2015 Member Books

February 2015

Nonfiction 

Escadrilles: In the Shadow of Our Fathers (Book 2). By Capt. Todd G. Kruder, USN, and Gerard Tod. Seurat Innovations LLC. ISBN 978-1497502550. 114 pp. $8.99. 

Escadrille, the second in a planned series of American realistic fiction novellas which follow the lives of brave men and women who conquered the barrier of being different. A candid representation of society’s treatment of those who cast under a shadow of difference. 

 

F.I.R.E.: How Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained, and Elegant Methods Ignite Innovation. By Lt. Col. Dan Ward, USAF (Ret). HarperBusiness. ISBN 978-0062301901. 240 pp. $20.82. 

Noted military technology expert Dan Ward's manifesto for creating great products and projects using the methods of rapid innovation. 

Why do some programs deliver their product under cost, while others bust their budget? Why do some deliver ahead of schedule, while others experience endless delays? Which products work better—the quick and thrifty or the slow and expensive? Which situation leads to superior equipment? 

With nearly two decades as an engineering officer in the U. S. Air Force, Dan Ward explored these questions during tours of duty at military research laboratories, the Air Force Institute of Technology, an intelligence agency, the Pentagon and Afghanistan. The pattern he noticed revealed that the most successful project leaders in both the public and private sectors delivered top-shelf products with a skeleton crew, a shoestring budget, and a cannonball schedule. Excessive investment of time, money, or complexity actually reduced innovation. He concluded the secret to innovation is to be fast, inexpensive, simple, and small. 

FIRE presents an entertaining and practical framework for pursuing rapid, frugal innovation. A story-filled blend of pop culture and engineering insight, FIRE has something for everyone: strategic concepts leaders can use as they cast a vision, actionable principles for managers as they make business decisions, and practical tools for workers as they design, build, assess and test new products. 

 

From Vicksburg to Cedar Creek: The 22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. By Lt. Col. Thomas P. McKenna, USA (Ret), North Country, Green Mountain (N.Y.) Chapter. Camp Pope Publishing. ISBN 978-1-929919-55-0. 224 pp. $18.95. 

This is the first comprehensive history of the 22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry to be published in over 100 years. This regiment was formed in Iowa City, Iowa, in August 1862, and served for three years. It was one of the few Civil War regiments which served in both the Western Theater, where it fought under General Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign, and in the Eastern Theater, where it fought under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. This remarkable regiment traveled about 13,000 miles (equal to half way around the world) by foot, wagon, rail, riverboat, and ocean-going steamship and served in 10 of the 11 Confederate States, from Texas to Virginia. 23% of the men who served in this regiment died in battle or from disease. This is the paperback edition. The book is also available in cloth with dust jacket. 

 

Prisoner of Peace: The Abuse of Power and Humble Justice. By Lt. Col. William T. Hanson, USAF (Ret), Treasure Coast (Fla.) Chapter. Tate Publishing and Enterprises, www.tatepublishing.com. ISBN 978-1-62510-042-9. 300 pp. $21.99. Available as an e-book. For signed copies contact billbobhanson@aol.com

This is a true story concerning surviving a mid-air collision back on Dec. 9th, 1983 while on duty in Saudi Arabia. The attachment above briefly describes both the author and the book. 

 

Roadside Survival: Low-Tech Solutions to Automobile Breakdowns. By Lt. Col. Walt Brinker, USA (Ret), Life Member. Lightning Source (Ingram), www.roadsidesurvival.com. ISBN 978-1-63068-589-8. 112 pp., available in bookstores and on www.amazon.com as a soft cover ($14.95) and e-book $5.99. CreateSpace: ISBN 978-1-49378-681-7. 

Roadside Survival: Low-Tech Solutions to Automobile Breakdowns, is unique: A collection of wisdom and advice from over 2,000 free-of-charge roadside assists author Walt Brinker has provided as a hobby. Content is based on hands-on experience, not theory. More than 20 anecdotes from actual assists, several humorous, introduce, illustrate and reinforce concepts and techniques. He is not a mechanic, and most vehicle breakdowns do not require a mechanic. His solutions are simple, low tech, easily understood, and enable a driver of a disabled vehicle to drive it off an interstate highway or parking lot, to a facility which can fix the problem, or so that the motorist can obtain items needed to prevent recurrence. They are not meant to be permanent repairs. The book includes 56 pictures and illustrations with captions. 

Two hundred million licensed motor vehicle drivers in the United States, including 1.4 million in military uniform, expose themselves routinely to significant risk when they drive. There are two kinds of drivers: 1) those who have experienced a disabled vehicle, and 2) those who will. Drivers can decrease the chances that they will have a breakdown and become stranded. Each year AAA responds to 30 million calls for help from stranded motorists, reflecting only a small fraction of the total. Some folks learn only by experiencing inconvenience, embarrassment, and potentially serious risks. Others make the proactive choice to learn how to prevent problems and the methods to counteract them should they occur. This book provides readers with the opportunity to avoid the negatives associated with becoming stranded. It is his best shot at reaching those 200 million drivers! Do you know of a driver who would not benefit from this book and website? 

 

Veterans Law & Benefits: A Comprehensive Guide to the Process, Laws, & Benefits Available for U.S. Military Veterans, Their Dependents, & Survivors. By Maj. H.R. “Hal” Moroz, USA (Ret). CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1494864545. 228 pp. $11.66. 

VA Benefits ... VA Claims ... Veterans Law ... Federal Tort Claims ... Federal & State-by-State Veteran Resources ... and More! THIS BOOK COVERS THEM ALL!...this book's sections form a comprehensive guide to the process, law, and benefits available for U.S. military veterans and their families. And the beauty of this book is that it is a compact, portable reference for veterans and/or their family members when the need to know something about Veterans Law or VA benefits arises. More often than not, people contact me or other attorneys or veterans advocates for help on such matters, but many times those services incur costs. This book is a low-cost, simple guide to understanding the process and the bureaucracy. It does not eliminate the need for competent counsel on such matters, as this is not the purpose of this work. This book is designed to educate laymen on veterans matters, and better prepare them to ask questions of the VA or legal counsel, should the need arise. 

Moroz founded the Veterans Law Center in 2008. 

 

Fiction  

 

Article 92: Dereliction of Duty. By Lt. Col. William C. Westgard, USA (Ret), Life Member. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781500687625. 322 pp. $25. 

 

Third in a series of military-legal-mysteries. Set in Germany in 1963, it is focused on a Soviet espionage penetration of the headquarters of the U.S. Army in Europe through the blackmail of a male Army officer and the murder of a female U.S. Army officer. Captain Charles Kimbrough, an Army lawyer and his German mistress, Matilde von Beningsen, lead the effort to discover the crimes and resolve the questions of guilt and innocence. 

 

Edge of Valor: A Todd Ingram Novel. By former Navy Lt. John J. Gobbell. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-519-9. 344 pp. $25.34. 

 

Edge of Valor is the fifth thriller by John J. Gobbell featuring the World War II exploits of Cdr. Todd Ingram, commanding officer of the destroyer USS Maxwell (DD 525) who saves his ship when it is hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. For repairs, they pull into Kerama Rhetto, Okinawa, where they receive news of the war's end. Ingram expects to be shipped home like the rest of his crew but instead receives orders to fly to Manila, where he is met by Brig. Gen. Otis Dewitt, an Army buddy from his days on Corregidor who is now intelligence aide to Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, chief of staff to General MacArthur. On Ingram's C-54 are sixteen Japanese senior military and civilian diplomats who meet with Sutherland to discuss formal surrender arrangements. Two days later the terms are settled and Ingram is working with one of the Japanese delegates to ensure that mines laid in Tokyo Bay are neutralized, allowing for safe passage of more than two hundred Allied ships. While Ingram is promised that he can attend the surrender ceremony on board the USS Missouri (BB 63), DeWitt, in concert with the State Department, has an ulterior motive and sends Ingram to Karafuto (Sakhalin Island, according to Soviet maps) to defuse a Soviet attack on Hokkaido, the northernmost home island of Japan. Ingram's old adversary, Edward Dezhnev, is the brigade commander responsible for laying siege to a Japanese holdout garrison in Toro, a natural jumping-off place for an attack on Hokkaido. 

 

Also in Toro, DeWitt explains, is Walter Boring, a Red Cross representative holding two crates of overwhelming photographic evidence of Japan's experiments on live human beings in China. Ingram is expected to return with those crates, but how can he when Boring is being protected by the Japanese garrison in Toro, where Dezhnev and his troops stand ready to overpower them at any moment?

 

As his shipmates prepare to return to their loved ones, Ingram's war continues. Three weeks earlier he had been fighting the Japanese, and the Russians were supposed to be friends. Now he doesn't know whom to trust.

 

Magic Teacher’s Son (Book One in the Magicians’ Gold Series). By former Army 1st Lt. David Harten Watson. Pen-L Publishing, www.pen-l.com/MagicTeachersSon.html. ISBN 978-1-940222-40-0. 350 pp. $14.97. 

 

Magic Teacher's Son is a story of betrayal, forgiveness, trust, and treason in a magical world at war. While armies clash in distant battles pitting Magicians against Sorcerers, the actions of an ordinary boy, his classmates, and his friends threaten the loss of their kingdom, but are also its only true hope for survival.  

