Dirt, Blood, and Grace: North Africa, 1942

C. M. Paterson, Tents, Equipment, Soldiers in Desert, New Zealand Archives

About this blog

I was in the US Army for a bit more than 25 years (1965-90) and considered myself an Infantryman for all of that time. I started thinking about "dirt" in a serious fashion in the 70's, but started putting things on paper much later. Eventually I had a collection of stories and little essays that, taken together, are a sort of memoir and a meditation on the infantry. The stories are mostly true. They are also mostly about an Army before the first Gulf War, 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, although as it happens I spent some time in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan in the early 80's. Folks were friendlier out there in those days.

Why do a blog? Several reasons. After shopping around an early (and somewhat different) version of these stories, I never found a publisher. I thought folks who are interested in the infantry, the military, and Vietnam might find it interesting. I wanted to re-write some of the stories/essays. And lastly, I thought that as a blog it might allow for a conversation, and that could be a lot of fun.

Dirt, Blood, and Grace

North Africa, 1942

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