operator; hell, not everyone wants to be. So, I also wanted my stories to appeal to the dreamers out there, who love the idea of exotic missions and fast-paced danger, who appreciate a fine bourbon (or whatever their drink of choice is), a quiet sunrise, and subtle moments of loyalty that set us apart from the pack.

The real challenge is trying to write something that can stand apart from the pack. There are a lot of great thriller writers out there, and many have cracked the proverbial code and made it big. Precious few were immediate hits, the rest made it through years of toil and dedication to their craft. I have no illusion of becoming an overnight success, but I hope that as the Mitch Greenfield series grows, my stories will entertain you, the men and woman who make writing these stories worth it.