Book Gift Ritual

Jack Carr shares his ritual of gifting the book "Once an Eagle" to people starting their military careers.

"'Once an Eagle' by Anton Meyer is my most gifted book. It's written in 1968 and it's historical fiction that follows two people from right before World War 1 up to Vietnam. When I gift this book, I write a letter and put it in the front cover to set the tone of why I'm giving them the book. Then I tell them there's another sealed letter at the back, but they have to work their way through the book to read it. The book is pretty thick - you can use it as a blunt impact weapon or as a door stop if you need to, so it's dual use technology. At the end, that sealed letter contains my take on what they just read. I don't want them to read it beforehand because I don't want to pollute their reading experience with my interpretation. It gives them incentive to get to the end to read that last letter."