 

When sixteen-year-old Pran sneaks out of his house one night to join other teens experimenting with sorcery, it sets into motion a chain of events that lead to betrayal, an attempt on his life, first love, friendship with a most unusual spy, treason, and the imminent conquest of his kingdom.  

 

His father, schoolmaster of the town's one-room magic school, learns of the midnight dabbling in sorcery, expels one student, and gives Pran an even worse punishment: implying to the class that he's the snitch! Before Pran can convince his classmates he's not, a prophecy warns that the gold Eldor's Magicians need to repel the current invasion will vanish from their world, and the kingdom is doomed unless Pran travels to the "legendary" land of Earth to replace it.  

 

To find three companions he needs for his quest, Pran must put loyalty ahead of personal safety, stand up to vengeful classmates who think he snitched on them, forgive a former friend who betrayed him, and face his worst fears. But can Pran trust the remarkable companions the prophecy picked for him? 

 

Memoir

 

Astride Two Centuries: The Life and Amazing Times of John Haaren or How I Survived Damn Near Everything. By Col. John Haaren, USAF (Ret), Life Member. Mother’s House Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61888-001-6. $9.99. 

 

This account of my life and times is in response to a desire to leave a record of 80 plus years of my life. At various times friends and associates have said I should write about my life...this usually occurred when a few stories were told and an appropriate amount of cocktails were consumed. Perhaps my children and grandchildren will read and enjoy this effort. In any event, this is my story. 

 

The title is a bit grandiose, but lots of amazing things have happened in my lifetime. I went from reading science fiction stories about the moon as a young man such as, “From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne, to watching Neil Armstrong place the first human footprint on lunar soil. Neil and I shared several hours when the Bob Hope Show came to CCK Air Base in Taiwan. He was part of the show. My classmates from the Naval Academy have gone to Lunar Orbit and I spent many years working on future space systems for the United States Air Force. Additionally, I went to war in the Republic of South Vietnam twice.

 

At various times, I was an Eagle Scout, a Scoutmaster, a Counselor at Scout Camp Siwanoy, Order of the Arrow, a Civil Defense Air Raid Warden, a War Plant Worker (Grommet Machine), Sailor, Track Athlete, Midshipman USN, Colonel USAF, Civil Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Combat Ready Navigator/Bombardier, B-47 Bomber, Atlas Missile Launch Officer, Strategic Plans Officer, Looking Glass Operations Officer, Nuclear Warhead Action Officer, Nuclear Weapons Officer, Airlift C-130 Vice Wing Commander, Air Staff Study Director, Prime Responsibility for all USAF Strategic Communication Programs to include the Global Positioning System, and Program Guidance for Systems for Air Force One, and an Associate Fellow AIAA.

 

In addition, for 24 years I was a systems engineer in the business world. I worked in the following companies: COMSAT - Director of Corporate Planning, ASTRA Corporation - President, ASEC - Vice President, GTE - Business Acquisition Manager, Horizon Technology - Vice President, MITRE Corporation - Lead Engineer, and ANSER Corporation - Director Western Region. More about this hodgepodge later. 

 

My children graciously gave me a button that says, “I survived damn near everything.” There might be some truth to that.

 

I Chose to Be a U.S. Marine. By Col. George W. Carrington, USMC (Ret), Life Member. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4918-3178-6. 112 pp. $13.46. 

 

George Carrington tales you on a journey- from Sunny Scarsdale, New York; New Zealand; Guadalcanal, Guam, and Iwo Jima; Peking and Tsingtao, China; Seoul and Inchon, Korea; Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Saigon and Danang, Vietnam. Don't forget the Pentagon! He discovers foolishness and stupidity, as well as bravery and heroism. Along the way he runs into President-to-be Jerry Ford, Commandant Gen. Dave Shoup, Gen. Maxwell Taylor, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; Chiang K'ai-sheck; Lord Louie Mountbatten; and JFK and LBJ. 

 

 

March 2015

 

Nonfiction 

 

13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War. By Capt. John McCain, USN (Ret), Life Member, Arizona Chapter, and Mark Salter. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-5965-4. 348 pp. $20.41.

 

John McCain’s evocative history of Americans at war, told through the personal accounts of thirteen remarkable soldiers who fought in major military conflicts, from the Revolutionary War of 1776 to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

As a veteran himself, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a long-time student of history, John McCain brings a distinctive perspective to this subject. Thirteen Soldiers tells the stories of real soldiers who personify valor, obedience, enterprise, and love. You’ll meet Joseph Plumb Martin, who at the tender age of fifteen fought in the Revolutionary War; Charles Black, a freeborn African American sailor in the War of 1812; and Sam Chamberlain, of the Mexican American War, whose life inspired novelist Cormac McCarthy. Then there’s Oliver Wendell Holmes, an aristocratic idealist disillusioned by the Civil War, and Littleton “Tony” Waller, court-martialed for refusing to massacre Filipino civilians.



Each account illustrates a particular aspect of war, such as Mary Rhoads, an Army reservist forever changed by an Iraqi scud missile attack during the Persian Gulf War, and Monica Lin Brown, a frontline medic in rural Afghanistan who saved several lives in an ambushed convoy. From their acts of self-sacrifice to their astonishing bravery, these thirteen soldiers embody the best America has to offer.

 

Brave Warriors, Humble Heroes: A Vietnam War Story. By Marjorie T. Hansen, Auxiliary Life Member. Brown Books Publishing Group, www.BraveWarriorsHumbleHeroes.com . ISBN 978-1612542096. 264 pp. $18.68.

 

Through her husband's letters from Southeast Asia about his combat missions in Vietnam and over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos in 1971 and 1972, Marge Hansen shares a gripping journey into one of the most divisive and turbulent periods in the nation's history. Brave Warriors, Humble Heroes: A Vietnam War Story captures in a flier's words the conflict, drama, frustration, heroism, and longing for home and family that mark combat missions. Through meticulous research and compelling narrative, Marge brings to readers a chance to understand what may have been only an ongoing headline in the news for those at home or a distant episode in American history for younger readers. In her voice and Charlie's, she captures the experience of those who serve and those who support them. For Marge and Charlie, the war was immediate and personal and has not ended; both were impacted by the legacy of Agent Orange-he from his assignment to front-line bases and she from her visit to him at one of those bases. Brave Warriors, Humble Heroes recounts the story of one war, one hero, one marriage, and one family. This book stands for all those whose voices have not been heard.

 

Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company’s War in Vietnam. By 1st Lt. Eric Poole, USAF, Miramar (Calif.) Chapter. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472807915. 296 pp. $18.60.

 

On May 10, 1970, during the Cambodian Incursion, Army Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr., 22-years old, married only 30 days before shipping out and on active duty for just 6 months, died as his patrol was ambushed near a remote border area of Cambodia. When an enemy grenade landed near a wounded comrade, Sabo used his body to shield the soldier from the blast. Despite being mortally injured, he crawled towards the enemy emplacement and threw a grenade into the bunker. The explosion silenced the enemy fire, but also ended Sabo's life. This attack by North Vietnamese troops killed eight of Sabo's fellow soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and would come to be known as the "Mother's Day Ambush." Sabo's commanders nominated him for the Medal of Honor, but the request was somehow lost. A campaign to correct the oversight began in 1999, ultimately leading to legislation that eliminated the three-year time limit on awarding this medal.

 

Forty-two years after his selfless acts of heroism during the Vietnam War saved the lives of his fellow soldiers; Leslie H. Sabo Jr. posthumously received the Medal of Honor on May 16, 2012.
 

Using military records and interviews with surviving soldiers, journalist Eric Poole recreates the terror of combat amidst the jungles and rice paddies as Bravo Company 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne forged bonds of brotherhood in their battle for survival. Company of Heroes offers an insight into the incredible and harrowing experiences of just a small number of men from a single unit, deep in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.

 

The Dollar and National Security: The Monetary Component of Hard Power. By Col. Paul R. Viotti, USAF (Ret), Life Member. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-9113-7. 248 pp. $77.89.

 

Defense establishments and the armed forces they organize, train, equip, and deploy depend upon the security of capital and capital flows, mechanisms that have become increasingly globalized. Military capabilities are thus closely tied not only to the size of the economic base from which they are drawn, but also to the viability of global convertibility and exchange arrangements. Although the general public has a stake in these economic matters, the interests and interpretive understandings held by policy elites matter most—in particular those among the owners or managers of capital who focus on international finance and the international monetary regimes that sustain global commerce and their capital positions.

 

In The Dollar and National Security, Paul Viotti explores the links between global capital flows, these policy elites, and national security. After establishing the historical link between currency, gold, and security, he continues the monetary-security story by examining the instrumental role the dollar has played in American economic and national security over the past seven decades. He reveals how perceived individual and collective interests are the key drivers toward building the kind of durable consensus necessary to sustain the external financing of American foreign and national security policy, and addresses the future implications for national security as decision-makers in the BRICs and other countries position themselves to assume an even larger policy presence in global commercial, monetary, and security matters.

 

Lieutenant of Marines. By 2nd Lt. Bryan J. Lash, USMCR. Morris Publishing. ISBN 978-0-615-73898-7. 217 pp. $32.

