Classics Lecture: Grady Smith, "From Troy to Saigon & Beyond: The Storm Track of Combat Trauma"

This lecture is organized and sponsored by the Department of Classics.

Grady Smith was born and raised in Saint Louis. He enlisted in the army under the College Option/Officer Candidate School (OCS) program. After Basic and Advanced Individual training, he attended Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, followed by Ranger and Airborne training. When the 6th Battalion of the 31st Infantry formed up at Fort Lewis to train for deployment to Vietnam, he was assigned as the intelligence officer.  Once in Vietnam, when Delta Company’s commander was wounded, he took over the unit and commanded it for six months. He ultimately stayed in the army for twenty years, teaching at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, serving a three-year tour in Germany, and working as a staff officer in the Army’s Leadership Division in the Pentagon. His last duty position was Executive Officer of the U. S. Army Center of Military History.

In addition to his army experience, Grady Smith is an actor and writer. He recently published a novel, Blood Chit, drawing on his experiences in Vietnam. A review of the novel has appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books (http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/blood-chit/), along with a Q&A session between the author and the reviewer. Grady Smith has also written plays, taught playwriting, and acted off-Broadway and in regional theater. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Master’s degrees in theater and English, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a long-time friend of the Classics Department, having taught classical mythology for us during his time at Maryland. He currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife Katy.