American Spartan…

This past month changed me. A lot happened in a very short while. Surprisingly it began in Salina, Kansas at my Mom’s 90th birthday celebration. You see, my cousin, Ann Scott Tyson and her husband Jim Gant along with Ann’s dad, Haney, came all the way from Seattle, Washington to share in my mom’s celebration. I hadn’t seen Haney in 15 years, Ann in 10, and had never met Jim. Upon laying eyes on Haney, however, it seemed as if he had just been to our home. He reminded me instantly of my father who has been gone now for 19 years.

As we caught up over meals and good conversations, I was amazed with Jim’s kindness and gentleness toward all of us. He had never met any of my family but felt like one of us. Ann too was right at home as if we were little cousins again, getting ready for games in the front yard back in Hays, Kansas. As I asked questions and tuned in, it didn’t take long to understand that Ann and Jim had been through a lot. Ann, a journalist with the Washington Post had been an imbedded journalist for over a decade in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She had met Jim through her involvement in covering the wars as he was a long time Green Beret, Silver Star recipient, and author of a military strategy paper titled, “One Tribe at a Time.” I found the time with them went way too fast and vowed to them and Miss that I would be making a trip to visit them in Seattle sooner than later – the convo had to go on.

I had no idea.

The week after the reunion, Miss and I are driving to the Outer Banks with some friends for the first time. We were winding our way through West Virginia when I decided to call Mom and catch up. She greeted us with the normal stuff and then mentioned how Ann and Jim had been involved in some military trouble. She didn’t seem to understand much more than that. Miss googled them and began to read articles. Suddenly, she informed me that Ann had written a book about the whole ordeal titled, American Spartan. Cool, I told her. When we got to the Outer Banks the first thing I did was get on Amazon and order the book. It would have to wait a week to read as I was finishing a good one, Natural Born Heroes, and would start on Ann’s when we got back to Columbus.

I had no idea.

I just finished the book this morning after only a couple days. I could NOT put it down. Ann writes the way I want to. Jim leads like I want to, with his whole heart – he loved his work and he loved his teams. There are no easy answers found in this book. There is, however, much that can be learned as these two tell a story that is raw, real, and thought provoking. I highly recommend you read it. I will write more of my thoughts as I process this one over the coming weeks/months.

Here’s what one of my favorite authors, Steven Pressfield, had to say. “Major Jim Gant made two mistakes during his tenure as a Special Forces commander in Afghanistan. One, he was right. He developed and published the plan that almost certainly possessed the greatest chance for success in that war-ravaged country. And two, he made that plan work on the ground through his own courage and passion. The army responded to Major Gant’s actions the way any bureaucracy responds when it discovers a visionary in it’s midst; it sabotaged him from above, then chewed him up and spit him out. Former Washington Post reporter Ann Scott Tyson tells this story not from a news bureau desk, but from the tribal front lines, where she lived side-by-side with Gant. This is great, timeless stuff, with implications far beyond one war in one country during one century. If you read one book this year about war or politics, read American Spartan.”

Thanks, Ann, for authoring this book and Jim for loving enough to lead. You are both beyond belief in tough and tender. God bless you. And, I will see you soon…