1. A Quick Reflection Going Forward

A Quick Reflection

Six years ago, christ. Six years, that's how long ago it was when the "journey" began. Six years ago it started with a silly anime and an even sillier idea. Take Gate and put a veteran's spin on it. A real veteran, not some goober with a nationalistic agenda. I had never written before and I was fast approaching the end to four years of service with Second Tank Battalion. Maybe it was a sense of nostalgia or maybe it was a fear of trying to adapt to civilian life. Whatever it was I felt compelled to take what I felt was a crap plot and put an interesting spin on it. So, I took a leap and boy did I have no idea what was gonna come next. Here We Go Again, a name that I still see popping up every time I check my emails.

The readers, you guys, spoke and you loved it. You loved the action, loved the characters. I had a forum and you know, it was kinda cool. I didn't have a lot of exposure on the internet, sure I browsed plenty of websites and what have you, but never online forums or the like. My story harbored a small community, and at the time it was all really fun. We all theorized and came up with all sorts of crazy ideas. I made new friends, some of which really helped me ease into the civilian world and others who I gladly call my brothers now. Yet, somewhere along the way, I lost sight of what HWGA was supposed to be. An unfiltered tanker story. In developing as a writer I became less focused on that spirit and more on "unfucking" the plot whilst retaining everything I thought readers wanted. As time went on I began to redevelop my writing style and with that came lessons learned I wish I had applied to my early chapters. Eventually, I lost steam and I, well, gave up.

I had moved onto other projects and I started focusing on my new life in the civilian world. But I never forgot the story and never forgot the lessons learned. A sense of unfulfillment began to nag at me. "C'mon bro, you could totally do it. Do it right this time!" That was the thought that harassed me for years and yet I just never addressed it. It's 2021 now and the world we live in has changed quite a bit. The Marines have all gone off and started their own lives and long periods of time go by between chats. I find myself missing those simple days when it was just four stupid dudes in a multi-million dollar death machine. Some of you may already know, there won't be a new generation of Marine tankers. The MOS is gone, done away with, a part of a new restructuring of the Corps' purpose. In a way guys like me are almost like living history aren't we? The last Marine tankers that ever did a combat deployment.

Well, it's time to make some history of my own. Time to write and finish HWGA once and for all, the way it was always meant to be. For my readers, for the men I served with and the four years of my life I would never change for anything in the world.

This is for you.

Here We Go Again