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MWSA Review
A DD 214 is the Department of Defense form one receives upon separation or discharge from the US military. Most recipients also recognize it as a document signifying a significant change in their lives. W. Joseph O’Connell’s dd 214—rendered in lower case in the book’s title—is an entertaining and thought-provoking work of fiction. The book focuses on the very real and daunting challenges faced by someone retiring from the military and contemplating his future as a civilian.
dd 214’s two main characters are long-time friends who share the experience of military service. And as the main character approaches the end of his military career, the two decide to embark on a journey of celebration and discovery. As the story progresses, we learn that they’re clever enough to contemplate life’s oddities and challenges, honest enough to share life events like innocent teenagers, yet bold enough to set out on a series of short and potentially dangerous odysseys. All the while, they’re anesthetized by a near-constant buzz afforded by a never-ending supply of top-grade weed, or as the main character calls it, “the anamorphic filter of marijuana.” Perhaps this helps them remain oblivious to their shortcomings.
Through his first-person narration, we learn that the main character, whose name we never learn, has quite a resume. He ran a side “business,” allowing his fellow soldiers to cheat on their military drug tests while also selling them narcotics. During his road trip, he is willfully ignorant of his friend transporting drugs across state lines for sale and has few if any qualms about having sex with an under-aged girl. He also seems unconcerned about remaining detached from his children from a long-ago failed marriage. Still, despite the main character and his friend Zeke’s manifest flaws, the reader is captivated by their travails and ruminations—almost as if they were O’Connell’s versions of Butch and Sundance.
The main character is drawn to communist Cuba and upset about Agent Orange. He often voices contempt for a corrupt government typified by the “ATF goons” who intrude “against the rights of individuals and especially the Fourth Amendment” during the siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco. In response, he toys with becoming a revolutionary or maybe visiting the prison from which Timothy Leary escaped in 1970. At one point, he contemplates his future and imagines three possible outcomes: suicide or being locked up in either a jail or a “looney bin.” In the end, the reader won’t know his name or his fate. However, despite his many foibles, the author allows us to feel his pain and wish him well in his ongoing struggle with drug and alcohol abuse.
Review by John Cathcart (February 2021)
Author's Synopsis
A washed up soldier and his buddy take a road trip from California to Texas in a rental car full of guns and drugs. What could go wrong? Along the way, they encounter revolutionaries, survivalists, jailbait, and a bounty hunter. Their karmic journey across the American West is a search for wisdom and an escape from society, so long as they don't get caught.
ISBN/ASIN: ASIN : B08KMHM6Q3, ISBN-13 : 979-8694584029
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction
Number of Pages: 246