Operation Homecoming

Those who blogged (or are blogging) the war from at or near the front will likely be interested in this project, perhaps coming soon to a military installation near you. Those who would have written if they could have would doubtless appreciate this opportunity too.

With satellite phones, endless cable television coverage and a small army of embedded reporters, journalists have gotten as close to this war as any in history. But no matter how many risks they take, journalists cannot go into the minds of the men and women who are fighting the battles and who have no choice but to risk their lives and kill people. That mental intensity is perhaps the most difficult thing to document in war, and it remains mostly unknown territory to the majority of Americans.

The National Endowment for the Arts will announce a program today to change that, to encourage troops returning from Iraq (and Afghanistan as well) to write about their experiences in wartime. "Operation Homecoming," which will be unveiled at a news conference at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, will make some of this country's most prominent authors available to servicemen and -women, for workshops and lectures intended to help them express and record what they have seen and felt in combat. The program is part oral history project, part literary talent search, and part a writing-as-therapy program for troops, particularly those in Iraq, who have been under extraordinary stress in America's first protracted and messy war since Vietnam.

The 16 writers who have agreed to participate by visiting military bases include Tobias Wolff, Tom Clancy, Victor Davis Hanson and McKay Jenkins. In addition, 10 other writers, including Shelby Foote and Richard Wilbur, have contributed reminiscences and readings to a compact disc and Web site the Endowment has produced.

Read the whole thing. Thus far the linked story is the only information (other than a brief mention on the NEA website) available on line. Sounds like a project with tremendous potential. Additional details to follow.