Brandon Friedman

Brandon Friedman is a writer, veteran, and civil servant. He is the author of the combat memoir The War I Always Wanted and currently serves as the Director of Online Communications for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Friedman is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.

Early life and education
Friedman was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana by his parents, Steve and Zeldean Friedman. He attended private school through eighth grade, before attending and graduating from C.E. Byrd High School in 1996.

Friedman holds a BA in History from Louisiana State University in Shreveport (2000) and an MPA in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas (2006).

Military, politics, and government service
Prior to his work in government, politics, and the media, Friedman served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. In March 2002, he led a rifle platoon into Afghanistan's Shah-e-Kot Valley in order to engage Taliban and al Qaeda fighters as part of Operation Anaconda—a battle later written about by journalist Sean Naylor in Not a Good Day to Die. A year later, Friedman commanded a heavy weapons platoon during the invasion of Iraq. He led troops during combat and counterinsurgency operations in Hillah, Baghdad, and Tal Afar. Friedman left active duty in 2004 after having spent the latter portion of his Iraq tour as an executive officer managing troop movements, security issues, and logistics throughout northern Iraq as the insurgency intensified. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for his service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From 2007 to 2009, Friedman served as the Vice Chairman of VoteVets.org, a 100,000-member organization dedicated to getting veterans elected to public office. While at VoteVets, Friedman worked throughout the media to communicate defense, foreign policy, and veterans issues on national television, radio, online, and in print.

In 2009, Friedman accepted a role as the Director of Online Communications at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. In that position, he became "responsible for devising, implementing, and overseeing the Department's emerging media strategy" or, as FierceHealthIT described it in 2011, VA's "burgeoning social media empire." Additionally in 2011, AOL Government noted that VA was "becoming a model for other agencies." Friedman's office and staff have been the subject of cover story profiles in The Washington Post, The Federal Times, Stars and Stripes, and other publications.

Book
The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War: A Screaming Eagle in Afghanistan and Iraq (Zenith Press, 2007) ISBN 0-7603-3150-2

The War I Always Wanted is a non-fiction memoir that details Friedman's experiences in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. The book traces his metamorphosis from a young, eager cadet into a disillusioned—but wiser—adult and veteran. The book was released in July 2007 to positive reviews throughout the media and in the military community. While Publishers Weekly gave The War I Always Wanted only faint praise (calling the book "cynical but appealing"), subsequent reviewers were more effusive. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General (Ret.) Wesley Clark called the book "compelling and moving," going on to say that "among the many excellent war memoirs by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Brandon's stands out as the best." Historian Steven Pressfield, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Gates of Fire, called Friedman's work "outstanding non-fiction" and described it as "ris[ing] at numerous points to the level of literature."

Newspapers and journals reacted in similar fashion. The Baltimore Sun proclaimed, "You'll want to read parts aloud," while the Mobile Press-Register described The War I Always Wanted as being "rendered with more literary flair and sophistication than even the accounts by bigwigs," calling it "an elegant meditation on his loss of innocence." In the military community, the Military Times described Friedman's memoir as "vivid, frank, precise and dramatic," while Military Review, the journal of the United States Army Combined Arms Center, concluded that The War I Always Wanted was "tragically compelling" and that "[Friedman's] work is fresh, angry, cynical, and riveting."

The War I Always Wanted was recognized in 2010 by the Military Times as one of "The Best Military Books of the Decade" and by Daily Kos as one of "The Best Books of the Decade."

Reviews of The War I Always Wanted
 * Publishers Weekly, June 25, 2007
 * Daily Kos, August 19, 2007
 * Dallas Morning News, September 9, 2007
 * Baltimore Sun, October 21, 2007
 * Army Times, October 26, 2007
 * Shreveport Times, October 26, 2007
 * Mobile Press-Register, January 1, 2008
 * Military Review, January–February 2008
 * Daily Kos, December 13, 2009
 * Military Times, January 2010
 * On Violence, February 12, 2010

Media
Friedman's writing has been featured by media outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, the White House Blog, Military.com, Daily Kos, Time magazine and VetVoice —a blog on politics and the military which he edited from 2007 to 2009.

In the media
Friedman has been interviewed by ABC News, the Associated Press, McClatchy, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the Military Times, Stars and Stripes, and other news organizations. He has also appeared on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN, as well as on NPR, Air America Radio, Newsweek On Air, and dozens of other radio stations across the country.

Additionally, Friedman has been quoted by media outlets—from Hollywood's Defamer to Golf Digest. However, he has typically been cited by more traditional news sources such as Fox News, Salon, the New York Daily News, The Village Voice, Roll Call, The Politico, and The Weekly Standard.

On July 14, 2007, Friedman delivered the weekly national Democratic radio address. According to the Associated Press, in the address, Friedman said, "The fact is, the Iraq war has kept us from devoting assets we need to fight terrorists worldwide," Friedman said. "We need an effective offensive strategy that takes the fight to our real enemies abroad. And the best way to do that is to get our troops out of the middle of this civil war in Iraq."

In October 2007, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Friedman a liar on his live national radio show and accused Friedman of "smearing" him and "trying to destroy his character."

Media appearances
Some media appearances:
 * "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" interview, August 16, 2007
 * "MSNBC's Super Tuesday" with David Shuster, September 4, 2007
 * "CNN's This Week at War, September 8, 2007
 * "MSNBC Live" with Tamron Hall, October 3, 2007
 * "MSNBC Live" with Norah O'Donnell, October 3, 2007
 * "MSNBC Live" debate with Joe Watkins, October 3, 2007
 * "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" interview, October 5, 2007
 * C-SPAN2's BookTV with Marcus Luttrell and [[James D. Hornfischer], November 3, 2007]
 * "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" interview, June 11, 2008
 * Friedman introduces General Wesley K. Clark (Ret.) at Netroots Nation, July 17, 2008
 * "Russia Today" interview, November 4, 2008
 * "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" interview, May 7, 2009