A former United States National Guardsman turned author will appear at the Richmond Public Library next week.

Brig. Gen. Paul “Greg” Smith will give a free presentation and read from his new memoir at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27. Smith served 35 years in the U.S. Army and the Massachusetts National Guard until his retirement in 2014.

“It all started when I’d tell friends funny stories about my early days in the National Guard,” Smith said. “When they stopped laughing, they’d say: ‘You really should write this down.’ So I took their advice and filed away anecdotes as I remembered them.”

After a few years, Smith realized that he had enough of these anecdotes to write a book. He went on to write and publish “Confessions of a Weekend Warrior: Thirty-Five Years in the National Guard,” which was picked up by McFarland Books.

“Over the years, I learned a lot about human nature, service and leadership — most of which came from falling flat on my face,” Smith said.

Many of the humorous anecdotes in the book stem from Smith’s early days as a hapless junior officer in the National Guard. Smith notes one event that matured him from a mediocre young officer into a committed commander was when he commanded the military joint task force that responded to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

“I’d like to say that the success of the National Guard during that operation was due to the brilliance of the commander,” Smith said. “But it was really due to the hundreds of sound decisions made by soldiers and junior leaders.”

Smith has also developed peacekeeping forces in South America and served as an instructor at the U.S. Army War College. His previous writing experience has been for periodicals like Country Living, Military History, Career World and ARMY magazines.

Copies of “Confessions of a Weekend Warrior” can be found on the McFarland Books’ website or you can ask your local bookstore clerk about reserving a copy.