Author of the acclaimed combat memoir, The War I Always Wanted, Brandon Friedman has spent the last several years working tirelessly on issues concerning America’s military and veterans communities.

From 2007 to 2009, Brandon served as the Vice Chairman of VoteVets.org, a 100,000-member organization dedicated to getting veterans elected to public office.  While at VoteVets, Brandon worked extensively in the media to communicate defense, foreign policy, and veterans issues on national television, radio, online, and in print.  After leaving VoteVets in mid-2009, Brandon accepted a position as the Director of New Media at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Prior to his work in government, politics, and the media, Brandon served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan 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 award-winning journalist Sean Naylor in Not a Good Day to Die.  A year later, Brandon commanded a heavy weapons platoon during the invasion of Iraq.  He led troops during combat and counterinsurgency operations in Hillah, Baghdad, and Tal Afar.  Brandon eventually 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.

Brandon has been interviewed by ABC News, the Associated Press, McClatchy, Bloomberg, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, the UK's Press Association, Guardian, and 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.  Brandon's writing has been featured on a wide range of new media outlets to include Military.com, the UK’s Guardian Unlimited, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and, most recently, as the Editor of VetVoice—a blog on politics and the military.

Brandon holds an MPA in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas and a BA in History from Louisiana State University in Shreveport.  He is currently a Captain in the Individual Ready Reserve.

                                                           Author, age 7

                                     Author, age 25