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Authors of Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq Discuss War, Memoir

Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians.

This is the tragic event that starts the book, Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq. Meehan co-wrote the book with Roger Thompson, associate professor of English and fine arts at Virginia Military Institute. Both will visit Pepperdine's Payson Library to speak on writing, publishing, and the consequences of war. The free lecture will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26 in the Kresge Reading Room. The event is co-sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, the English national honor society, and Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science national honor society.

Meehan was a leader of a tank platoon for the storied 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute with distinction, having also studied at Oxford, and earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and other military honors while serving in Iraq.

For most of his deployment in Iraq, Lt. Meehan felt that he had been made for a life in the military. A tank commander, he worked in the violent Diyala Province, successfully fighting the insurgency by various Sunni and Shia factions. He was celebrated by his senior officers and decorated with medals. But when the U.S. surge to retake Iraq in 2006 and 2007 finally pushed into Baqubah, a town almost entirely controlled by al Qaida, Meehan would make the decision that would change his life.

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 discovered his mistake and uncovered a tragedy.

The book recounts the true story of one soldier's attempt to reconcile what he has done with what he felt he had to do. It aims to explore a new type of warfare that remains largely unspoken and forgotten on the frontlines of Iraq.

Thompson is an award-winning nonfiction writer and has published both academic and non-academic work in a variety of journals.

"I hope that this event will help us connect the political and the personal—as well as reminding us that the act of story-telling gives us perspective and helps us as we try to make sense of the tragedies of war," says Julianne Smith, associate professor of English at Pepperdine University.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Amy Adams at 310-506-6785 or visit library.pepperdine.edu.