Authority Magazine
Social Impact Authors: How & Why Logan Isaac Is Helping To Change Our World
Originally published Feb 28, 2022, by Authority Magazine.
Authority Magazine: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Logan M. Isaac: Yeah, thanks for asking! I grew up in suburban Orange County, CA. I went to good schools in wealthy neighborhoods, but it only dawned on me later in life how hard my parents had to work to get us what we had; my dad worked multiple jobs for most of my childhood and my mom was a business owner and an educator at a time and place in which a lot of my friends’ moms stayed home.
Although a lot of the kids I graduated with went on to college, two of my best friends signed up for the military; one got an ROTC scholarship and became a helicopter pilot and another enlisted as an Army Reservist. The military had helped them pay for a college education, so I decided to look into it for myself. After testing well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), I chose the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) that offered the most college money, which happened to be artillery. I began my military service as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division less than a year before the World Trade Center Towers were attacked.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story about that?
I was a voracious reader, but the book I remember feeling most affected by was about a young man who liked to run. I cannot, for the life of me, find the name of the book but it made me aware of my own sensitivity to people in need, because the protagonist had such a hard time. Even now, decades later, I still remember how deeply this book marked me. The narrator’s description of how run-down his home was and how much his single mom struggled to provide for the family left me, if not in tears, then certainly heart broken. My first reaction was to go around the house and turn off all the lights in rooms that were empty. I knew that could keep the electricity bill down and maybe take some of the burden my own family might have felt to keep up with the Joneses.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
Honestly, my biggest mistake was underestimating myself. Throughout junior high and high school, I was told I had “potential,” something my grades did not reflect. Looking back, I think I was bored and disengaged. Basic combat training was a really humbling experience, but it taught me to believe in myself. Right before I would go to combat, I was completing Air Assault School (AAS) in Hawai’i, the final requirement of which is a competitive 12-mile road march through the muggy hillside. I woke up that morning just wanting to finish it and get my AAS Badge before I deployed to Iraq. At After slogging through the first 6 miles in the mud, because of course it poured that day, I realized there were only a few people ahead of me. Then, at the homestretch, an instructor in a truck pulled alongside me to tell me that I could take the lead if I wanted. I shrugged him off, half-blinded by sweat, not caring about being first, just wanting to be done. Then he shared that he was artillery, like me, and that none of us had ever beat the infantry AAS students. He made it clear he wanted me to catch the infantryman in front of me and make everyone in artillery proud. It turned out that all I needed was a little encouragement, and I crossed the finish line a full 10 minutes before the second-place finisher. I learned that I could always sell myself short if I wanted to, but nothing could compare to giving something all I had and being surprised by my own abilities.
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your book?
As a veteran, I have seen ministers and nonprofits treat military families as though they have nothing to teach and everything to learn. My third book, God is a Grunt, is an invitation to read Christian scripture and traditions through the eyes of enlisted soldiers. Most soldiers spend less than six years in service and is discharged before acquiring much rank, but public debate favors commissioned officers and career soldiers. By starting with grunts, I hope to show how military families have always been an integral part of the people of God.
I could not have written the book without making the commitment to trust myself and my military experience. When I did, I was amazed by what I learned reading the Bible through the lens of my service; I felt more human, more alive, with every new discovery. The social impact I’m aiming for is to empower Christian soldiers and veterans by showing how inseparable their stories are from the story of God.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
There were so many that I should be ashamed of how long it took me to finally take the initiative to share the good news as I saw it. One of those moments I share in the book involves a prominent theologian I had been studying under. Over the course of several years I became disillusioned, not with what he had to say or teach, but how he was doing it. He had a biting wit that appealed to folks like me who were tired of stuffy, artificial faith that put words over deeds. But that same wit, wielded recklessly, had the effect of alienating and dehumanizing soldiers and veterans. No matter how many times I brought this to his attention he continued to speak in harmful generalities about military families. Other veterans and soldiers I knew felt similarly, but raised their concerns to me privately, for fear of the social influence he possessed.
