Randy Brown

Freelance writer and citizen-soldier by day, and secret (writing as "Charlie Sherpa") blogger by night, Randy Brown was preparing in 2010 to deploy as the sole "knowledge manager" for an Iowa National Guard unit of 3,000 soldiers. ("Historian, librarian, lessons-learned reporter—it was sexier to say my job was "Brigade Staff Jester,'" he jokes.) After a paperwork SNAFU dropped him off the list, he retired with 20 years of military service and a previous deployment.

He then went to Afghanistan anyway, embedding with his former colleagues as a civilian journalist. He continues to write about military topics at his blog, Red Bull Rising; about 21st century war poetry at the FOB Haiku blog; and about "military writing" techniques and markets at The Aiming Circle blog.

Brown is a three-time poetry finalist in the Col. Darron L. Wright memorial writing awards administered by the literary journal Line of Advance. He was the 2015 winner of the inaugural Madigan Award for humorous military-themed writing, presented by Negative Capability Press, Mobile, Ala. He was the 2012 winner of the Military Reporters and Editors’ (M.R.E.) independent-blogging category, and was a finalist in the Milblogging.com awards’ veteran (2011) and reporter (2012) categories.

He is the current poetry editor at the literary journal As You Were, published twice a year by the non-profit Military Experience & the Arts. He is also a member of Military Reporters & Editors, the Military Writers Guild, and the Military Writers Society of America.