In my debut novel, The Path to Freedom, and the stories that follow in the Task Force 125 series, my heroes are all men and women who served. Sure, anybody can be a hero, but in my eight years in the U.S.A.F. Security Forces I’ve seen qualities that only those who have served share.
Sense of Duty
There is a shared sense of duty which makes failure unacceptable. It is a binding quality that joins people of every race, sex and nationality. It is the common language of military personnel the world over.
Teamwork
Military heroes have faults. Sometimes they swear, drink or smoke too much. Sometimes their relationships take a back seat to the mission. Whatever their faults, they are only human. What makes them extraordinary is the fact that they face fear and press on anyway because their brothers and sisters in arms depend on them.
Though the heroes in my books work for the CIA, the British Secret Service and private military companies, they all share a common past – their military service.
That’s the beauty of writing military heroes – we all share a common past that allows us to all be just a little heroic.
Jay Stanstead was a career man in the British Special Air Service (SAS). He spent twenty years jumping out of planes, cut more throats than he cared to count and drank more pints than he could remember. He’d invested his money well and had a comfortable retirement courtesy of the crown but his life was missing something he couldn’t live without – action.
On the suggestion of a mate, he met with an American named Brock Benjamin who ran a private military company that specialized in providing freelance work for guys with a certain type of military experience. Jay’s type of military experience.
Jay enjoyed the freelance work and made a good reputation for himself.
One day, Brock called him and two other men in for a look at a special job. Brock showed them a photo of a woman and explained that she was an international businesswoman who needed a personal security specialist, a bodyguard.
No woman, real or photographed, had ever made Jay’s heart stop until that day.
Jay wanted this client. He had to have this client.
The pay was excellent and the conditions guaranteed were first class.
All three men expressed an interest in the job.
Brock stood, smiled and announced he expected to see one man in his office in ten minutes after they’d worked it out amongst themselves who would take the job.
Jay broke the bones of good men that day to be a bodyguard, to be Sarah Stevens’ bodyguard.
Excerpt from The Lonely Road, Task Force 125 book #4, by Lisa Pietsch
Lisa Pietsch is an author, mother, military wife, RomVet and USAF veteran. You can find her online at www.LisaPietsch.com and the first story in the Task Force 125 series, The Path to Freedom, at Sapphire Blue Publishing.
