Talk:Pittsburg, Texas

Ian Christopher Griffin is a highly decorated American military combat veteran and a multi-award-winning author. He is retired Command Sergeant Major in the United States Army, serving 31 years. Griffin leaned on his experiences from the military, along with his Pittsburg, Texas upbringing, which drove him to write the Rick and Katja series, along with the multiple-award-winning book The Story of Briar, Trash Can Terry, and The Widow’s Savior.

The Story of Briar received 13 literary awards. It received Best Fiction-Cross-Genre Category for the 2023 Literary Global Book Awards and also Reader’s Favorite Five Stars. In 2024, the book was awarded first place in the 2024 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards for New Adult Fiction and Southern Fiction. It received second place in Women’s Fiction in the 2024 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards. It won the 2024 Typesmith Writer’s Award Fiction-Cross-Genre. In the 2024 BookFest Spring Awards it won first place in Fiction: Romance-New Adult and second place in Fiction: Literary-Coming of Age and Fiction: Women’s-Fiction General. It also won the 2024 American Legacy Book Awards Cross-Genre category. For winning The BookFest awards, The Story of Briar was displayed on the NASDAQ marquee in Times Square.

Early Life

Griffin grew up in the rural town of Pittsburg, Texas. He admired the military as he looked up to his Grandfather, B.J. McDowell, who served in the United States Marines and was wounded on the beaches of Saipan. In third grade, Griffin would look through the encyclopedia and read all about the armed forces. He would cut out the ranks of soldiers and tape them to his shirt. One day, he had taped Sergeant stripes and General stars on his shirt. The teacher told him, "You can’t have both stripes and stars. Only enlisted wear stripes and only officers wear stars."

Griffin would migrate his reading from the encyclopedia to other works. He enjoyed reading The Three Investigators Series. He enjoyed the suspense of the mysteries.

Griffin started work at an early age. At 11 and 1⁄2 he began working for an egg farm called Texas Egg. He worked at this egg-producing plant every day until he turned 16. The day he turned 16, he began working for Evett’s Oil Company, Inc. Griffin often credits his success in the military to having cut his teeth early in the workforce and navigating the growing pains of his first job.

Education

Griffin graduated from Pittsburg High School and attended Northeast Texas Community College. He studied to become an automotive technician. He would eventually leave the school and join the military.

Later in his military career, he would complete his bachelor’s degree in Global Business and Public Policy at the University of Maryland, University College, and then earn his master’s degree in American Military History from American Military University.

Military

Griffin enlisted in the United States Army in February of 1989 as a wheel vehicle repairer. He likes to credit his previous work ethic and institutional training in the automotive field as a foundation for success.

His first duty station was 263^rd Maintenance Company in Böblingen, Germany at the Böblingen Maintenance Facility, BMF. There he was a wrecker operator and would deploy with the unit to Desert Storm and Desert Shield. After the Gulf War, he would return to Germany to find out the unit was inactivating and heading to Fort Hood, Texas. He relocated with his unit to Fort Hood, Texas, and then returned to Kuwait for Operation Intrinsic Action. Once the operation was completed he returned to Fort Hood and later became a Sergeant.

After promotion, Griffin would move to Korea where he was stationed in Yongsan with the 595^th Maintenance Company. He would serve as an inspector for the duration of the assignment. He would return to Fort Hood after a year in Korea. While at Fort Hood, he would continue to progress and serve the next few years with the 68^th Engineer Company, 263^rd Maintenance Company, and HHC, 544^th Maintenance Battalion. During this time, he deployed to Bosnia twice and later would serve as the Detachment Sergeant for HHC, 544^th Maintenance Battalion.

Griffin would move to Kitzingen, Germany where he would serve as a Maintenance Control Supervisor for Charlie Company, 701^st Main Support Battalion, MSB, and then serve as First Sergeant for Delta Company, 701^st MSB. While as First Sergeant he would deploy with his unit to Tikrit, Iraq. He would return with the unit to Kitzingen, Germany until the unit would relocate to Fort Riley, Kansas.

While stationed at the 1^st Sustainment Brigade at Fort Riley, Kansas, Griffin was promoted to Command Sergeant Major. His promotion would place him in the 544^th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Fort Riley. While serving as their Command Sergeant Major, he would deploy with the unit to Taji, Iraq, and later relocate the unit to Tikrit. His responsibilities in logistics spanned the entire country. Upon his return with his unit to Kansas, Griffin would move again. This time to Grafenwohr, Germany to the 18^th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. There he would deploy with his unit to Kandahar, Afghanistan where his unit was responsible for drawing bases and equipment down and returning equipment throughout Afghanistan to the United States Army supply system.