 

The sixties brought us many things: women's liberation, free love and draft dodgers. More importantly, America was involved in helping the fledgling democratic Republic of Vietnam withstand attempts from the Communists of North Vietnam to conquer them militarily. America sent its bravest and brightest to assist and train the Vietnamese. Unfortunately, history will probably show that most Americans oppose the action. This is a story that chronicles the experiences of one man's journey to be a U.S. Marine during this time in history. It covers his time as a boy, through college, to leading the world's finest fighting men in combat. He discovered many life lessons along the way, not the least of which was what Semper Fidelis really means.

 

Sheep to Shepherd: Become a Man of Integrity and Godly Character. By Col. Thomas B. McDonald III, USA (Ret), Life Member. BookLogix, http://WordsAlongTheWay.com. ISBN 978-1-61005-331-0. 120 pp. $14.95.

 

Have you ever wished for a book that teaches the basic behaviors of being a good man, even a man of integrity and godly character? I humbly offer this book to be that book. I offer it primarily to Dads or Moms to give to their Sons. But, you must study it with them!

 

It is a book about one major transaction and twelve basic behaviors that every man, especially teenagers and young men, must master if they care to become men of Integrity and Godly Character. Though written for Teens and Twenty-somethings, it is certainly appropriate for any man at any age to pick up and make his own. It  is good for dads to read along and discuss with their sons; there is a Study Guide. For those without dads, find an adult male mentor in your church. Single moms of sons will find it a great tool to help them overcome their inherent unease at teaching their sons how to be a man of Integrity and Godly Character.

 

Then in the last section entitled Looking Ahead, we discuss five significant life situations that all men should understand. They are: Work, Education, Marriage, Fatherhood, and Operating in the World. It is 120 pages long, and though written in a conversational, easy-to-read style, it is dense with solid information.

 

The West Point History of the Civil War. Edited by Capt. Clifford J. Rogers, USN (Ret), Life Member; Col. Ty Seidule, USA; and Samuel J. Watson. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-8262-1. 448 pp. $38.54.

 

The definitive military history of the Civil War, featuring the same exclusive images, tactical maps, and expert analysis commissioned by The United States Military Academy to teach the history of the art of war to West Point cadets.

 

The United States Military Academy at West Point is the gold standard for military history and the operational art of war. West Point has created military history texts for its cadets since 1836. For the first time in over forty years, the United States Military Academy has authorized a new military history series that will bear the name West Point. That text has been updated repeatedly, but now it has been completely rewritten and The West Point History of the Civil War is the first volume to result in a new series of military histories authorized by West Point.

 

The West Point History of the Civil War combines the expertise of preeminent historians commissioned by West Point, hundreds of maps uniquely created by cartographers under West Point’s direction, and hundreds of images, many created for this volume or selected from West Point archives. Offering careful analysis of the political context of military decisions, The West Point History of the Civil War is singularly brilliant at introducing the generals and officer corps of both Union and Confederacy, while explaining the tactics, decisions, and consequences of individual battles and the ebb and flow of the war. For two years it has been beta-tested, vetted, and polished by cadets, West Point faculty, and West Point graduates and the results are clear: This is the best military history of its kind available anywhere.

 

What’s Your Philanthropic Footprint? By Mary Vail, MBA, Life Member. AuthorHouse,  www.whatsyourphilanthropicfootprint.com . ISBN 9781496914514. 196 pp. $14.86.

 

Vail’s book is a memoir of how she merged a passion for philanthropy with her career as a public relations professional guiding clients to be agents of action in their community. The award-winning publicist shares her philosophy on charity and deconstructs the word “philanthropic” to break down barriers and dispel misconceptions about philanthropy.

 

“I hope that by sharing my story and the tales of those I have worked with including non-profits, small business owners, corporations, government agencies and celebrities, that it will inspire readers to contemplate what their own philanthropic footprint encompasses and how they can enhance it,” Vail says.

 

Vail asserts that her book is unique in outlining a variety of opportunities to become philanthropic by analyzing one’s talents, skills, hobbies, interests, services, and products. Vail introduces her concept of a “philanthropic footprint” to show how readers can leave their unique mark on the world. The forward of the book is written by fellow philanthropist, TV personality and celebrity blogger, Robin Leach.

 

Fiction 

Article 114: Dueling. By Lt. Col. William C. Westgard, USA (Ret), Life Member. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781500396039. 244 pp. $21.49. 254 pp. $9.

 

This is a military-legal-murder mystery. It is the second in a series featuring a young US Army judge advocate general's corps officer and his German woman lover who jointly discover the true facts of cases which the lawyer is assigned to defend or prosecute and to bring the culprits to justice.

 

Bad Times: Book One: Cannibal Gold. By Capt. Chuck Dixon, USN. Bruno Books. ISBN 9781493770786.

 

Four men. Four Days. For the fight of their lives. It was just a walk in the desert to a place 100, 000 years in the past. They thought they knew what to expect but they were wrong. Now a team of scientists is trapped in a world they were not prepared for and can never return from. Their only hope lies in quartet of former US Army Rangers willing to travel to prehistoric Nevada and face unknown horrors and impossible odds bring them home from Bad Times. New York Times bestselling author Chuck Dixon presents the first in a new original science fiction series featuring the kind of action, breakneck pacing and suspense that millions of readers around the world have come to expect. Following up on his Kindle sensation series of SEAL Team 6 books, Chuck creates a new cast of characters and a new universe of adventure starting here with Cannibal Gold.

 

Bad Times: Book Two: Blood Red Tide. By Capt. Chuck Dixon, USN. Bruno Books. ISBN 9781495299223. 324 pp. $12.59.

 

Treasure is when you find it. The Rangers have returned from the prehistoric past to find themselves in an even more dangerous time---The Present. Being on the run takes money. On the run from the richest man in the world takes millions. From a forgotten cave in the Nevada desert to the pirate-infested seas of the ancient world, the Rangers hunt for treasure lost to time. The travelers to the past find once again that history is not what it seems and the future is always in doubt. Stalked by hit men, the Russia mob and a mysterious man with green eyes, Dwayne, Caroline and the hard chargers of Team Tauber hide out two centuries B.C. to hunt for a legendary cache of gold coins. Action and adventure master Chuck Dixon returns to the world and characters of Cannibal Gold for even more Bad Times.

 

Bad Times: Book Three: Avenging Angels. By Capt. Chuck Dixon, USN. Bruno Books. ISBN 9781502448545. 334 pp. $13.49.

 

FIVE AGAINST AN EMPIRE. They travel to the past to save the future. To fix a man-made paradox that threatens to alter mankind’s destiny forever, the Rangers must defy the legions of Rome at the height of their power. Their mission is to rescue one man from slavery in order to free the world. An adventure that spans two millennia takes them from the days of the Caesars to the siege of a city in the path of total war to a nightmare world of a possible future in which civilization is reduced to an anthill. It all comes down to them as they become Avenging Angels. The third entry in Chuck Dixon's celebrated time travel adventure series Bad Times! The Rangers travel back in time through the Tauber Tube to Roman era Judea to save a man who will change the world for the better with his presence and for the worse with his absence! Their most intense, bloodiest and momentous adventure yet!

 

Coming Home: An Alex Benedict Novel. By former Navy Lt. j.g. Jack McDevitt, Life Member, Golden Isles (Ga.) Chapter. Ace Books. ISBN 978-0-425-26087-6. 368 pp. $19.68.

 

Thousands of years ago, artifacts of the early space age were lost to rising oceans and widespread turmoil. Garnett Baylee devoted his life to finding them, only to give up hope. Then, in the wake of his death, one was found in his home, raising tantalizing questions. Had he succeeded after all? Why had he kept it a secret? And where is the rest of the Apollo cache?

 

Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his pilot, Chase Kolpath, have gone to Earth to learn the truth. But the trail seems to have gone cold, so they head back home to be present when the Capella, the interstellar transport that vanished eleven years earlier in a time/space warp, is expected to reappear. With a window of only a few hours, rescuing it is of the utmost importance. Twenty-six hundred passengers—including Alex’s uncle, Gabriel Benedict, the man who raised him—are on board.

Alex now finds his attention divided between finding the artifacts and anticipating the rescue of the Capella. But time won’t allow him to do both. As the deadline for the Capella’s reappearance draws near, Alex fears that the puzzle of the artifacts will be lost yet again. But Alex Benedict never forgets and never gives up—and another day will soon come around...

 

Cruise Widows: A Novel. By Hope Moore, Auxiliary Life Member. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1491739990. 358 pp. $15.

 

Five Cruise Widows whose husbands were from Squadron VC  62, the only photo recon squadron in the Navy.  The families were based at NAS Jacksonville, FL., and a detachment of  4 Aviators and 1 Photo Interpreter, plus the crews that went with the detachments on board the carrier FDR, or as she was called:  The Rosey Boat. Their lives became bonded while the men were gone, and each wife was at a different phase of life when the men left.  The women depended on each other after they got to know each other, and their lives were melded around each other when an explosion of the hydraulic fluid exploded just as two of the Aviators were in the slot to be shot off the ship, and the PI was asleep in his quarters and died of smoke inhalation.

 

Forgotten Brothers. By Lt. j.g. Gary Knight, USN (Ret), Life Member, Southern Maryland Chapter. eLectio Publishing. ISBN 978-1-63213-032-7. 252 pp. $16.99; eBook $4.99.

