Raising Athena

This is a true story of a mother and daughter who choose the leader’s path in the armed forces. The memoir examines what compels them to choose this journey and marks the beginning of a new military tradition: one passed on from mother to daughter.

The Prologue opens on the embassy roof as MyLinh’s father escapes with the U.S. Ambassador on the last helicopter out of Saigon in 1975. This is her origin story. Just how will those final hours and the iconic and tragic end of an era in U.S. history figure into her life and her daughter’s?

Advance Praise

“It’s perilous not to have a people who understand their relationship to their warriors in a nuanced way. . . this book is, to my way of thinking, an excellent antidote to these problems. It is plainly the product of a woman warrior (a sheepdog, in the parlance of my favorite chapter) who has a firm grasp on the principles of storytelling and the art of creative nonfiction. That’s a vanishingly rare sort of being, growing rarer all the time . . . Get an agent. This is going to sell.”

Pinckney Benedict, American short-story writer and novelist, Professor of English at Southern Illinois University, Graduate of Princeton University (studied with Joyce Carol Oates) and Iowa Writers’ Workshop

“Raises interesting questions and ultimately addresses them in satisfying ways. Why did the narrator leave the military? What was it like being a woman when women were only ten percent of the class?  I appreciate uncertainty and nuance, vulnerability and doubt, as the narrator contends with transcendent subjects such as divinity, love, and mortality. I like the close focus on how it is to sleep in an easily collapsing bunk surrounded by snoring, or how it is to drive a Meals-on-Wheels delivery route with a mother during a rainstorm.”

Kathryn Rhett, Chair of English Department and Professor of English, Gettysburg College

“An awesome thing you have captured here. I see for the first time how truly gifted your mind is. I can’t emphasize enough how much I enjoyed it and how strongly I feel that those entering the service will like it.”

John Stark, PhD, U.S. Foreign Service, former Princeton University Professor of Military Science and Visiting Lecturer, (US Army, Retired)

“Excellent. It was an absolute pleasure to read. I enjoyed it so much that I read it over the course of several nights during the week, instead of just on the weekends as I had originally planned.”

Colonel Francesca “Ox” Ziemba (US Army, Retired)

Why should you care?

This is a singular, first-of-its-kind memoir about a mother and daughter, modern warriors in an era of global strife. Mothers who want to raise strong daughters will find this engaging, not only how to survive and thrive at West Point, but anywhere: on the athletic field, in the classroom, in the boardroom, and in life. This is not a how-to manual, but a personal story of two women who felt called to the profession of arms.

An inspirational aspect of military culture is about more than military training and leadership; it’s about physical and mental toughness, and personal and moral growth. Angela Duckworth developed her theory about grit while studying West Point cadets going through summer basic training.

Be inspired by this classic ideal of grit at the country’s Military Academy. Read a free Chapter, recognized by Writer’s Digest in its oldest and most popular contest.