Review of Incoming: Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen
reviewed by Becky Robison
Incoming: Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen
Edited by Jennifer Corley, Justin Hudnall, Tenley Lozano, and Francisco Martínezcuello
Incoming Press
May 2019
ISBN 978-0997949933
258 pages
ABC News recently ran a story about an eighteen-year-old U.S. soldier who was about to deploy to Afghanistan—to join a war that began when he was only seven months old. Considering that U.S. wars overseas have dragged on for much of the current millennium, it’s surprising how little we hear about what it’s like there for our troops. World War II stories abound, while tales of the fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria seem comparatively few and far between.
But then, maybe we haven’t been paying attention. Or maybe we haven’t known where to look.
Since 2014, the nonprofit So Say We All has been amplifying veteran voices with Incoming Radio, a series that gives veterans the opportunity to tell their own stories over the airwaves and online. The project has also produced two print anthologies, the second of which, Incoming: Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen, was released in May of last year.
In his forward to the collection, editor Justin Hudnall points out that “civilians at the breaking point have the option of abandoning their situation and just walking away. But for the armed forces, that’s where the story begins.” The memoirs in this new collection focus on escapism—how veterans cope with boredom, depression, and trauma, both on the battlefield and when they return home. As the title suggests, sex and drugs loom large in the authors’ lives, but they’re by no means the only pressure valves allowing veterans to make it through the days, weeks, months, and years. Together, the pieces in this collection reveal that it’s often a sense of obligation, isolation, anticipation, and repetition—so peculiar to veterans—which causes their escapism to be so extreme.
Some of the coping mechanisms are surreal enough to be almost slapstick. Faced with the ennui of guarding the same barren desert base day after day, Joshua Callaway decides to buy a new simian pet from an Afghan child in his essay “Monkey Business.” You can probably imagine how well that goes. In “Beef,” Jim Ruland recounts his time working in the kitchens at the Great Lakes Naval Station, where he learns that warm slabs of meat are good for more than just eating—they can also be put to carnal purposes.
While certain stories in the anthology balloon like tall tales (even though they’re obviously not), others are emotionally gutting. Sailor-turned-comedian Allison Gill’s essay is called “Rape Jokes.” Need I say more?
Both the comedy and tragedy are, perhaps, expected. If centuries of art about war have taught us anything, it’s that war is tragicomic. But what’s truly remarkable about this anthology is the range of voices—women veterans, veterans of color, queer veterans. In “We’re All Doing It,” Sage Foley describes her doomed affair with a female superior. In “Easy Lay,” Derrick Woodford reveals how he courted a female airman to avoid being outed in the era of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The memoirs span decades of American military service, from Vietnam to post-9/11 conflicts.
Some of the essays are more nuanced than others. And the few interviews and poems feel a bit jarring side-by-side with traditional essays. But this variety doesn’t detract from the collection; rather, it emphasizes the book’s authenticity by showing that veteran experiences—including their coping mechanisms—are not monolithic. Incoming reminds us that, however detached war may seem from our daily lives, it is very real, and its impact on veterans is staggering. It’s no wonder that they take whatever escape routes they can find.
Becky Robison(@rebb003) is a karaoke enthusiast, trivia nerd, and fiction writer from Chicago. A graduate of UNLV's Creative Writing MFA program, her stories have appeared in [PANK], Paper Darts, Midwestern Gothic, and elsewhere. When she's not working her corporate job or walking her dog, she serves as Social Media and Marketing Coordinator for Split Lip Magazine.
Jennifer Corley relocated to Southern California from the Southern US, and has a background in writing and media production and post-production.
Justin Hudnall received his BFA in playwrighting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He currently serves as the Executive Director of So Say We All, a 501c3 San Diego-based literary arts and education non-profit.
Tenley Lozano is a writer, editor, and engineer with a BS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the US Coast Guard Academy and an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College.
Francisco Martínezcuello is an Into the Fire writing retreat scholarship recipient, a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow, a product of the Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Project, and the Veteran’s Summer Writing Intensive at Marlboro College sponsored by Words After War.