 

What if Christopher Columbus owed his success—maybe even his very life—to two brothers who have been almost completely forgotten in the annals of history?

 

Forgotten Brothers is the story of Martín and Vicente Pinzon, and their instrumental role in the eventual success of Christopher Columbus’ mission. Columbus invited Martin Pinzon to join the expedition, but the two men would eventually become bitter rivals. And while heartbreak was the fate for the Pinzons, Columbus returned a victor, and history regards him as a hero.

 

Based on many long-neglected historical treatises, some as many as 140 years old, this book presents a different picture of the facts of the voyage—facts today’s history books fail to reveal.

 

Hitchhiking on America’s War Machine, 1964-1988. By Col. Richard Morgan Szybist, USA (Ret). Amazon Digital Services. ASIN B00KIWUQLI. 174 pp. $8.

 

This is the story of Ron Baran, a guy I met a few years back in a bar in Central America. I don’t generally write stories about people I meet in bars, but I found Ron’s life journey extraordinary. He had made a career of what he off-handedly called “hitchhiking on America’s war machine.” A combat veteran of the infantry, he had served 24 years in the U.S. Army, seen the world, and risen to the rank of colonel before retiring at the age of 45. It had been a cheap way to travel and a productive one from the standpoint of material advancement - but the cost had been high to both his physical being and psyche. His life since retirement had become a restless quest to rejuvenate his body and spirit. 

 

His story is both an “eye opener” for anyone who hasn’t lived in the military sub-culture of American society and a caveat emptor for any young person considering a military career. As a view from the “grass roots” level of implementation of U.S. foreign policy, it is also a valuable “think piece” for any American concerned with the appropriate role of the U.S. in world affairs. 

The timeframe and setting of his adventure includes both the Cold War of U.S. – Russian confrontation in Europe and U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Baran served at the “line of contact” of both of these conflictive chapters of U.S. history. Initially an idealist, his sense of patriotic fervor dissipated in the face of his experience as a self-described “tool of institutionally-sanctioned violence.” His transparency in sharing personal details of his life and his feelings drew me into his story.

 

I, Horatio. By former Navy Lt. Donald A. Tortorice. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4969-3237-2. 428 pp. $18.90.

 

This book is the first presentation of the life of Horatio Nelson to be narrated in the first person, a recounting of his life in his own words. It begins with Nelson as a young 21-year-old captain in the Caribbean and goes to his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Along the way his experiences in carrying out the vision of his duty in the Caribbean, Corsica, Tenerife, the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar cost him his eye, his right arm, and ultimately his life, all because he was blessed and cursed with a nature that was blind to the spectre of failure and deaf to anything other than the call of duty, the clamour of battle, and victory. He was also a mortal man whose attraction to women brought pleasure, frustration, infatuation, and ultimately lifelong satisfaction. This is his story as he would tell it.

 

Vacationland Terrorists: Alarm in the Countryside. By Brig. Gen. Francis Dillon, USAF (Ret), Life Member, Southern Maine Chapter. Booklocker.com. ISBN 978-1-63263-460-3. 312 pp. $17.95.

 

As Americans look forward to celebrating the 4th of July festivities, an ingenious plot is being hatched in the countryside of Maine. Have Islamic terrorists devised a perfect plan to cause death, destruction, and panic in East Coast cities? 

 

Berwick Group partners, Patrick Draper and Nola Hunter, contract with the Department of Homeland Security to fight terrorists; however, their most important allies are the state and local police agencies in New England. Can they identify and hopefully thwart this insidious plot that could change the way Americans go about their daily activities? A realistic and gripping threat to our way of life is outlined in this fast paced novel of intrigue and adventure.

 

Memoir 

 

Be a Mensch: A Father’s Legacy. By former Army Capt. Alexander B. White, M.D., Life Member, Luke (Ariz.) Chapter. Types Graphics. ASIN B001FVBU70. 190 pp. $45.

 

My father says his story differs little from the stories of other survivors; I think it is very special.

 

In 1939, Hitler marched in. 
In 1942, the ghetto in which he had been forced to live was liquidated.  
In 1945, on the last day of the war, May eighth, Russian troops liberated his concentration camp.  

 

Dad is the only survivor of his family. His brothers, sister and parents were shot and gassed. What makes Dad’s story different is that throughout the war he has said that he was starving for an education. Despite at war’s end his not having the equivalent of a high school education, within five years he would be a medical doctor.

This is his story, a story that he did not share with his family until I, his son, demanded to know my roots. I was 25 years old. For years I had wondered why I did not have grandparents and cousins. Finally, stuck in a traffic jam, he began to tell me his story. Four days later he stopped. He described a childhood spent in southeastern Poland in a town named Krosno called “Little Krakow” be-cause of the arches that ring in its medieval main square. He told of a little reli-gious “cheder” school boy who dreamt of becoming a scientist. He told of a large close family including an uncle who stuck the leafy end of a radish to his forehead to absorb headache pain, a grandfather with a long beard who carved intricate wooden children’s toys and a grandmother who, no more than five feet tall, was said not to wear the pants of the family but the boots and who, looking out for all, was responsible for starting the family glass business that expanded and expanded until World War II and its impact of brutality and hate. He told how after his whole world was lost, a world practically out of Fiddler on the Roof, he coped by getting an education.

After Dad told me his story he began to share it with others. Today he gives talks mostly to high school and college students. With them he discusses modern life, modern holocausts and how he became a doctor. Dad had atrial flutter which means that his heart often goes out of natural rhythm. He told me once when he was giving a talk he felt his heart go back into natural rhythm. His sharing his story does that. It inspires others to do good.

 

Flight Medic. By Capt. John J. Bilak, USAF (Ret), Life Member. Creekside Press. ISBN 978-0-692-21919-5.

 

Inspired by the by wartime journal of the author’s grandfather, Albert Rieth, this book offers a rare, English-language history of a German regiment that fought through some of the heaviest combat of the Great War.  Much of the book is based on first-hand soldier accounts.  The Iron Regiment’s wartime journey spanned from the war’s first bloodshed at the Battle of Mulhouse in August 1914 and continued through its destruction at the hand of US Marines and Army tanks in the Meuse-Argonne Forest in November 1918.

 

Germany’s “Iron Regiment” of the First World War: War Memories of Service With Infantry Regiment 169, 1914-1918. By Lt. Col. John K. Rieth, USA (Ret). Badgley Publishing Co., 5570 Sherrick Drive, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110, (614) 893-1612, www.BadgleyPublishingCompany.com. ISBN 9780692301203. 344 pp. $19.95; Kindle $9.95.

 

Imperial Germany’s “Iron Regiment” of the First World War offers a rare English-language account of a premier German infantry unit. Renowned as the “Iron Regiment” for its fighting record in the legendary 1916 Battle of the Somme, Infantry Regiment 169 was formed in Imperial Germany’s State of Baden in 1897. The Regiment’s service spanned from the war’s first bloodshed at the Battle of Mulhouse in August 1914 and continued through its destruction at the hands of American Marines and Army tanks in the Meuse-Argonne Forest in November 1918. Absorbing severe losses, Infantry Regiment 169 fought in almost every portion of the Western Front, to include the Battle of Ypres in Flanders, 18 months of continuous combat in the trenches of the Somme, the bloody Aisne Campaign and the epic German offensives of 1918. Inspired by a wartime journal written by the author’s grandfather, a veteran of the Regiment, much of the book is drawn from rare soldier accounts, many published here for the first time in English. The voice of these soldiers take us into the “other side of the trenches” and through the unimaginable horrors of the First World War.

 

Northwest of Eden. By Capt. Yancy Caruthers, USA. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1497397286. 184 pp. $8.99.

 

Northwest of Eden is the author's first person account of his experience during Operation Iraqi Freedom as second-in-command of an Army emergency department and leader of an air transport team. The varied cast of characters provides top-notch medical care to service members in harsh conditions, while wielding the darkest humor against each other just to stay sane. Most of the time they succeeded... Contains some adult language, and some dramatic scenes that may be disturbing.

 

Reluctant Warriors. By Lt. Col. Lory Whitehead, USA (Ret). CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1497336131. 80 pp. $6.49; Kindle $2.99.

 

This book portrays the experiences of combat veterans through poetry, memoirs and letters. Written over a period of almost 50 years, the author examines the reactions of warriors she has known from World War I through the conflicts of the 21st century. Topics covered include survivor guilt and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 

“Saltiest Sailor” & Other Sketches. By Cmdr. Corwin A. Bell, USN (Ret). CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-5007-5098-5. 152 pp. $19.39.

 

This collection of previously published essays, stories, and memoirs tells the adventures of CDR Corwin A. Bell, US Navy (ret.), revealing his wit and keen observation. The decorated veteran and Mensa member tells his tales of the high seas on aircraft carriers, his view of the Occupy movement, and his memoirs of college experiences. They are some of his more popular pieces as well as controversial opinions he feels need to be expressed.

 

The read progresses much like a naval ship out to sea that rises over crests of humor and joy and hits the water in earnest analysis, creating a splash that either refreshes the reader or gets in his eyes. For all its ups and downs, there is no shortage of entertainment, as he takes you from Washington, to Japan, to San Diego, and even into distant history. Bell’s ocean of knowledge, wit, and observation is deep and wide, and he’s a trustworthy captain who will not lead his readers off course . . . at least not any further off than he intends.