The “aha moment” I write about in my latest book came when I confronted him about his rhetorical belligerence and, rather than asking to know more, he said “Who are you to judge me?” That kind of said it all — he was not driven by Christian or scholarly curiosity, but by self-interest and pride. Although we were members of the same denomination, he saw me as beneath him and unworthy to call him to account. It was moments like these that made me realize I could not count on influential people or institutions to change on their own. I realized that I would instead have to create something new and distinct, a place where GIs could find the human dignity they deserved, and the image of God in which they were created.
Without sharing specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Because the military incentivizes enlistment with college money, for student veterans to quit before we get that coveted degree can feel like we are letting dead battle buddies down, not just ourselves. When I was in my first theology program, I encountered a lot of condescending professors and insensitive students and staff. Another veteran had as hard a time as I did and talked with me about walking away. I encouraged them to stick it out even though we never stopped wondering whether it was worth it in a place that felt so unwelcome. I remember telling him that sometimes, for people like us, the degree is a finish line rather than a starting point. He finished his degree
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
In the final chapter of God is a Grunt, I explore the influence of Christian soldiers on the civil rights movement. As I traced that history forward, I was frustrated to learn that soldiers and veterans have a medley of federal protections that range from poorly enforced to completely overlooked. First, Politicians need to hold agencies accountable failing to enforce federal laws protecting military families from hate crimes (18 USC § 1389) and some veterans from employment discrimination (38 USC § 4212). Second, Congress can pass laws to require agencies add military families to their jurisdiction, like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). Finally, I have a draft law, the Military Civil Rights Act (MCRA), available online at GIJustice.com/mcra. But for regular folks, I recommend watching my video, “5 Things You’ll Wish You Knew Before Talking to Veterans.”
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I try to take my cues on leadership from scripture, in which God repeatedly favors the outcast, the least experienced, and the marginalized: barren women, stuttering outsiders, youngest siblings. This is not because God turns leadership on its head or anything, this is the way I think leadership was meant to be. Leadership is best exercised from the bottom, where the great weight of responsibility rests and where leadership must draw its authority. I also believe that leadership ebbs and flows like any natural rhythm, and I am skeptical of permanent or professional leaders. When the march is over, the crisis passed, or the organization matured, leaders know when to gracefully step aside and pass the torch.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
Starting a conversation with a soldier or veteran, even if you know them, can be daunting. Here’s the TLDR version:
ASK: Don’t assume All Soldiers Kill, because they don’t. And don’t ask them if they have because there is no answer that doesn’t hurt someone.
PTSD: Please Try Something Different. Even those veterans who do have diagnoses, including me, don’t deserve to be reduced to little more than their medical history.
TYFYS: Military service is complicated, and some of it is not the kind that we want to be thanked for.
#GIJustice: Learn more about civil rights for soldiers and veterans and they might be the ones thanking you!
You are not alone, God is with us. Sometimes we can all use a reminder that God is bigger and bolder than we can imagine, and there is nowhere we can go that we cannot be found.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
After I served in Iraq, I began examining my own faith and trying to make sense of what it meant to be a Christian soldier. Shopping at a local Christian bookstore, I found a Keyword Study Bible with Greek and Hebrew guides that really interested me. It was leatherbound, and when I went to the cashier she asked if I wanted it engraved with my name. Something inside me didn’t like that idea; putting our name on things can make us believe they belong to us, but she told me I could engrave it with a quote, too, instead. I kept browsing as I pondered what to engrave it with. Then it came to me, I would engrave it with a prayer; Lord grant me wonder, may wisdom follow. I don’t know where it came from, but it felt beautiful.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Stephen Colbert, for sure. He is insanely intelligent and cultured without being condescending or aloof. Watching The Colbert Report throughout seminary helped me laugh off some of the more difficult experiences I had as a student veteran. It doesn’t hurt that he is a devout Christian, but he has no problem being snarky about the things and people whose actions call for critique. Fr. James Martin, S.J., who has endorsed my latest book, God is a Grunt, hand-delivered Stephen Reborn on the Fourth of July while serving as his unofficial chaplain. So, there’s a chance he may know of my work, but who knows?
How can our readers further follow your work online?
My personal website, iamLoganMI.com, is mostly an archive of my essays, videos, etc. If folks want to keep up with what keeps me up, they should check out PewPewHQ.com, where they will find links to my Substack, online courses, and a social network made by and for Christian soldiers. For advocacy, or to learn more about civil rights for military families, people can head to GIJustice.com.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
