Berkoff in Afghanistan with children looking on.
Although most of the war books can be based on theories of war or experiences told from 30,000 feet, Ross Berkoff didn’t want that perspective from his experience in Afghanistan, which he’s captured in “Beyond the Outpost: An Army Cavalry Officer’s War Diary on the Frontlines of Afghanistan, 2003 – 2007.” He was there, he experienced it and he wanted others to read about his front line, day-to-day events which had a big impact on the rest of his life.
It took the television coverage of the evacuation of Afghanistan at the airport to finally inspire action from
behind the keyboard. “That’s when I dusted off my notebooks,” Berkoff said.
“One of my friends took his own life, it really broke me,” Berkoff said.
Berkoff wanted to tell his story and didn’t want the war to go down in history as a military loss, which he compared to the Vietnam War. There was more to it than the negativity shown on the evening news, he felt. “The legacy should be more than just the outcome,” he said,
These notebooks were his account of what happened to him and his unit in Afghanistan on two tours from 2003-2007 with the 10th Mountain Division across the sand dunes of Kandahar and in the mountains of the Hindu Kush where he conducted intelligence missions. Before leaving his home in Chantilly, he planned to write journals about the whole experience and packed his journaling supplies before he was deployed. Much of his inspiration came from Ken Burns and his documentaries to tell the difficult stories. Particularly the Civil War documentary. “I love that,” he said.
He read another book about the Civil War where the writer used first-hand events that put the wheels in motion. Berkoff sent his manuscripts to the Civil War author who got back to him positive feedback, and one thing led to another with a publisher and the book hit the circuit. “He brought my book to his publisher,” Berkoff said about the fellow author.
This led to his additional work with a filmmaker behind the 2019 film “Outpost,” which is the story of Outpost Keating, a small element of the 10th Mountain Division defending against a deadly attack from the Taliban in 2009. Berkoff acted as an advisor for that film.
Now he’s on a publicity circuit, and was recently featured on CNN, NPR and has other stops on his schedule including one with the Richmond war museum and a New Orleans Book Festival.
It took an event like the war in Afghanistan to kick off Berkoff’s writing career. He grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Tulane where he was in the ROTC which led to a military intelligence career. Then 9/11 occurred. “That’s when I knew my military career would be different,” he said. For a couple of years right before he left for overseas, Berkoff lived in Chantilly and then Kingstowne.
Berkhoff in Afghanistan