 

“Saltiest Sailor” & Other Sketches is the perfect mixture of humor and seriousness for those who seek thought-provoking fiction and informed opinions.

 

April 2015

 

Nonfiction 

 

Against the Tide: Rickover’s Leadership Principles and the Rise of the Nuclear Navy. By Rear Adm. Dave Oliver, USN (Ret), Life Member. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-797-1. $19.25.

 

Against the Tide is a leadership book that illustrates how Adm. Hyman Rickover made a unique impact on American and Navy culture. Dave Oliver is the first former nuclear submarine commander who sailed for the venerable admiral to write about Rickover's management techniques. Oliver draws upon a wealth of untold stories to show how one man changed American and Navy culture while altering the course of history.

 

The driving force behind America's nuclear submarine navy, Rickover revolutionized naval warfare while concurrently proving to be a wellspring of innovation that drove American technology in the latter half of the twentieth-century. As a testament to his success, Rickover's single-minded focus on safety protected both American citizens and sailors from nuclear contamination, a record that is in stark contrast to the dozens of nuclear reactor accidents suffered by the Russians.

 

While Rickover has been the subject of a number of biographies, little has been written about his unique management practices that changed the culture of a two-hundred-year-old institution and affected the outcome of the Cold War. Rickover's achievements have been obscured because they were largely conducted in secret and because he possessed a demanding and abrasive personality that alienated many potential supporters. Nevertheless he was an extraordinary manager with significant lessons for all those in decision-making positions.

 

The author had the good fortune to know and to serve under Rickover during much of his thirty-year career in the Navy and is singularly qualified to demonstrate the management and leadership principles behind Rickover's success.

 

The Best Man I Can Be. By CW4 Leonard A. Dungey, USA (Ret). Dorrance Publishing Co. ISBN 978-1-4809-0914-4. 166 pp. $19.95. Mail check or money order to author: 103 Hillcrest Drive, Albion, IL 62806.

 

A black chief warrant officer, on the ground during World War II and the Korean Conflict, recounts informative and interesting events that shaped his life from a teenager to a CW4 warrant officer in the Army and beyond. His detailed stories are vivid testimony to the discrimination and racism existing in the military and civilian life during that period of American history.

 

Beyond O’Dark 30. By Capt. Edward M. Brittingham, USN (Ret), Richmond (Va.) Area Chapter. Rosedog Books. ISBN 978-1480961920. $16.95.

 

Beyond O' Dark 30 is the author's take on what is happening to this country. This promised land has fallen apart due to our loss of foreign policy and the degrading of our military. Our allies are laughing as our leader is both weak and a failure. Our national debt has increased more than ever and for what? Polls now show that a majority of people think Romney would have made the better president. We are vulnerable to another terrorist attack, Syria has already launched chemical weapons, and no one understands Obamacare. Why does Benghazi go unnoticed in the White House? The many scandals of the IRS and the National Security Agency affect every American. Do you believe the President was really born in America? Edward M. Brittingham Captain, U.S. Navy (RET.) addresses all of these issues in his latest book. This is a must read. About the Author Edward M. Brittingham Captain, U.S. Navy (RET.) served in the Navy as a Naval Flight Officer, a Tactical Coordinator who detected Soviet subs during the Cold War, and advanced to Commanding Officer of VP-11. Upon orders to the Pentagon, he excelled in promoting Surveillance Towed Array Sensor (SURTASS) and briefed 32 Admirals on ASW techniques. In 1985 he suffered a stroke which ended his career. In 1995 Brittingham wrote his first book. Since then he has written five books with a thrill-a-minute mix of submarine warfare, imminent danger, terrorism, bravery, technological wonder, and an intriguing bit of fiction. Brittingham is a member of ROMEO retired men, Military Officer of America, and Commander Roanoke Valley Chapter 15 in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. He is a dedicated member of First Baptist Church.

 

The Effects-Based Board: An Effects-Based Approach to the Joint Operations Planning Process. By Capt. Colin B. Marcum, USA. ISBN 978-1499739473. $5. Kindle: $0.99.

 

The inherent difficulty in developing and executing military courses of action to achieve the desired end-state comes from the complexities of the operational environment. Each environment contains within it different initial conditions that affect the nature of military operations with relationships that are as complex as they are numerous. This means that a similar course of action executed in a similar manner in one environment may not produce similar effects in another. This occurs due to the nature of those initial conditions, and how they alter the effects produced within that operational environment.

 

The Effects-Based Board (EBB) seeks to provide clarity to an otherwise convoluted system of relationships by supporting the Combatant Command, and their joint staff, with a board of professional military and civilian personnel whose collective knowledge can help shape course of action development. Subject matter experts and liaisons from the Department of Defense, Department of State, national intelligence agencies, intergovernmental/non-governmental organizations, and foreign nations make up the membership of the board, and through their guidance can shape the development and execution of deliberate and crisis action plans. Identifying the initial conditions, determining the effects of their linkages, and creating courses of action that target those links in order to shape them can, in due course, shape the operational environment towards the desired end-state.

 

Leveraging Your LinkedIn Profile for Success: Maximizing Your Exposure and Achieving Verified Results. By former Air Force Col. Matthew T. Fritz. Advanced Vectors. ISBN 978-1500818104. $7.77. E-book: $2.99.

 

LinkedIn has awesome capabilities to bring diverse individuals together around common ideas and platforms. If you aren't taking full advantage of LinkedIn, you're missing out. "Leveraging Your LinkedIn Profile For Success" was written with the goal of helping you to maximize your profile, gain your full potential of exposure, and achieve verified results. My 10+ years working with this platform to gain insights, knowledge and experience are now yours to leverage for your own benefit. I will show you my tips, secrets, insights and techniques to understand the LinkedIn platform and put your best social-foot forward.

 

Steely Eyed Killers of the Deep: A Collection of Sea Stories, Memories, Musings, and More. By CW4 Tommy Robinson, USN (Ret), Life Member. Friesen Press. ISBN 978-1460233252. $21.99. E-book: $2.99.

 

Steely Eyed Killers of the Deep is a joint effort between the author and many of his Nautilus shipmates. It is written by submariners for submariners, and anyone interested in submarines and the sailors who live beneath the sea. Any submariner will relate to the stories and may even recognize a shipmate or two by name.

 

All proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation.

 

Fiction 

 

Back from 44 — The Sacrifice and Courage of a Few: A Story of Heroism in the Skies Over Western Europe. By Col. Nick Cressy, USA (Ret). Xlibris. ISBN 978-1503514225.

 

A B-26 crew struggle to return back to base in a severely crippled plane. The story is fiction based on a real person and events. The main character's 44th mission is described with flashbacks to his enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force to joining the 320th Bomb Group at their Sardinia, Italy air base. He recalls the memories of basic training, advanced flight engineer training, gunnery school, saying goodbye to a new wife, and travel across the Atlantic to Sardinia. Mission experiences are highlighted in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operations. Missions were not always "Milk Runs"; they included enemy flak, German fighter attacks and the emotional impact of losing close friends.


The Third Watch
. By Col. Roger H. Damon Jr., AUS (Ret). Railroad Street Press. ISBN 978-1-936711-38-3. 304 pp. $17.

 

What becomes of ordinary people who, due to their own actions — or even inadvertently — learn of the existence of objects of incredible value — objects whose history is considered to be abhorrent? Will that ordinary person become driven by greed to possess it, or equally driven to right the horrendous wrongs that were involved in its creation? And, in either case, how does it affect other people with whom he shares the knowledge? These “what if” questions have remained in the author’s mind ever since the early 1950s when, while serving in the US Army in Austria, he first heard the stories of Nazi gold — “my grandmother watched them put something in the lake one night in April 1945. Many heavy pieces. They used crowbars to move rocks aside, I think making a cavity. Then while one man stood in the water up to his shoulders, he held the end of the tape while the others measured the distances to the corner of the dock and to the top of the big rock that stuck out of the water to the West. After my son came home, the old dock was gone and the big rock was blasted to make way for the new dock. My son couldn’t see if the lake bottom had ever been bothered.” Not just another story of the “Nazi gold” — rather, we wondered how its form was changed from its original bits and pieces … and how it could have hidden and what happened to the people involved if it was eventually recovered. What could have been if its effect on the lives of a succeeding generation — people of action and principles — totally unaware of its existence? The answers will capture the reader’s attention.

 

Memoir 

 

Korea: A Short Time in a Small War. By Maj. Charles W. Hinton, USAF (Ret). CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-4953-3342-2. $22.49. Kindle: $5.49.

 

It’s winter above North Korea. Your airplane has been hit, and the pilot is unable to feather the prop. You are going down. The other three crewmen are discussing when to jump. The new untrained 2nd lieutenant navigator in the right seat with a borrowed and ill-fitting parachute knows he will likely fall out of the chute when it opens.

 

This isn’t an action movie. It’s what real people experienced as aviators during the Korean War, spending countless missions flying through the dark, risking life and limb to navigate the mountains and valleys of enemy terrain.

 

For veteran navigator Charles W. Hinton, his time in the war was short, but the memories of what he and his squadron accomplished will last a lifetime. Pulled from navigation school straight into a tour of duty, he had no previous training to speak of and learned to fly combat in a B-26 attack while literally in the line of fire.

