“I was shaped by early leaders, overcoming odds to go from a long-haired punk kid to the top enlisted rank in the Army.“
— Bradley Jones
A member of the Writers’ League since 2022, Bradley lives in the Lehi, Utah area.
Scribe: Welcome, writer! Tell us — what do you write?
Bradley Jones: I wrote a recently published (Morgan James) memoir entitled Treading the Deep. The storyline follows me throughout my 30+ year military career. Like many, I joined for the college tuition assistance, determined to serve out my first and only enlistment, and then move on to bigger and better. I managed to leave the military – called a break in service – for four years, but the military never left my thoughts or system. There was something about serving my country that constantly called to me during that four year break. A calling I finally succumbed to reenlisting back into an AH-64 Apache helicopter battalion near the university I was attending. That enlistment led to a career I loved, working on Apaches as a full-time federal employee, while starting a family with my wife as a newlywed. While serving in Kuwait on September 11, 2001, my life and career, along with everyone in uniform, changed in the wake of the terrorist attacks. From there, my career trajectory seemed to be predetermined, finally culminating in my appointment to serve my fellow soldiers as the top enlisted member in the battalion.
Scribe: If you could choose one author to blurb your book, who would it be, and what would you want it to say?
BJ: Author and retired four star General Stanley McChrystal: “Treading the Deep is a powerful example of the possibilities when one volunteers to serve this great nation, filled with humor and faith promoting experiences, it goes a long way to restore readers beliefs in the tenacity of the human spirit and its ability to ultimately overcome, no matter the trials or circumstances.”
Scribe: You have one book you’re allowed to push onto all of your friends, and they’re forced to read it to remain your friend — which one would you choose?
BJ: Seven Miracles that Saved America by Ted and Chris Stewart. An amazing book that quite simply restores ones belief and confidence that God inspired the founding of this great nation. As Lincoln so aptly put, “America is the best nation ever given to man. Despite our faults, this nation is still the last, best hope of earth.”
Scribe: Tell us your WLT story.
BJ: WLT was recommended by a fellow author and friend, who read my book and told me she knew of a great community, as a recently published author, I needed to be a part of.
Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?
BJ: I have several more books I am committed to writing, two of which are both real life epic survival stories that need to be told.
Scribe: Here at the WLT, we love sharing book recommendations. What’s one book that has come out within the past year that you couldn’t put down? (Bonus points if the book is Texas related!)
BJ: Alone at Dawn: Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World’s Deadliest Special Operations Force by Dan Schilling. Read the entire book on a recent flight to Italy.
Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!
BJ: Within the pages of Treading the Deep, readers will encounter the real life account of my military service up through the ranks to lead the “Air Pirates” a battalion of combat experienced soldiers, including my own son, during a combat deployment. It chronicles how
I was shaped by early leaders, overcoming odds to go from a long-haired punk kid to the top enlisted rank in the Army. A gripping story, finally told from the enlisted perspective.