After returning with his unit to Germany, Griffin moved to Fort Campbell, Kentucky to become the Command Sergeant Major for the 101^st Sustainment Brigade. While with the 101^st he would deploy with his unit and the 101^st Air Assault Division to Liberia to fight the Ebola crisis. His organization was in charge of all logistics and sustainment in Senegal and Liberia. The 101^st Sustainment Brigade opened the theater, ran the theater, and closed the theater of operations. Once the mission was completed, he returned with his unit to Fort Campbell.

He would later move to Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he served as the Command Sergeant Major for the 3^rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command for 18 months. After that he would move to Warren, Michigan where he served as the Command Sergeant Major for Tank Automotive Armaments Command as his final assignment. There Griffin spent two and half years in the strategic side of the Army. On his retirement, he reflected back over the course of his career and life. Griffin brought up the third-grade teacher who said he couldn’t wear stars and stripes at the same time and then pointed to his rank. Which has a star in the center surrounded by a wreath and three stripes and chevrons. He then smiled and said, "I guess I might have known what I was doing after all."

Griffin’s awards include three Legion of Merits, three Bronze Star Medals, various other awards and badges which include the coveted Mechanic’s Badge and Air Assault Badge.

Writing Career

Griffin would step out of the army and retire in his hometown of Pittsburg, Texas. There he would take some classes in journalism out at Northeast Texas Community. Life had turned full circle for Griffin. He would win several awards from TIPA in journalism. While in class he wrote a chapter for kicks of a vacation trip he took back to Kitzingen, Germany a year earlier. He simply retraced his footsteps along the Main River and wrote about it. This spawned his first book, The Birth of a Spy Couple. Rick and Katja spy series was born. He released the book and immediately started working on book two, 33 or 9. He completed the book while visiting relatives in Hameln, Germany.

After releasing 33 or 9, Griffin began working on two books. One a third installment of the spy series and one that was a different style of writing for Griffin. He would release both books simultaneously. Betrayal From Within was released on August 28, 2023 and The Story of Briar was released on August 29, 2023.

Betrayal from Within is the third book in the Rick and Katja series. Whereas The Story of Briar was a coming-of-age book that would fall across several genres, which include New Adult Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, and Historical Fiction.

The Story of Briar received 13 literary awards. It received Best Fiction-Cross-Genre Category for the 2023 Literary Global Book Awards and also Reader’s Favorite Five Stars. In 2024, the book was awarded first place in the 2024 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards for New Adult Fiction and Southern Fiction. It received second place in Women’s Fiction in the 2024 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards. It won the 2024 Typesmith Writer’s Award Fiction-Cross-Genre. In the 2024 BookFest Spring Awards it won first place in Fiction: Romance-New Adult and second place in Fiction: Literary-Coming of Age and Fiction: Women’s-Fiction General. It also won the 2024 American Legacy Book Awards Cross-Genre category. For winning The BookFest awards, The Story of Briar was displayed on the NASDAQ marquee in Times Square.

Betrayal From Within received eight literary awards. In 2023 it received the Five Stars Sticker from Readers’ Favorite. In 2024 it won first place in three categories from BookFest Spring awards which include Fiction: Mystery-Spies & Espionage, Fiction: Thriller-Espionage, and Fiction: Thriller-Military, Spies & Politics category. It also was a Finalist in the 2024 American Legacy Book Awards under the Thriller-General category. Betrayal From Within was displayed on the NASDAQ marquee in Times Square.

On March 15, 2024, Griffin released Trash Can Terry a book that is cross-genre novel that includes southern romance, historical romance, coming-of-age, and new adult fiction. It follows a young couple facing challenges in a relationship while dealing with a homeless man. Trash Can Terry has won 13 literary awards for various categories and has been displayed on I Love NY marquee in Times Square.

In the fall of 2024, Griffin released The Widow’s Savior. The book focuses on a war widow from WW2 and the challenges she faces in a small town. This incredible work, placed in 13 different literary competitions.

In May of 2025, Griffin released the fourth book in the spy series, Ascend From The Ashes. This book pushes Rick & Katja and their family deeper into clandestine operations.

Griffin often likes to say, "I am just an old soldier who relishes writing about the complexities of life." LetHerLegacy (talk) 04:39, 4 June 2025 (UTC) Reply