Marine officer's new book tackles tough issues through satire

From: Marine Corps Times

A new book by a medically retired Marine infantry officer is sure to make anyone but the saltiest grunt blush, according to its author, as it lampoons all aspects of military life.

"Embarrassing Confessions of a Marine Lieutenant: Operation Branding Iron 2.1A" by former Capt. Danny Maher, published in late June under his stage name Capt. Donny O’Malley, is a look into the dark humor of young Marines who are forced to confront the worst of humanity in the war zone.

But the Amazon e-book book readers say is full of cover-to-cover laughs, has a more serious purpose: combating the 22 military-related suicides a day. The best way to do that is by reminding veterans of their membership in a life-long, combat-forged brotherhood, Maher said.

“My goal is that guys never lose contact and keep the same brotherhood they had in the service going,” he said. “By doing so, guys won’t get so lonely, feel no one understands them and no one ever will, and end up taking their life.”

Maher, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, was inspired to write the book after several veterans he knew took their own lives. He believes the same dark humor that helps Marines through their toughest deployments can help those fighting demons back home.

When writing, he thought of his friend Lance Cpl. Artem “Art” Lazukin, a double amputee who stepped on an improvised explosive devise during a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. The two met in the Wounded Warrior Battalion West while Maher was recovering from non-combat ankle and shoulder injuries that ended his career.

Lazukin told Maher to keep his writing raw. Marines could relate to it, he said, adding that Maher shouldn't worry about the public not being able to handle an honest look at life in the war zone.

“Dude, as soon as I feel a glimpse of sadness I go on your website,” Lazukin texted Maher in January. “I’ve been rereading it and it’s the only thing that makes me laugh hysterically.”

On March 29, Lazukin shot himself.

“After my buddy killed himself, I wanted to use the attention I knew I would get for good,” Maher said. “It is my hope that my book might make a guy put his gun back on safe, put it on the night stand and make him not put the gun back to his head the next day.”

Staff Sgt. Tim Davis, an infantryman who deployed with Maher in 2012, said Maher was always professional on the battlefield. But his sense of humor helped his company through a tough deployment, and that's something that could benefit vets struggling at home, too.

It's hard enough to lose a friend in combat where it is expected, Davis said, but even tougher to sign onto social media one morning and find out a friend took his own life.

“You think about what you could have done or any interaction you had that might have changed their course of action,” he said.

That's why Maher is using his book and other events through his veterans group, Irreverent Warriors, to bring troops together. That sense of community reminds those who might be feeling isolated that there are people who understand what they've been through, said Carl Dietz, a former first lieutenant who deployed with Maher and Davis in 2012.

"There can be a dark spiral where people think nobody appreciates what we went through, that they don’t understand it, that they don’t want to understand it and that gets them in a self-reinforcing downward spiral," Dietz said. "Anything that breaks that is important.”

Maher recently led a trek along the Southern California coast to bring awareness to suicide prevention. In keeping with his humorous approach to combat issues plaguing the military community, those participating completed the roughly 13 mile hike in Marines' favorite short shorts: silkies.

Maher said he wonders whether friends like Lazukin might still be here if they had felt that sense of camaraderie. That's why every chapter of his book closes with the name of a veteran who died by suicide, and a call to action to send message to an old battle buddy.

Even a silly text message that says something like, “I miss you more than I missed my wife on deployment,” can pull a veteran out of isolation, Maher said.

"It made my life complete when one guy said his two best friends and my book [were] the reason he hasn't killed himself," Maher said.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/entertainment/2015/08/02/marine-officers-new-book-tackles-tough-issues-through-satire/30883617/