Ep 076: Military Service and Life after Deployment
Our guest, Dylan Park-Pettiford, is a writer, director, and author from the San Francisco Bay Area. He served as a member of the military for six years, including a deployment in Iraq during the Iraq War. Dylan wrote for the popular courtroom drama, ALL RISE, and served as a writer and consultant for 68 WHISKEY, which follows a group of army medics deployed to a forward operating base in Afghanistan.
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Dylan recently released his new book, Roadside: My Journey to Iraq and the Long Road Home. A military memoir by a biracial child of refugees and survivors, Roadside is about life and death, about family lost and gained, and about America, as a dream and a reality. In a world marred by a seemingly endless wave of negativity, this story of love, loss, and brotherhood may offer a faint glimmer of hope as we face an uncertain future.
In this episode, we talk with Dylan about his time in Iraq as part of the US Military, the impact it had on his mental health, and what it was like to return home to a world that had moved on without him, especially when the violence he thought he’d left in the Middle East followed him home.
“An indelible story of war and survival. Roadside is a portrait of America, its wars, and the kids who fight them. It is also a map of the funny, tortured, and heartbreaking journey they must undertake if they want to return home.”—Elliot Ackerman, award-winning author of On Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning.
CW: We discuss PTSD, suicidal ideation, addiction, murder, and homelessness in this episode.
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Music: Deppisch
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ABOUT OUR GUEST
Dylan Park-Pettiford is a writer/director from the San Francisco Bay Area. His work includes writing for a forthcoming spinoff of the popular detective series, Bosch, the courtroom drama, All Rise, and for the Ron Howard-produced military comedy, 68 Whiskey. He’s a former AMC Network writing fellow and participant/mentor of the Writers’ Guild of America Veterans Writing Project.
His literary debut, Roadside: My Journey to Iraq and the Long Road Home, with Chicago Review Press, was published this summer. Dylan was also a contributing author in the New York Times bestselling books, The Moth Presents: Occasional Magic and How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling. In addition, Dylan has penned several Marvel comics.
Following his military service, Dylan returned to receive his BA in Film from Arizona State University before attending the University of Southern California for graduate school. He now calls Los Angeles home.
LINKS
Find Dylan online: Instagram, Website
Books: Roadside: My Journey to Iraq and the Long Road Home;
The Moth Presents: Occasional Magic;
How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling
Recent shows Dylan worked on: 68 Whiskey, All Rise
Recommended movies: The Iron Claw, Warfare
Other episodes you’ll enjoy:
PBS’s The Class and the Importance of Mentorship - Episode 073
You’re Not Alone: How Stigma Hurts Everyone - Episode 036
Depression: A conversation with the creators of CBC Gem’s Get Up, Aisha - Episode 052