 

Korea: A Short Time in a Small War is a firsthand account of Hinton’s six months of experience during this tumultuous period in history, along with the stories of a diverse collection of friends and foes he interacted with along the way.

 

Mustang Colonel’s Journey. By Col. David B. “Brad” Hallock, USAF (Ret). Outskirts Press. ISBN 978-1-4787-2703-3. $9.95.

 

Raised in Central Oregon, the author rose from humble “on his own” beginnings to higher education and a 31-year military career. He forfeited two 4-year scholarships to marry his high schools weetheart and enlisted in the Air Force. His lifetime lessons and “war stories” are summarized in this book. He retired as a colonel at age 50 and eventually returned to his hometown in Redmond, Oregon.

 

Out of Kalamazoo County. By Lt. Col. Richard F. Bishop, USAF (Ret). The Preservation Foundation. ISBN 978-1503031487. 126 pp. $9.

 

Personal memories of a boyhood on a farm in southern Michigan and later of his 25 years in the U.S. Air Force as a Non-combatant (without deadly force). From playing the strange game of Soccer at a one-room schoolhouse beginning at the tender age of four to his graduation from High School and entrance into College at the age of 16, there is never a dull moment in his rural life on this farm. It covers work on the farm, part-time employment at a Fishing Tackle plant while “working his way through College” and all the mistakes in between; i.e., setting a run-away grass fire, shooting a hole in a brand-spanking new trailer-home, and bouncing an arrow off his sister. It was no different in the Military. Paydays and unusual additional duties occupied his life. Totin’ a .38 Special while classified as a Non-combatant just muddied up the water as to what kind of a “Troop” he was supposed to be. Within this book, there is an unabashed Homage to the unsung “Support Personnel” of all kinds: “In all our Wars, when the perimeter defendants at outposts faced the prospect of being overrun and reached for a weapon to defend themselves, it made no difference if the words ‘Farrier’, ‘Quartermaster’, ‘Cook’, or ‘Disaster Control’ were tattooed on their forehead, the shots ‘fired-in-anger’ at them were just as devastating as if they were real Combat Troops. They were all ‘at risk.’ . . . . They were there and had been ready.” Finally, he muses over hero worship at a young age and in memoriam of the Centennial of WW I , describes his Father’s service “over there” as an Automatic Rifleman while a Doughboy in the U.S. Expeditionary Corps where he was gassed and earned the Purple Heart medal.

 

The Prodigal Pilot: The End of the Hughes Empire. By Lt. Col. Robert F. Wearley, USAF (Ret), Life Member. FastPencil. ISBN 978-1-60-746186-9. $17.27.

 

Robert F. (Bob) Wearley served as Chief Pilot of Howard Hughes' personal fleet of aircraft, in addition to his long and distinguished flying career in military, corporate, and commercial aviation. In his book he gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the often strange, always eccentric inner workings of the Hughes Empire. Bob also details the connection between the Hughes organization and the Nixon White House and reveals the real reason why Nixon ordered the Watergate break-in that ultimately forced his resignation. Along the way, he was exposed to challenges that compromised his integrity, resulting in the title of Prodigal Pilot he chose for the book.

 

 

May 2015

 

Nonfiction 

 

Accuracy: A Brief Guide to Precision ShootingBy 1st Lt. Frank Troy, USA (Ret), Ph.D. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-5008-9101-5. Paperback: $10.49. Kindle: $5.49.

 

Accuracy carefully and clearly describes the principles of precision marksmanship that are not visible to an observer. It teaches the reader how to employ the scientific method to build stable shooting positions and an effective training program. It describes key physical skills essential to precision shooting. It describes in detail the psychological elements of peak performance as they operate in world-champion shooters. And it clarifies for the non-scientist how Newton’s laws of motion affect recoil and trajectory in ways most people have never thought about. The book focuses on three-position rifle shooting, but the principles apply to all hand-held guns. Concise, clear, and highly readable, this book is of value to any marksmanship coach or shooter in search of greater accuracy.

 

Beads of Water: Finding Relief: Notes and Poems About Living70 + Years With PTSD. By 1st Lt. Frank Troy, USA (Ret), Ph.D. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-5027-3956-8. Paperback: $13.45. Kindle: $7.99.

 

Beads of Water equips you to better understand PTSD whether you are a victim or you interact with a victim as a therapy provider, family member, or friend. The author, a retired college professor, acquired severe PTSD in early childhood, around 1941, when the disorder was unknown. Throughout his life he struggled to function normally despite what are now called flashbacks of emotions like anxiety, dread, fear, and depression that seemed to strike him out of nowhere. With no understanding of why he was visited by these sometimes powerful emotions, he believed his only course of action was to resist and stand strong. His internal struggles and suffering exacted a high cost, however, because they placed intense strains on his relationships with the people he loved. At age 65 he was finally diagnosed with PTSD, and using the research skills acquired during his PhD training, he began a journey of learning, understanding, and healing. This book is his effort to help others cope more effectively with PTSD using simple techniques he found in numerous sources ranging from ancient wisdom to the latest concepts in psychotherapy and brain science. The narrative is heartfelt and frequently moving. The material is unusual in blending candid and sometimes deeply intimate details of his personal life with important philosophical and scientific insights. The text sometimes introduces advanced ideas, but the presentation and language are always clear and easy to understand by the average reader.

 

Flying Into History: Meet the Heroes of Air Force Flying Class 55N (Vol. 2). By Lt. Col. Richard E. Pierson, USAFR (Ret), Life Member, and Col. Billie H. Parker, USAF (Ret). CreateSpace. ISBN 9781505326666. $25.28.

 

Flying into History is about the heroes of Air Force Flying Class 55N. They all flew for the Air Force in defense of our country during a time of three wars, the ending of the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Yes, the Cold War was dangerous and some aircraft were shot down. Three of the 55N Class pilots lost their lives in combat in Vietnam. None of them even flinched at being sent into harm's way for military needs whether it be combat or other military needs. All of their stories are interesting. They include such stories as flying as Forward Air Controllers in Vietnam putting close air support fighters and gunships on the enemy to save friendly ground forces under attack, combat rescue in Cambodia after being shot down, ejecting from an aircraft without using the parachute and surviving, surviving mid-air collisions, developing the AC-47, AC-130, B-58, FB-111, F-16, and Titan IIIC space booster, attacking tanks in Laos with an AC-119K gunship, making a zero/zero landing in a C-124, and many other miraculous saves from aircraft emergencies.

 

For the Living of These DaysBy Col. David L. Petty, USAFR (Ret), Roadrunner (N.M.) Chapter. CrossBooks, www.christianbook.com. ISBN 978-1-4627-3898-4. Softcover: $11.99. Hardcover: $28.95. E-book: $3.99.

 

"I'm on death row; the state wants to kill me, but I'm innocent! Can you help me get through these days?"

 

In this manner, I was invited to become Joe's pen pal. My agreement set in motion a long, arduous pilgrimage.

 

Little in my background seemed suitable for such an undertaking, yet I had personally wrestled with the issues of criminal behavior, corrections, and capital punishment. Also, as a Christian, I felt that there was a spiritual dimension to be explored. If execution was to come, shouldn't we deal with Job's question: "If a man die, will he live again?" Indeed I believe that all people should prepare for the aftermath of physical death.

 

Joe was an exceptional young man, an atypical inmate. He was a scholar- in a place where such would be deemed next to impossible. He was a trusty-in a place where the rank-and-file would ridicule industriousness. He became a saint-in a place where unrepentant sinners were the norm.

 

The pending peril of execution became the linchpin for our ongoing exchanges regarding the issues of capital punishment and spiritual readiness for early death. For the Living of These Days was, for both of us, a living toward dying. But isn't that true for everyone?

 

Forgotten: Ideological Conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and AfghanistanBy Col. Sam Holliday, USA (Ret), Life Member, Orange-Chatham (N.C.) Chapter. BookLogix. ISBN 978-1610055079.

 

Forgotten vividly preserves the reality of what took place in Korea and Vietnam and then states the lessons that should have been learned. It takes you on a trip into the intensity of life close to death, with glimpses of the sublime, strange, and selfless that those who were there can never forget. Those who have never been in combat do not understand it, so Forgotten seeks to change this. Through reconstructing and retracing the path of the 29th and 35th Infantry Regiments, Forgotten illustrates why combat camaraderie is the key to success in battle, recognizes the nobility and heroism of those fighters who protect all that we have and cherish, and explains some of the lessons that should have been learned, but were forgotten. The courage, skill, fear, and luck displayed in both the defeats and successes of combat are often ignored or distorted as the media reacts to massive firepower, political arguments, inhumanity, and myths. Forgotten is a step on the path of correction.

 

Start Everything Finish Nothing: The Curse of Modern ManagementBy Col. Rolfe Arnhym, USA (Ret), Life Member. Digalign LLC, www.rolfegarnhym.com. ISBN 978-0-9909798-0-7. $17.99.

 

With many lessons learned from multiple careers that will get you from start to finish, Arnhym has the ability to put you in his shoes as he relays his business insights learned through a highly successful and varied 60-year career. His tried-and-true methodology for leadership is shown through his incredible experiences as a leader in many different areas of the business world. Leadership can take many forms and have many degrees of success. Learn what works and what doesn't from an expert who has experienced and thrived in almost every type of leadership situation.

