Attorney, author, and military veteran John Waters shares the influences of his early life before enlisting in the marines. We talk also about the themes in his debut novel, River City One, including the dislocation felt by some combat troops returning to civilian lives and that effort to discern meaning.

John Waters graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. For six years he served as a scout sniper platoon commander and ground intelligence officer, completing deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Horn of Africa. After leaving the Marines, Waters began writing on war and military affairs for RealClearPolitics based in Washington, DC. His postwar novel River City One was published in November 2023 by Permuted Press and distributed by Simon and Schuster. Waters currently works as an attorney and lives with his family in Sarpy County, where he was raised.