By Larry Dandridge
I step back from my normal efforts to educate military members and veterans, and their families, caregivers, and survivors on veterans’ benefits this week to encourage more veterans to become journalists.
My journey to becoming a weekly contributor to The Island News and a less often contributor to more than 20 magazines, newspapers, and journals in the U.S., Germany, and England has been a long, surprising, and rewarding adventure. From high school storyteller to Army pilot, from small business owner to big business regional manager, and from novelist to newspaper columnist, I never used to think of myself as a writer but rather a person who writes as an important part of my work.
Every career field requires good communication skills
In my many careers as a hospice founder and CEO, soldier, aerospace and defense industry regional manager, police officer, proposals manager and writer, business process re-engineering instructor, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and writer, I have written hundreds of business plans, lessons plans, training plans, safety plans, logistics plans, procurement plans, articles, and dozens of other things required by business and government to operate smoothly.
Veterans bring good things to journalism
One thing I know for sure is that as a veteran, you can bring good things and a unique and valuable view to journalism. Only about seven percent of the U.S. population living today has served in the U.S. Military. What is alarming is fewer than one percent of Americans have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since the end of the Vietnam War.
Less and less US citizens have an understanding of the value of U.S. foreign policy, treaties, and essential to survival organizations like NATO, the United Nations, and the U.S. Armed Forces. Americans just do not realize the dangers our enemies in Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China pose to not only Americans but world peace.
The veteran perspective
Veterans’ perspectives are important in each field of journalism because:
- Veterans were taught to focus on attention to detail and journalistic writing demands details and facts.
- Veterans bring a unique view of the world to journalism – a view based on both civilian and military education, vast amounts of training, frequent world travel, a pledge to selfless service, an oath of allegiance to the United States of America, and a broad view of tragedy and the insanity of war.
- The vast majority of veterans are honest, ethical, moral, and hard-working men and women who have been ambassadors of goodwill in each country they were stationed.
- Veterans are among the few Americans who have seen the challenges of starvation, illiteracy, rampant lawlessness, brutality, dishonesty, terrorism, and a myriad of other challenging circumstances.
- Few citizens have seen the importance of our alliances and partnerships with other countries like our military members.
- Veterans have worked successfully and alongside other government departments (like State, Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement, Commerce, etc.) to provide disaster relief and national defense.
Advice for veterans seeking to become writers and journalists
I offer the following pieces of advice:
- Follow your bliss. Do what you enjoy doing and you will never work another day in your life. If writing is your bliss, then learn about writing by reading, taking writing courses, reading, practicing writing, reading, practicing writing, reading, pursuing writing, and never giving up.
- Meet your other obligations. Writing competes with your family, dog, exercising, house chores, yard work, travel, deadlines, full-time job, and other obligations. It is easy to justify not having time to write or market your writing. So, until your writing generates enough income and security, you will probably need to hold other jobs to “get by” while working to become a successful journalist.
- Be honest, ethical, kind, understanding, compassionate, accurate, humble, and fair. Journalists should never forget that their first obligation is to tell the truth. Journalists must do their best to seek reliable and accurate facts when writing. They must do their darndest to write in terms that can be fully understood by their audience. Being as transparent as possible about sources and methods is also essential in journalism. Although it may not always be possible to avoid hurting feelings or publishing something that may prove to be less than totally accurate, journalists should do their best to be as kind, compassionate, ethical, factual, empathetic, and honest as possible.
- Avoid propaganda, advertising, fiction, sensationalism, and entertainment. Journalism is storytelling with a constructive purpose, not fiction or advertising. Yet journalists are not free from bias. To counter their biases, journalists must strive to use objective methods, like consistent testing of information, in every part of their research. They must represent interviews accurately, as interviews are essential in journalism.
- Serve as a fearless and selfless independent monitor of power. Honest journalists are one of the best and most important checks on those most powerful in society. The branches of our government and our citizens need a free press to keep evil in check. Journalists are counted on to ensure those with the most power, be it numbers, wealth, or other factors, are held accountable. Journalists must serve as an honest and ethical watchdog over those whose power and position most affect citizens. Journalists must be the trustworthy voice for (and to) everyone, especially the voiceless and weakest members of our society.
- Join professional writing organizations aligned with your interests. Military Veterans in Journalism (MVJ), Military Writers Society of America (MWSA), American Society of Journalists (ASJA), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), American Press Institute (API), and others are a gold mine of helpful information, education opportunities, advice, grants, conventions, and more.
The Bottom Line
Get as much education as you can in writing and English. Recognize you are not free of bias. Be transparent, fearless, and honest. Be selfless, enthusiastic, kind, compassionate, and understanding in your writing. Write like crazy. Interview and ask all sides for their comments and observations. Do not just write about problems and failures, but also write about successes. Be a faithful and courageous watchdog and, finally, do not let self-interests compromise your work.
Larry Dandridge is a Vietnam War wounded warrior, disabled veteran, ex-Enlisted Infantryman, ex-Warrant Officer Pilot, and retired Lt. Colonel. He is a past Veterans Service Officer, a Patient Adviser at the RHJ VA Hospital, the Fisher House Charleston Good Will Ambassador, and the VP for Veteran Affairs for the local Army Association Chapter. Larry is the author of the award-winning book Blades of Thunder and a contributing free-lance writer with the Island News. Contact him at LDandridge@earthlink.net or 843-276-7164.
