Andrew Goldsmith grew up in Southern California. In 2003, while he was a senior in high school, the United States declared war on the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. As a restless teenager looking for adventure, Andrew couldn’t wait to join the Army and serve in Iraq. After one year in community college, he enrolled in September 2004 and went on to serve two year-long tours in Iraq before returning to civilian life in June 2009. He was a machine gunner for an Infantry fire team during the first tour; the second time around, he was a team leader and squad leader, steadily climbing the ranks from “Private” to “Sergeant” over the course of those five years.
After leaving the Army, Andrew spent time Sevilla, Spain, and at nighttime, he started to reminisce and write about the incredible experiences he survived in Iraq and the fantastic characters he encountered along the way. The collection of 35 war stories has since been assembled into a soon-to-be published memoir, titled Zarqawi's Ice Cream: Tales of Mediocre Infantrymen. “This isn't a story about grand battles or heroes, this is a story about America's sons who went to war, and got something else entirely. This is the real story of Iraq,” Andrew says of the book.
Zarqawi's Ice Creamis a raw and uncensored account of life in the Army Infantry, told in a graphic, action-driven style. It aims to show the day-to-day life of soldiers, their struggles, their friendships, and the extraordinary things ordinary men are capable of when subjected to the harshest of circumstances. Andrew describes the book as an “honest recollection of his experience as a soldier. The book was written neither to glamorize nor degrade the army, but simply to expose the core of humanity amidst the call of duty.”
With this book, Andrew hopes that Americans, whether or not they know someone who has served in the Army, will gain insight into military life and the Iraq war. He also wishes to bring awareness to the difficulties that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans face as they come back from their tours, which often include mental health issues and struggles to reconnect with their spouse and family.
Zarqawi's Ice Cream: Tales of Mediocre Infantrymenis scheduled to be released in May 2011. Andrew is looking forward to promoting the book on military bases and in bookstores on a two-month cross-country tour over the summer of 2011. For more information on the book and Andrew’s book tour, please visit http://zarqawisicecream.com/.
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