Authorial Lessons Learned

LTG (R) Magruder discusses pro-tips for aspiring authors based on his experience co-authoring Of Their Own Accord

Since retiring, I’ve invested in telling Army stories to help both our Army and the United States understand the military and leadership. I published during the COVID epidemic, my memoir, A Soldier’s Journey Living His Why. I just coauthored Of Their Own Accord: A Company of Army Rangers Changing Lives in Changing Times and wanted to share the background and lessons learned from this project for the Harding Project’s subscribers. Writing projects can be daunting—but doing them with good people on topics important to you—will result in work you’ll be proud of that makes a difference.

The Book

Of Their Own Accord is by soldiers about a group of soldiers who in the difficult days following the end of the Vietnam War volunteered to be a part of an experiment to rebuild the Army and restore the high standards of discipline and training that had become frayed after 10 years in Vietnam. Former Chief of Staff of the Army, Creighton Abrams, articulated his vision in what is affectionately called the Abrams Charter. The goal was to create a unit that could become a model for the rest of the Army to emulate. Moreover, the veterans of that unit would populate throughout the Army to pass along the best of what they learned from their experiences. To that end, the project has been a tremendous success, as evidenced by the alumni of Bravo Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion who have gone on to serve in senior positions, both officer and enlisted throughout the Army, and later as proud citizens of our nation.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this book occurred at a reunion in May 2023 of the original members of Bravo Company. We call ourselves “plank holders,” a term that comes from the Navy’s recognition of sailors who were present when their ship was being built. We helped build our company from its activation in October 1974 until its certification as combat ready 14 months later. We had the privilege of transforming individual Rangers into a highly skilled, winning outfit founded on competence and trust.

It was our second reunion in four years and the second one in Reno where fellow Ranger Mark Lisi and his spouse Cindy live. Mark is a tremendous connector who has been instrumental in reuniting our fellow Rangers through the years. He set the condition for special gatherings in his wonderful city. Each time, our numbers have grown as we reconnect after decades apart. And each time, my coauthor, Fred Kleibacker, and I marveled at what our friends have done with their lives over the past 50 years. Not all stayed in the Army; many got out after their enlistment. However, all went on to live lives of significance, lives of service to others.

Fred and I dialogued at the reunion about a range of topics with three always surfacing to the forefront: how our company and its Rangers fulfilled the Abrams Charter; the immense recruiting challenges currently faced by our military; and the intangible benefits of military service shared by our brothers. We left the event inspired to write a book that captured those benefits through the eyes of our fellow Rangers. We envisioned a threefold purpose for the book: to help the influencers of our youth understand the benefits of military service; to inspire youngsters who read the book to join the greatest armed forces in the world; and to leave a short memoir for our contributors to pass on to their family members.

The Process

After over 90 hours of zoom interviews with 32 Bravo Rangers and four spouses, we developed 15 themes with two to four Rangers bringing each theme to life through their personal experiences. The next step was to review the transcripts and video or audio recordings from each interview to capture compelling stories and quotes for each chapter. Although cautioned by other authors not to have two writers, we decided to split the workload and have each of us draft different chapters using a common framework and proposed length. We found this division of our “labor of love” worked well and have received very positives reviews about our manuscript. Most importantly, we have raised a nice sum thus far from our net proceeds that will go into the Rangers Scholarship Fund in honor of our fellow Bravo Ranger, MG Eldon Bargewell.

Our Lessons

Here's some advice for those of you thinking about writing a book or for a military journal:

1. We strongly encourage you to write and share a message with others, to “swing away”. You will surprise yourself if you write about a topic on which you are passionate and highly knowledgeable.

2. Ask a friend to carefully review your work and provide edits. Do not be thin skinned. Remember: feedback is a gift!

3. Comply with the guidance provided by the editor or publisher.

4. Provide a strong bottom line up front opening and close with a resonating summary.

Please know Fred and I are available to provide free advice and lessons learned. Here is our contact information: contact@oftheirownaccord.com