Welcome To Fob Haiku

"Sherpatude no. 26: 'Humor is a combat multiplier ...' Has your war become workaday? Does life on the Forward Operating Base (FOB) now seem commonplace? Armed with deadpan snark and poker-faced patriotism -- and rooted in the coffee-black soil and plain-spoken voice of the American Midwest -- journalist-turned-poet Randy Brown reveals behind-the-scenes stories of U.S. soldier-citizenship. From Boot Camp to Bagram, Afghanistan. And back home again." --

The horrors of the First World War released a great outburst of emotional poetry from the soldiers who fought in it as well as many other giants of world literature. Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and W B Yeats are just some of the poets whose work is featured in this anthology. The raw emotion unleashed in these poems still has the power to move readers today. As well as poems detailing the miseries of war there are poems on themes of bravery, friendship and loyalty, and this collection shows how even in the depths of despair the human spirit can still triumph.

"Every poet," warns Randy Brown, "has a heart filled / with shrapnel."In his new chapbook "So Frag & So Bold," the former U.S. Army "brigade staff jester" takes aim at endless wars, parent traps, social media, and stodgy religions. It's an iconoclastic cluster-munition that's bursting with more than 60 haiku, aphorisms, and typographic gadgets.Brown's careful constructions of line-breaks and language are intended to variously provoke chuckles, surprise, and expansive thoughts. "Any poem is a device," he writes, "improvised to explode with meaning [...] ignited by a trigger / word."Prepare for amusement, bemusement, and plenty of pyrotechnics!

"One diplomat's darkly humorous and ultimately scathing assault on just about everything the military and State Department have done—or tried to do—since the invasion of Iraq. The title says it all."—The New York Times A work of "scathing, gallows humor" (The Boston Globe), We Meant Well is a tragicomic voyage of ineptitude and corruption that leaves its writer—and readers—appalled and disillusioned, but wiser. Charged with rebuilding Iraq, would you spend taxpayer money on a sports mural in Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhood to promote reconciliation through art? How about an isolated milk factory that cannot get its milk to market? Or a pastry class training women to open cafés on bombed-out streets that lack water and electricity? As Peter Van Buren shows, we bought all these projects and more in the most expensive hearts-and-minds campaign since the Marshall Plan. We Meant Well is his eyewitness account of the civilian side of the surge—that surreal and bollixed attempt to defeat terrorism and win over Iraqis by reconstructing the world we had just destroyed. Leading a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team on its quixotic mission, Van Buren details, with laser-like irony, his yearlong encounter with pointless projects, bureaucratic fumbling, overwhelmed soldiers, and oblivious administrators secluded in the world's largest embassy, who fail to realize that you can't rebuild a country without first picking up the trash.

Nearly 5000 haiku by Jane Reichhold, written in English between 1993 - 2013 have been arranged according to the five seasons and seven traditional saijiki categories of Japan. However the haiku within the categories are arranged alphabetically - which makes this a dictionary.

In a cheeky critique of the classic American airpower narrative "Twelve O'Clock High," award-winning soldier-poet, essayist, and humorist Randy Brown explores what it means to be a leader or follower at war-morally, physically, and psychologically. The book is packed full of insights into military life, as viewed through the lenses of ?war movies, history, and the author's experiences as a one-time U.S. Army-trained "lessons-learned analyst." "I started out to write 12 haiku poems about a favorite old war movie," says the author, "but my 'whimsical experiment in minimalist war poetry' mutated into a 'maximum effort' mix of memory, media, and military culture!" TWELVE O'CLOCK HAIKU: Life-Lessons in Leadership from War Poems & Films now comprises poems both old and new, a lyric essay about the film, and a list of resources for enthusiasts of World War II bomber poetry, history, and movies. Brown first encountered the 1949 movie when on temporary duty as a U.S. Army citizen-soldier. Whether as a novel, film, or late-1960s television series, the "Twelve O'Clock High" franchise continues to be a touchstone in 21st century Professional Military Education (PME) and business-class discussions about transformative leadership, management techniques, moral injury, and veterans' healing.

A first-person account of the Iraq War by a solider-poet, winner of the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award. Adding his voice to the current debate about the US occupation of Iraq, in poems written in the tradition of such poets as Wilfred Owen, Yusef Komunyakaa (Dien Cai Dau), Bruce Weigl (Song of Napalm) and Alice James’ own Doug Anderson (The Moon Reflected Fire), Iraqi war veteran Brian Turner writes power-fully affecting poetry of witness, exceptional for its beauty, honesty, and skill. Based on Turner’s yearlong tour in Iraq as an infantry team leader, the poems offer gracefully rendered, unflinching description but, remarkably, leave the reader to draw conclusions or moral lessons. Here, Bullet is a must-read for anyone who cares about the war, regardless of political affiliation.

"The biggest year. Our longest war. At the height of the 'Afghan Surge,' more than 100,000 U.S. and coalition troops were committed to a mission of 'clear, hold, and build' on behalf of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan : CLEAR the countryside of insurgent fighters, HOLD the terrain, alongside Afghan security forces, BUILD infrastructure, commerce, and rule-of-law. As part of this wave, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division deployed more than 3,000 citizen-soldiers to Eastern Afghanistan. It was the largest call-up of Iowa troops since World War II - and one of the only times a U.S. National Guard brigade was designated as a "battlespace owner" during Operation Enduring Freedom. Throughout the mission, soldiers trained as journalists documented the hard days and off-duty activities of their brothers and sisters in arms. For the first time, Reporting for Duty collects these stories and photographs in one place."-- Back cover.