Dear reader,

I’m Brian, the other editor of the two-man editing team of Duffel Blog. You’ve probably read editor in chief Paul Szoldra’s story about the site and the military and veteran writers, but my story is far different.

First off, I’m a civilian and always have been. I used to be in the Civil Air Patrol, which basically makes me sound like I was in the Air Force (except I’ve never been to Kuwait). 

But you’re probably wondering how I got here. It all started back in Nov. 2012 when I got a message out of the blue from one of my former students. 

See, back in the 1990s, I taught high school, and one of my students was none other than G-Had, the Duffel Blog author responsible for such classics as Syria issues travel ban on U.S. missiles, and NBC’s Brian Williams drops claims to have been personally beheaded by Al Qaeda.

You’re laughing. Those are incredible headlines, right?

In the fall of 2012, G-Had sent me a couple of articles one day and asked for feedback. Then it was only a few da…