Editor's Note: Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, (above) then a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting his men. He thought that he would only kill the enemy, but in the ruins of the strike, he discovers his mistake and uncovers a tragedy.

Meehan turned this account into the memoir Beyond Duty: Life on the Front Line in Iraq, which he co-wrote with TCU alumnus Dr. Roger Thompson ’99 (PhD), a professor at Virginia Military Institute.

Meehan and Thompson were on campus yesterday as guests of the English department. The TCU Magazine intern Molly Mahan listened to a reading and discussion of the book. The following is her thoughts on what she heard.

When I was younger, memoirs and autobiography were my least favorite genres of literature to read. I could not even manage to read fiction that was written in the first person. I have written in journals off and on since I was about 7 years old, so perhaps I felt as if reading a memoir was like reading a journal (and some memoirs are published journals), and that was something private, not to be seen by others. However, memoirs are usually published with author’s consent, so it really shouldn’t have upset me. Nonetheless, something about putting me in someone else’s shoes—thinking, acting, being like another person—really bothered me for the first 15 years of my literate life.

This sickness from reading first person did not last forever, though. In my senior year of high school, I picked up a copy of The Dirt, a memoir by the members of the 80’s rock ‘n’ roll band Motley Crue, and my love for memoirs flourished. Since then, I have read numerous memoirs and biographies of rock ‘n’ roll stars, recovering addicts and begrudged corporate workers. Although I have now read dozens of memoirs and confessions, I have never taken it upon myself to reflect on why there was such a dramatic change in what I found acceptable to read, until tonight when Capt. Shannon Meehan and Dr. Roger Thompson ’99 (PhD) gave a talk at the Kelly Alumni Center about the importance of confession and their book Beyond Duty: Life on the Front Line in Iraq.

Capt. Meehan spoke first, reading from the prologue of his book, detailing a vivid account of a decision he had to make while acting as company leader. At first, it seemed to be the correct decision, gaining approval from the other teams, but once the mission was completed the results were detrimental to his psyche and the men around him. He spoke of how he kept those events buried deep within him, refusing to share his thoughts and feelings with even those who experienced the same things and how it ate at him. It wasn’t until after he returned to the States and got in contact with Dr. Roger Thompson that he even thought of publishing a memoir about his experiences in Iraq.

After Meehan finished, Thompson spoke about his experiences as a professor of English at Virginia Military Institute, where he taught Meehan. He shared why he wanted to work with Meehan and the importance of confession – as confessor and reader. He gave the example of St. Augustine’s conversion to Christianity, which comes from his own written confession. But the genesis of it comes from the confession of another. In this one account, we are able to see how important confession is to the teller and how it can affect the listener. Thompson claims memoirs are important and necessary as they construct our own memoirs and allow us to understand our own experiences as well as those around us.

In retrospect, I now see why my younger self did not enjoy reading memoirs and autobiographies. I did not have enough experiences to be able to categorize the experiences I was reading about in a way that could make sense, nor had I met enough people in my life for the stories to seem relevant. Now, in my final semester at Texas Christian University, I have met enough people with experiences different from my own and had far more life experiences and interaction with others to want and be able to understand their stories as told from their perspective and not merely from a third-person, second-hand source.
http://thetcumagazine.blogspot.com/2009/09/campus-reflections-memoirs-sweet.html

 Load up Molly    (Baylor Blog)

Shannon Meehan and Roger Thompson

Friday I listened to Shannon Meehan and Roger Thompson speak about their new book, “Beyond Duty.” I have only attended a few author lectures, but this speech was by far the best. I spoke to Dr. Pittman and several other students who attended the lecture from my Expository writing class, and all agreed that this was one of the most open book lectures we have heard.

Beyond Duty Released

www.op-for.com

By John Noonan

 Few stories break the heart like Shannon Meehan and Roger Thompson's Iraq War memoir, Beyond Duty. Meehan, a 1st Cavalry Division tank commander and VMI graduate, may as well have titled it "heavy lies the crown," as Beyond Duty is the first book I've read that fully captures the crushing burden of combat leadership.

Meehan and Thompson (a professor of English at VMI), started writing the book after disaster struck -- Meehan, freshly promoted to acting company commander during an offensive into insurgent-infest Baquba, called in an airstrike which killed a house full of Iraqi civilians. Beyond Duty details that fateful day in the prologue, the rest of the story's arc rides wave after wave of hyper-realistic tension ultimately leading to Meehan's antagonizing decision -- send his men into the dragon's mouth and possible death, or safely negate a house full of unknown occupments with a precision guided airstrike.

I've read my share of Iraq and Afghanistan war memoirs, God knows there's plenty of them out there. This, however, is the first "under the helmet" account of the terrifying nature of MOUT operations that I've read. Further, Beyond Duty forces the audience to come to terms with the immense responsibility we place on kids who are often times fresh out of college. The decisions Meehan faced were terrifying, yet through those unforgiving experiences, the light of this wonderful generation of young men and women shone through. The tougher the fight became, the faster Meehan ascended into a strong, confident leader. The great tragedy of Beyond Duty --and indeed it is a tragic tale-- was that after an uninterrupted record of deeply admirable and virtuous leadership, one bad decision completely unraveled Meehan's confidence and demeanor. Indeed, the pain doesn't stop after the wound has healed.

Read Beyond Duty. Understand what we ask of these young men and women, the angry seas we ask them to navigate, the agonies of combat, and the crushing burdens of leadership.

Shannon and Roger will be on the Ed Morrissey Show at 4pm EST, Thursday 24 September. Our friends at WRKO Boston also have a must-listen interview up with Shannon and Roger, click through for the link.

Finally, I'm proud to say that Capt Shannon Meehan will be joining us here at OPFOR full time as a blogger. I expect that will happen when the buzz from Beyond Duty calms (and it's buzzing loudly, folks -- pass the word).