Meet another member of the Duffel Blog team

Dear reader,

I’m Brian, the other editor of the two-man editing team of Duffel Blog. You’ve probably read editor in chief Paul Szoldra’s story about the site and the military and veteran writers, but my story is far different.

First off, I’m a civilian and always have been. I used to be in the Civil Air Patrol, which basically makes me sound like I was in the Air Force (except I’ve never been to Kuwait). 

But you’re probably wondering how I got here. It all started back in Nov. 2012 when I got a message out of the blue from one of my former students. 

See, back in the 1990s, I taught high school, and one of my students was none other than G-Had, the Duffel Blog author responsible for such classics as Syria issues travel ban on U.S. missiles, and NBC’s Brian Williams drops claims to have been personally beheaded by Al Qaeda.

You’re laughing. Those are incredible headlines, right?

In the fall of 2012, G-Had sent me a couple of articles one day and asked for feedback. Then it was only a few days later that I was talking to Paul and figuring out how to use the content management system. I started helping writers with idea development, grammar, and spelling. And after a while, I brushed off some elderly Photoshop skills and started making so-bad-they-are-good pictures for articles (as well as some just plain bad ones), too.

It was a lot of fun. 

I had always been a national security nerd and had plenty of friends in the military, so I was able to contribute headlines and pitches for other people to write. And I wrote some stories myself, too. Like the time Maj. Nidal Hassan was granted terminal leave, or when Duffel Blog reported that stores were offering a Memorial Day Discount for Gold Star Mothers. I can say they’re some of the best genuine satire I’ve written.

For the first two years, every one of us did this for free.

It was a labor of love for me, as it was for many others. For some writers, it was also a way of working through whatever baggage they had picked up in service, whether they be the emotional scars from combat or the frustration at the stupidity of their leaders. 

But for me, it was legitimately a way of serving and thanking the troops. I long ago learned that service members my age and younger quite often cringe at “thank you for your service,” because they perceive it as a reflexive, empty gesture. 

So, one of the reasons I continue to serve and edit Duffel Blog is as a way of thanking you.

If you were (or are now) in some shitty forward operating base, or at sea for the 197th straight day, or sweating in some mold-infested barracks somewhere, and my joke, or my Photoshop, or the article I helped another author get published makes you laugh, that becomes a victory. This country has asked a lot of those who wear or have worn the uniform, and if my editorial efforts at Duffel Blog have eased your burden even a little bit — well, now you know why I do this.

Eventually, as our readership and pool of authors grew, Paul needed more help. So he started paying me to edit and we started offering a small payment to writers for each article published. 

Honestly, and I’m not complaining when I say this, but — while the money was nice — it’s not a lot. It makes it possible to justify to my family taking evening and weekend hours to continue doing this thing that I love and to continue feeling like I am bringing something of value to you, the readers. I have a day job as an editor at a major publication focused on the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard that I also love (even though they don’t let me swear in print), but I make sure to squeeze some hours into each week for Duffel Blog because it serves a different purpose.

Paul and I have looked at the numbers a whole lot in recent months, and we realized the “it’s not a lot” financial model was failing. Ad revenues were shrinking even before stay-at-home orders and social distancing. Since March, they’ve declined even more. The old way of doing stuff will no longer get it done.

So this is why we’re here in your inbox, delivering hilarious content from the first and only online parody news organization for the United States military. Nearly 500 Duffel Blog readers have already acknowledged our value and become paid subscribers. And while that’s amazing (and we are very thankful), we’re only halfway to our goal of having 1,000 paid subscribers by the end of the year.

Still on the fence? I hope you’ll think back to the days when what the service asked of you was a lot — maybe even too much — and about how the sense of humor of a shipmate or somebody in the platoon or squadron made you laugh, and made your burden just a little lighter. Our goal is to provide that boost, but we need a boost from you to make sure we can keep doing it.

Editing and writing for Duffel Blog has been one of the great privileges of my life. 

I’ve made life-long friends among the writers, and I’m better at my day job for the insights I’ve been gleaned from my inside look at the military. You readers and we creators are in a wonderfully symbiotic relationship, and I sincerely thank you for helping us cut out the ad-company parasites that come between us and threaten our future.

And — if you won’t mind it just this one time — thank you for your service. 

Brian