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The protagonist, Eb Maclean, is just a guy who's trying to get his life back together. He isn't necessarily looking for trouble;but trouble seems to find him quite easily. A lot of his problems are inside of him, because, try as he might, he can't seem to leave the army in the past. His experience is troubling and it leads him to react to the events around him in specific ways.
Eb isn't a superhero. He isn't a Hollywood creation, and he isn't bigger than life. He's flawed, and sometimes he isn't even a nice person. He can be stuffy, judgmental, and even a bit of a bigot. He's angry. He's confused. And most of all, he's human, with all of the wonderful qualities and limitations of the species. He isn't Rambo--he's just a guy who answered the call to do a dirty, messy job that most people wouldn't do, and he will never fully recover from it.
Eb isn't special.
I write that as a matter of truth because Eb is a creation of mine, but in reality he is no different than any other soldier, past or present. None of our soldiers go to Iraq and Afghanistan (or Omaha Beach, or Gettysburg, or Monmouth Courthouse) and come back whole. They leave a little piece of themselves behind. They sometimes come home with problems like PTSD. We don't do enough for them--we should take better care of our people who give so much to us.
Eb is one of those people. He is not special--he is typical of the type of people who serve our nation. And I have no problem calling him a hero.
Like all of our military people, Eb didn't just pay the price for his service--he paid for all of us.
I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend. Please be safe, and remember to take a few moments to thank our servicemen and women for their sacrifice on our behalf. Eb Maclean is in good company.
Amen, Jeff. My father served in WWII, my stepfather in Vietnam, and my cousin in Iraq. We owe them all so much.
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