Welcome to Fob Haiku

Military Writers Society of America 2016 Gold Medal in Poetry winner 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. Here's a taste: Three Cups of Chai-ku 1. I had hoped, I guess, for something more like Starbucks, not yellow water. 2. We build our nations one tea party at a time. They serve, we protect. 3. No one here can lead this endless talk of action. "Que shura, shura."