 

Fiction 

 

Almost EdenBy Col. Richard Taylor, USA (Ret), Life Member, Atlanta Chapter. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1503362888. Ppaerback: $9.99. E-book: $5.99.

 

Almost Eden is a love story wrapped in a war. Izzy, the guerrilla girl born of a jungle war in Luzon during World War II, defies her parents' wishes and flies to Vietnam as a Red Cross volunteer. Along the way she meets Abe, a soldier, and falls in love. Their devotion is tested by the most difficult of life's challenges but they find inspiration from the family's patron spirit of enduring affection.

 

Almost Eden (Vietnam) traces the family saga begun in Eden Lost (Philippine-American War) and continued in Return to Eden (World War II).

 

Taylor, influenced by the war in Vietnam, is inspired to share deeply inspiring accounts in fiction, many derived from experience and his seminal work Prodigals: A Vietnam Story.

 

Return to EdenBy Col. Richard Taylor, USA (Ret), Life Member, Atlanta Chapter. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1501069413. Paperback: $8.39. E-book: 2.99.

 

Joshua Armand left Manila in 1901 with only the haunting memory of the beautiful and mysterious Isabella (Eden Lost). When his son, Joe, unearthed long-buried secrets about her in 1940, her spirit moved.

 

Joe sailed to Manila on business in 1941 and met a red-headed nurse at the cemetery where Isabella was buried. As they fell in love, neither expected to be hurled into a world war, but Japanese struck Pearl Harbor and Luzon and they were trapped as defenses of Bataan and Corregidor collapsed and Manila became a brutally occupied city. To survive until MacArthur's return, they were driven at great risk into mountainous jungles to fight with rugged Philippine guerrillas—with Japanese soldiers and police hot on their trail. Four years of serving with guerrillas brought dangers, troubles, and in spite of everything--enduring love.

 

Joshua Armand broke his vow and returned to Eden for a rendezvous with his personal destiny where he also discovered that true love transcends time.

 

Memoir 

 

High and Higher: Memoir of a Career Naval Aviator and Missionary Teacher to China. By Cmdr. Frank Burleson, USN (Ret), Life Member. Xulon Press. ISBN 978-1-4984-1984-3. $14.99. To purchase the book at the author’s discount price, email fburl2@comcast.net.

 

This memoir is an adventure story and spiritual journey of the author from birth to the present. Join him in his growing up years in South Dakota during the Great Depression. The book has many household moves during grade school and high school and later in military life. He enjoyed sports and was captain of the basketball teams in high school and at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Leaving college in his third year he entered flight training as an aviation cadet in Pensacola, Florida. After commissioning as a Naval officer and designated a Naval aviator many interesting operational assignments followed such as honing his flying skills on the windy icy runways of the Aleutian Islands, missions during the Viet Nam War and other deployments to Japan, Iceland and Sicily. Retirement after more than 28 years of service flying high in the sky as a pilot sent him to a higher level as he went into full time service for the Lord. Using teaching as an entree into the Peoples Republic of China, he and his wife spent 4 and 1/2 years teaching and sharing their faith there and one semester doing the same in Myanmar (Burma). Many interesting descriptions depict China as a poor and inward thinking nation back in 1990 when they first arrived. However, a thirst for the God they did not know about was evident. Rejoice with the author and his wife as they share how many young people came to know the Lord and lives were changed. Many of these Chinese brothers and sisters are still in contact with them. The final conclusion is both inspiring and thought provoking.

 

The High-Heeled Dog: The Adventures of a U.S. Army Family in 1950s West GermanyBy Beverley Sawin.Amazon Digital Services. ASIN B00RH7F7QG. 

 

In 1952, the Sawin/Newbern family were among the thousands of Americans stationed in Germany following the end of WWII. During the next two years, they found themselves learning German, dealing with the ups and downs of Army housing, and encountering a "high-heeled dog." This book was originally written in 1954-55, and offers a first-hand account of what it was like for military dependents to live in post-war Germany. The story starts with the family's travel via ship to Germany from their home in Springfield, Mass., and follows them through the challenges of finding housing, which often had been commandeered from German citizens. They traveled throughout Europe and witnessed the ravages that were still evident from World War II. This original manuscript documents first-hand what dependents encountered in Germany, and how ordinary German citizens responded to them.

 

May You Live inInteresting Times: My 1960s! By Lt. Col. Calvin C. Seybold, USA (Ret), Life Member. BookBaby. ISBN 978-1-483-54057-3. E-book: $9.99. 

 

In the Fall of 2013, at the urging of family and a few friends Cal Seybold wrote a small book of some of his youthful escapades in the Army during the 1960s. The booklet was published locally by him and given as Christmas gifts to family and a few friends. He called the booklet, May You Live in Interesting Times: My 1960s, and it covered his time as a second lieutenant of Infantry during a tour in Korea and two tours with the Army Special Forces in Vietnam, initially as a first lieutenant and then as a captain. The booklet is more akin to “M.A.S.H.” than any serious military literature. Cal had always wished that his father had written some of his stories for the family; Cal believes his father's stories are getting more and more distorted with each retelling. Now future generations can enjoy Cal's social disasters from the 1960s, which with the aid of time and age, appear more as youthful antics.

 

A Widower’s Walk: From Desert to DestinyBy Lt. Col. Danny White, USMC (Ret), Life Member.Faith Printing Co., www.leadwithliberty.com. ISBN 978-1-4675-9870-5. $13.95. 

 

A Widower’s Walk: From Desert to Destiny is an autobiographical story of the leadership journey and lessons learned of LtCol Danny White, USMC (Ret.). During a 1997 military move, Danny watched his pregnant wife Jenny and five-year old son Danny die in a single vehicle accident. The Commandant of the Marine Corps called to check on Danny that December day—throwing him a lifeline of hope to keep going as an instant single parent. In 2012, Danny retired from the Marine Corps and founded Lead with Liberty as Calling #2. He serves as a professional speaker and trainer on leadership at home, at work, and in community.

 

June 2015

 

Nonfiction

 

The Cancer Solution: Taking Charge of Your Life With Cancer. By former Navy Reserve Lt. Jack C. Westman, M.D., Life Member, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Area Chapter. Archway Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4808-1308-3.

 

This book is a wake-up call and a call to action for cancer patients, their loved ones and the general public. Conventional cancer care needs to be vastly improved according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Cancer Institute. Patients know it firsthand. They are obliged to accept chances for 5-year survival with likely debilitation rather than complete remissions (cures). Everyone is paying the price of excessive cancer care costs in their health care insurance. 
  

The sun rises and the sun sets. It seems like the sun rotates around the Earth. Cancer cells rise and are killed by surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. It seems like cancer is a disease. But the sun does not rotate around the Earth, and cancer is not a disease. The many kinds of cancer cells are the products of the disease neoplasia that can emerge from normal cells in our bodies' organs and tissues. 
  

OLD MODEL: Treatment is determined by a tumor's location in the body without regard for the molecular characteristics of the patient or the tumor and for the environment of the tumor. 
  

NEW MODEL: Research will focus on how cancer cells evade the natural defenses in the body's immune system that prevent and stop the formation of cancer cells through the process of neoplasia . This kind of research is finally beginning to lead to the successful treatment of some forms of cancer and should be given the highest priority. 
  

A usable handbook for cancer for both patients and health professionals, The Cancer Solution empowers patients to take control of their life with cancer and advocate for improving cancer research and treatment.

 

Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor's Poetry of War. By Capt. Frederick Foote, USN (Ret), M.D. Grayson Books. ISBN 978-0-9913861-1-6.

 

Many of the poems developed from experiences on the hospital ship Comfort, where military medical personnel cared for mostly Iraqi patients. Other poems emerged from the experience of caring for sick and wounded American servicemen and women, and for their families.

 

A Place of Miracles: The Story of a Children's Hospital in Kabul and the People Whose Lives Have Been Changed by It . By Lt. Cmdr. Lee Hilling, USN (Ret). Outskirts Press. ISBN 978-1-4787-4691-1.

 

Red Flag From the Ground Up. By Capt. Kernan Chaisson, USAF (Ret), Life Member. Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1-939335-37-1. Kindle ASIN B00QL2XUFI. Print versions ($22.95) are available from Lion Publications and Amazon.com. A Kindle version ($9.95) is available at Amazon.com.

 

To Fly the Gentle Giants: The Training of U.S. WWII Glider Pilots. By Col. J. Norman Grim, USA (Ret), Grand Canyon (Ariz.) Chapter. ISBN 978-1-4389-0484-9.

 

 

Fiction

 

Altamaha Sunset: A Civil War Era Novel

 

Altamaha Sunset is a novel about a young man growing up on the family farm near Savannah, in pre-Civil War Georgia experiencing subsistence farming and the awkward situation of his family owning two slaves. A growing romance between his older brother Daniel and the slave girl Aliyah causes turmoil within the family. In the second year of the war, Micah and Daniel enlist in the army and participate in the battles of their Confederate unit. Following their release at the end of the war and while traveling home, Micah, Daniel and their fellow soldiers are robbed which begins a challenging sequence of events during the turbulent reconstruction period occurring in the South. Micah finds himself torn between caring for his family and farm and the need to help Aliyah and former slaves protect themselves from the evils of ex-Confederate gangs fomenting violence in Savannah.

