I’Ve Known No War

Ive Known No War details the lifelong friendship of two native Texans who share a love of baseball, and both have amazing futures ahead of them. Stephen McClanahan, or Stevie Mac to his friends, was academically at the head of his class and had plans to attend the Ivy League School of his choice. His best friend, Theodore Teddy Smith, more affectionately known as Smitty, had been born with a natural gift to crush a baseball. Smitty was, in all likelihood, headed on the fast track to the major leagues and was most certainly slated to be a high draft pick in the June 2002 Major League Draft. The pair were having the time of their young lives as their senior year began in August 2001, and everything was perfect. Everything was perfect until the day it wasnt. September 11, 2001, forced most people to reevaluate things including a seventeen-year-old in Harbor Lake, Texas, with an Ivy League rsum. Perhaps his elite education could wait? His father, J. P. McClanahan, had served in the Marine Corps and had considered it an honor to wear USMC on his left breast pocket. Stevie had made his decision: he was going to enlist in a time when no draft existed and less than 1 percent of the US population was serving in a 100-percent-volunteer force. Surely everyone would think he was nuts, most especially his old friend Teddy. Initially, Teddy would attempt to talk some sense into his academically gifted friend, yet something was nagging at Smitty himself. Perhaps major league baseball could wait too? This is the story of unselfishness, courage, loyalty, and above all, friendship. Dreams can be put on hold, dreams can be shattered, and dreams can be forced to be reevaluated. This story is a reminder that someone must always be willing to go into harms way, and it cant always be someone elses kid!