Every now and then someone asks me a simple question.
How much of Jack Calloway is fiction?... and how much is memory? That mystery becomes part of the experience. It also keeps me out of legal problems.
Where do you get your stories?" The answer is both simple and complicated.
Some come from history. Some come from conversations that happened decades ago. Some come from places I have been fortunate—or unfortunate—enough to see.
Some come from events that are part of the public record. Others are the kinds of stories that are only told quietly among friends long after they happen.
Jack Calloway was born because I needed someone who could walk through all of those worlds. He is not a superhero. He is not always right. He is not fearless.
He makes mistakes. He trusts the wrong people. He carries burdens he doesn't always understand.
Sometimes he succeeds. Sometimes he pays for his decisions. Like all of us. And he has the scares to prove it.
Over the years I have learned something about history. The people who make the greatest difference are rarely the people whose names appear in headlines.
Most are ordinary men and women doing difficult jobs extraordinarily well. Teachers. Police officers. Soldiers. Engineers. Farmers. Pilots. Intelligence officers.
And also Parents. Neighbors. Citizens.
History remembers the famous. Civilization survives because of everyone else.
Jack Calloway represents those people. As you read these stories, you may occasionally find yourself wondering,
"Did that really happen?" Sometimes the answer will be yes. Sometimes it will be may be.
Sometimes the answer is more interesting than either. I will leave it to you to decide which is which.
That mystery is part of the journey. This series is not intended to rewrite history. Nor is it intended to glorify war.
War is rarely glorious. It is expensive. Messy. Heartbreaking.
Those who have experienced it understand that better than anyone.
Instead, these books are about something much older than war.
Duty. Honor. Friendship. Sacrifice. Responsibility.
The quiet choices that define a person's character long before history notices.
As America begins its next 250 years, we are once again living in extraordinary times.
Technology is changing faster than society can absorb it.
The world seems both larger and smaller than ever before. Old enemies have returned.
New challenges appear almost daily.
Yet one thing has not changed. Every generation inherits a country built by those who came before.
Every generation must decide what kind of country it will leave behind.
That is the burden—and the privilege—of freedom.
If Jack Calloway reminds us of anything, I hope it is this:
Great nations are not preserved by extraordinary people alone.
They are preserved by ordinary people who refuse to abandon extraordinary principles.
Thank you for taking this journey with me.
I hope that somewhere along the way you find a piece of your own story in Jack's.
After all...
Every family carries a name. Every name carries a story. And every generation decides what that story will become.
YNOT