Colby Buzzell (born July 17, 1976, in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger and former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

. Buzzell grew up in

San Ramon, California San Ramon (Spanish language, Spanish: ''San Ramón'', meaning "Saint Raymond") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and east of San Francisco. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per th ...

, and enlisted in the

at the age of 26. Prior to joining the U.S. Army he described his life as engaging in a lot of drinking, drug use, dead-end jobs and a minor criminal record. He was very optimistic about his Army service and was determined to follow the Army recruiting slogan of "Be All That You Can Be". He joined the service as an

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

man and spent 2003–2004 in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, assigned to a

Stryker The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

Brigade Combat Team. In his book he expresses a great deal of enthusiasm about the benefits of wheels over traditional treaded armor in urban settings. It was in Iraq that Buzzell began publishing a blog under the title "CBFTW", "Colby Buzzel Fuck The War", as a replacement for his habitual journaling back in the States. The blog gained popularity quickly because, as an

anonymous blogger An anonymous blog is a blog without any acknowledged author or contributor. Anonymous bloggers may achieve anonymity through the simple use of a pseudonym, or through more sophisticated techniques such as layered encryption routing, manipulation o ...

, Buzzell was able to share more lucid experiences than an embedded journalist, and he was also able to share a bit more of the truth than the Army was able to. Buzzell's blog gained recognition for its realistic portrayal of gripping first-hand accounts of the war in Iraq. This '

milblog A milblog or warblog is a blog devoted mostly or wholly to covering news events concerning an ongoing war. Sometimes the use of the term "warblog" implies that the blog concerned has a pro-war slant. The term "milblog" implies that the author ...

' won praise as “an unfiltered, often ferocious expression of his boots-on-the-ground view of the Iraq war." Colby published a book on his experiences entitled '' My War: Killing Time in Iraq'', combining narrative, blog entries, and emails that evolved from his blog over time. The book received positive reviews and has been recommended for public libraries. In 2004, Buzzell was profiled in ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''s "Best and Brightest" issue and has since contributed regularly. In 2007, Buzzell received the 2007

Lulu Blooker Prize Lulu Press, Inc., doing business under trade name Lulu, is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution platform. By 2014, it had issued approximately two million titles. The company's founder is Red Hat co-founder Bob Young (bu ...

for '' My War: Killing Time in Iraq''. In 2008, Buzzell was recalled for active duty. After he arrived at his post, he was examined by the medical staff at

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

and marked "not deployable" due to

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

. In 2011, Buzzell wrote the book '' Lost in America: A Dead-End Journey'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, about coping with his post-traumatic stress disorder by taking a road trip to nowhere, all the while thinking about his newborn son, wife, and recently deceased mother.

References

External links

Colby Buzzell's website

3d Stryker Brigade, Fort Lewis WashingtonInterview with Colby Buzzell -- link deadOC Weekly interview August 30, 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzzell, Colby 1976 births Living people American bloggers People from San Ramon, California United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of the Iraq War Anonymous bloggers Esquire (magazine) people 21st-century American writers