Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 4 presents essays, fiction, poetry, interviews, and photography by military-service personnel, veterans, and their families. The volume also sponsored a veterans’ writing competition, judged by David Armand (associate editor for Louisiana Literature Press, Teacher at Southeastern Louisiana University, author of The Gorge, Harlow, The Deep Woods, and The Pugilist’s Wife), Dr. Missy Nieveen-Phegley (Director of composition and assessment, Southeast Missouri State University), Jennifer Geist (professional photographer and publisher of Brick Mantle Books), Jarrod L. Taylor (history teacher, infantryman in the U.S. Army from 2000 – 2009.), and Gerardo “Tony” Mena (teacher, Iraqi Freedom veteran, author of The Shape of Our Faces No Longer Matters). The winners and finalists are spotlighted in the front of the book. The anthology is the fourth in an annual series published by Southeast Missouri State University Press in cooperation with the Missouri Humanities Council’s Veterans Projects.
