MAKING SEYBORO

Galloway presents a memoir about his career in the U.S. Air Force and beyond.

The retired author was born in Baltimore in 1951. He was only 19 when he married his high school sweetheart, and he’d worked in shoe stores in a few different locations, including Youngstown, Ohio, and Pottstown, Pennsylvania, when he decided, in 1973, to enlist in the Air Force. The bulk of this memoir describes his 21-year military career from basic training until his retirement in 1994. During that time, while minding a growing family, he would guard missile sites in North Dakota, assist in the security of planes at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., and work as a paralegal in Oman during the Gulf War. As he reflects on his many duties, he notes that the military “was never fun and games,” but he and his fellow soldiers “made the best of things.” He tells of various pranks and other mishaps, including a time that a colleague built snowmen on a base in Nebraska, which ultimately resulted in some loss of rank and even “stiff fines” for a few people. After his time in the military, he experienced other triumphs and tribulations, such as a brief, frustrating, and eye-opening stint working for the U.S. Postal Service. Although this remembrance tends to be straightforward in style, it uncovers some material that readers might not expect in a military memoir; the snowmen anecdote, in particular, is funny, bizarre, and not something typically associated with Air Force life. Likewise, the author’s Gulf War experience as support personnel provides a nuanced view of the conflict; at one point, he tells of how he and a colleague met with a Saudi official, explaining why the American flag should be allowed to fly at a U.S. military base. Although some of the takeaways seem obvious, such as the sentiment that “separation from family is something that can take a huge toll,” they’re always presented sincerely.

An endearingly earnest account about the ups and downs of a career soldier.