Re-reading Rudyard Kipling again. I got hooked on Kipling when I was about thirteen years old. My family was...poor shall we say and we didn't have a lot of money, so my mom would go and hit garage sales on the weekends and would take me with her. I'd always loved reading and one Saturday when we were out seeing what she could find, she bought me a six book set of Kipling's collected works that dated back to 1906 or so. What initally caught my attention was the svastika on the first page. That symbol taught me to do research.
But, back to Kipling. The man could write about the human condition. Today, I can empathize with his character as if they were my contemporaries. People really haven't changed in over a century. As a Soldier, I could always empathize with his Soldiers Three. After all, I saw them every day.
If your exposure to KIpling consists of "The Jungle Book", then you owe it to yourself to expand your horizons. I'd start off with "If-" and for those of you who were impressed with the work that SF does training foreign militaries or partisans then I would refer you to "Pharaoh and the Sergeant". Last but not least, "Tommy" remains a favorite.
So fire up Google and spend a few minutes reading. You can thank me later.
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