Using Fiction to Tell our Stories of War with Darin Pepple Always in Pursuit

In this episode Mike sits with Darin Pepple to talk about his time in uniform and his book; Dodge Bomb: Outside the Wire in the Second Iraq War .Darin realized when was young that the traditional path wasn’t for him. In this AIP Episode Darin and Mike talk about how that drove him to raise his right hand and join the Army. The Army’s discipline is what gave Darin structure in life. When he initially joined, he was part of a mounted stinger team. Darin decided to become an officer after his initial commitment because he believed that officers made the decisions, and their leadership was crucial to the mission and military. 
Darin wrote his book because wanted to capture the real account of his experiences in the Iraqi War. From a conventional Army persons perspective and highlight the fact that not everyone is Special Operation operator that kills people and comes home angry with PTSD. In the episode they share the two sides, mike has the special operations perspective and Daren has the regular force. 
Central to the story is LT Eddie Fitzgerald which is made up of 60% Darin’s real-life experiences. The book also helped Darin with the transition out of the uniform. He outlined some elements of toxic leadership, using a character in his book to show how detrimental it can be to organizations. On the counter to toxic leadership, leaders that lead with example can build respect and rapport with your organization. 
There is still a lot of stories to tell about the GWOT and leadership lessons to extract. These captured stories can also help veterans heal and do the hard work with recovering from the trauma. As veterans our failure to talk about these events creates distance and they don’t properly understand who we are. 
Darin closes the episode with plans for a second edition of the book and a sequel. Where they will provide more stories, why they matter, and people can incorporate into their own lives and society. 
One of the officers that Darin talks about is CPT Douglas Hoyt. , which he credits with showing him what leadership is supposed to look like and always setting the example. 
Find Daren Pepple: 
Daren Pepple on LinkedIn 
Dodgebomb Book Page on Facebook 
Darin Pepple on Instagram
Darin on Twitter 
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