Excerpts & Appetizers
The only significant difference between excerpts and appetizers is the calories. That’s it, otherwise they’re both small samples enjoyed before a main course meant to excite your senses and make you hungry for more.
Some of you have asked for examples of what’s been submitted so far to help you get started writing your stroy and I think this is a great idea.
So…allow me to serve you an amuse-bouche selection of excerpts from the stories I have received so far.
It’s my hope that these snippets help you get over any writers block or insecurities you may have and motivates you to starting putting words to your own stories. Remember no story is unimportant, if it’s meaningful to you then it likely is to someone else as well and belong in this book with all the others.
All the best & enjoy.
John
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Going out, I made it my personal mission to do everything I personally could to repatriate the shovel back to Canada. I knew that anything that we attempted would have to happen on the very last night prior to leaving the base, but boy oh boy I was not prepared for the lengths that would be needed to see mission success.
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One of the first things we saw, entering the tent, was a booth selling "alt beers" or old beers. These were strong ales with alcohol content ranging from 13.5% to 16.5%. We understood enough German to realize the sign read "Drink all 6 beers and the rest are free!
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At the end of each work week military troops across Canada take part in the ritual of sweeping and the floor. This signifies the end of the work week and the troops work together to get the job done. Thumbs up for a clean work environment. However, over my career I have witness some pretty useless sweeping and many in the CAF would be right to include professional sweeper on their resume.
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It's now been well over 40 years since that night, I feel that I can now relate this story.
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That’s when I saw the ANA soldier run through the swirling purple smoke we had used to call the medevac. He had found the previously missing foot (with boot) and tried to throw it to the hovering Blackhawk. It was so surreal watching that foot sail across the sky in slow motion.