The Great Conversation

Many of you know that we lost a very dear friend of ours about a year and a half ago in Iraq. Darrell and his wife Diana are more like family than friends to us - those rare people who come into your life and effortlessly feel as if they have always been there, as if you have known each other for forever. Darrell was a thinker, a writer, a voracious reader of ideas and a man who sought to understand the world around him and always do right by those whose lives he touched. During his two deployments, he faithfully recorded his thoughts, his feelings, his struggles. He hoped one day to publish a book, to help others understand what it was to be a soldier and a man and how you reconcile your faith with the desparation and violence that becomes par for the course in a land overcome with war. In the midst of it all he somehow found hope and he wanted others to know.

When he died, his father, Darrell Sr., obtained permission to travel to Iraq and visit with Darrell's unit there, to walk where his son had last walked. He compiled all of Darrell's writings - those on his computer, in notes and letters and e-mails home, and the stories that the soldiers who served next to him tell. Darrell Sr. has worked for the last year and a half to complete the book his son dreamed of one day publishing. The book is set to come out in February of 09. It will be called The Great Conversation and can be reserved online at Amazon.com - just search for "Griffin, Darrell." The book details Darrell's experience but also the experiences of all those who served with him. It is the story of the American Soldier - of men and boys from small towns and big cities who leave families and dreams behind to answer a call they may not always understand but feel compelled to commit themselves to. It is their struggles, their triumphs, their love for their families and each other and the hope that allows them to continue and keep their faith despite often desperate conditions. I hope that some of you will reserve the book and read it - not because I think it details the heroic life of a perfect man but because it tells the story of an ordinary man who did extraordinary things for the love of those he left behind and those that stood beside him as well as those he was sent to protect - and because it is the story of a friend. Once I know more about the book tour dates and locations, I will post the info. If you wish to know more about Darrell, just google "SSG. Darrell Griffin" or look for the US News and World Report" special article that appeared in the spring of 07.