 

American Odyssey: Alaskan Genesis. By Col. John E. Swindells, USA (Ret), Life Member. Createspace. ISBN 978-1-5053-6259-6.

 

American Odyssey: Alaskan Genesis plunges you into a prehistoric tale of star-crossed lovers. Grounded in anthropological facts and enriched with gripping adventures, you won't soon forget this saga.

 

The Cadet: Wild Blue U Foundation of Honor. By Col. J. Doug Beason, USAF (Ret), Life Member. ISBN 978-1614752899.

 

The novel unveils the arduous training of America's future leaders as they prepare to serve from the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of the Middle East. The Cadet is an accurate, historical account of the USAF Academy, based on factual events and populated with realistic, larger-than-life characters-set against a fascinating tapestry of history-changing events that affect the course of the nation.

 

The Cadet follows Rod Simone, a driven, headstrong cadet, in the Academy's first class as he establishes a culture of honor and tradition that will serve as a bedrock for serving the nation.  The forces that mold Rod's character will set a foundation for the 47,000 future graduates, training them to survive life-threatening situations that range from flying in combat and exploring space, to being prisoners of war.

 

Written by a USAF Academy graduate who has been intimately involved with the Academy for over 30 years, The Cadet reveals the background and mystique behind the nation's high-tech university for fighter pilots, astronauts, politicians, and world leaders.

 

Dark Webs of Secrecy. By Betty L. Alt and Sandra K. Wells, Ph.D. Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4575-3182-8.

 

Dark Webs of Secrecy is the tenth book coauthored by Betty Alt and Sandra Wells. Wells has a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in Fort Collins and retired as Chief Investigator from the Pueblo, Colorado, District Attorney's Office. Betty Alt has an M.A. in history from Northeast Missouri State University. Currently, both authors are teaching classes at Colorado State University - Pueblo.

 

Wrath of the Dixie Mafia: A Mystery Novel of Johnny Morocco, Dixie Detective. By Lt. Col. James P. Sinor, USA (Ret). Ingalls Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-932158700.

 

 

Memoir

 

Lewisburg Remembered: My Brother and Me - A Story of Heartbreak. By Lt. Col. William R. Hudnall, USA (Ret), Life Member. Kelly's Creek Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9711129-2-6.

 

My Quest to Fly and the Planes I Came to Love. By Col. James E. Salminen, USAF (Ret), Life Member, Montgomery (Ala.) Area Chapter. Wells Printing. ISBN 978-0-692-37223-4.

 

The book captures the highlights of a 27 year Air Force career as a fighter and reconnaissance pilot, to include a 183 combat mission tour in Vietnam and experiences as a commander at the squadron, group, and wing level.

 

 

July 2015

 

Nonfiction

 

Ace: The Story of Lt. Col. Ace Cozzalio. By 1st Lt. Rex Gooch, USAR (Ret), Life Member. Lighthorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1508642466. 

 

Ace is the story of Ace Cozzalio, a bold and courageous U.S. Army helicopter pilot flying with Lighthorse Air Cavalry during the Vietnam War. In his eighteen-month tour of duty, Ace is shot down by enemy gunfire six times and is awarded every medal of valor with the exception of the Medal of Honor, some multiple times. The stories presented in this book tell of Ace's heroic exploits while fighting the enemy in the Mekong Delta-emphasizing the extraordinary character of this dedicated soldier hero. In reading these incredible, never-before-told stories, the reader gets a glimpse into who Ace Cozzalio is and why his dynamic presence is oftentimes the pivotal element that turns the tide against the enemy. A relentless warrior and a natural-born leader, Ace is always leading the charge, winning the battle, and bringing the troops home safely. Confident and charismatic, he endears himself to his fellow cavalry troopers and the tales of his courageous deeds soon become legendary. And, Ace is a maverick-never satisfied to follow the status quo. Uniquely attired in his signature military uniform with white Cavalry hat, saber, and yellow scarf, reminiscent of the U.S. Cavalry of the 1860s, Ace is singularly recognized as the classic image of the cavalry. Ace is a high-speed, low-level flight through the fascinating life of Ace Cozzalio, focusing on his escapades, adventures, and mishaps in the Vietnam War.  

 

African American Warrant Officers ... In Service to Our Country: Their History, Achievements and Contributions to the Military and to the United States. By CW4 Farrell J. Chiles, USA (Ret), Life Member, Mount Baldy (Calif.) Chapter. BookLocker.com. ISBN 978-1-63490-111-6.  

 

African American Warrant Officers...In Service to Our Country tells the stories of unsung African American warrant officers who have served our country in and out of the military. This collection of historical articles, inspiring biographies, and profiles highlights the significant contributions of individual African American warrant officers from World War II to the present, with remarkable detail and language befitting their valor.  

 

For Brotherhood and Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862. By Lt. Col. Brian R. McEnany, USA (Ret). University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-6062-7.  

 

During the tense months leading up to the American Civil War, the cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point continued their education even as the nation threatened to dissolve around them. Students from both the North and South struggled to understand events such as John Brown's Raid, the secession of eleven states from the Union, and the attack on Fort Sumter. By graduation day, half the class of 1862 had resigned; only twenty-eight remained, and their class motto―"Joined in common cause"―had been severely tested.

In For Brotherhood and Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862, Brian R. McEnany follows the cadets from their initiation, through coursework, and on to the battlefield, focusing on twelve Union and four Confederate soldiers. Drawing heavily on primary sources, McEnany presents a fascinating chronicle of the young classmates, who became allies and enemies during the largest conflict ever undertaken on American soil. Their vivid accounts provide new perspectives not only on legendary battles such as Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and the Overland and Atlanta campaigns, but also on lesser-known battles such as Port Hudson, Olustee, High Bridge, and Pleasant Hills.

There are countless studies of West Point and its more famous graduates, but McEnany's groundbreaking book brings to life the struggles and contributions of its graduates as junior officers and in small units. Generously illustrated with more than one hundred photographs and maps, this enthralling collective biography illuminates the war's impact on a unique group of soldiers and the institution that shaped them.  

 

Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed. By George Everly Jr., Douglas A. Strouse, and Dennis K. McCormack, with foreword by Rear Adm. George R. Worthington, USN (Ret), Life Member. American Management Association. ISBN 978-0814436042.  

 

First responders, emergency medical personnel, star athletes-all perform remarkable feats in the face of intense stress. But how often have you heard of athletes, businesspeople, students, or performing artists who had remarkable talent and enormous potential, but never achieved the success for which they seemed destined?   

 

Why do some people rise above adversity and excel under pressure, and others doubt themselves and panic-or choke? What separates them is attitude. Resilient people meet adversity head-on and bounce back from setbacks. They seem to exude a natural inner strength. But studies show that they're rarely born with this outlook; rather, it develops over time. In fact, as this book will show, you can develop the attitudes that shield you from stress and help you overcome obstacles.   

 

Drawing on decades of research, scientific analysis, interviews with nearly 1,000 highly resilient people working in unusually stressful professions, and the unique perspectives of a standout team of authors-a stress-management expert, a skilled entrepreneur, and a Navy SEAL-Stronger analyzes the heroic exploits of the Navy SEALs and others who succeed against all odds, pinpoints the traits that define the most resilient people on earth, and reveals how you can develop this vital competitive advantage at any age.  

 

The U.S. Naval Institute on Naval Command. Edited by Lt. Cmdr. Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-800-8.  

 

Command is the pinnacle of leadership in a military organization. Navy regulations define both the authority and the responsibility of command as "absolute." This Naval Institute Wheel Book provides practical guidance and advice that actual and would-be commanders can use to carry out that absolute authority. Included in this carefully selected collection is the experience of those who have commanded as well as the expectations of those who are commanded. Aspirants as well as practitioners will do well to exploit this selected survey of what Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz described as the "one purpose" for entering the Navy.  

 

Your Drugs & Sex: How Prescription and Non-Prescription Drugs Can Affect Your Sex Life. By P.J. Bush, Ph.D., Auxiliary Life Member. Outskirts Press. ISBN 978-1-4787-3840-4.  

 

More than 400 drugs are in this book, are yours? Maybe your sex life isn't what it used to be. Maybe it isn't even what you hoped it would be at your age. Or perhaps you have disappointed your partner on more than one occasion by not being able to perform sexually as hoped or expected. "What's wrong?" you-or your partner-might ask. Good question. There is a possibility that you might not be aware of. The cause could be a medicine you are taking ... and that is the subject of this book. It's estimated that one third of adult males have a health problem affecting their sex performance, sometimes as an adverse effect of the medicine they are taking to treat their health problem. Lack of desire is believed to be the most common form of female sex dysfunction - affecting up to 10% of women. It may be caused by drugs they take. There are drugs to treat male and female sex performance problems. Read about them in this book. All drugs have some side effects. Side effects that can be caused by a drug include erectile dysfunction, difficulty achieving orgasm, ejaculation failure, impotence, decreased desire, pain during intercourse, and lower testosterone. Some commonly used drugs with known sexual performance side effects include cholesterol lowering drugs, blood pressure drugs, antidepressants, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drugs, anti-fungals, anti-ulcer and anti-epileptic drugs, oral contraceptives, and cancer drugs.  

 

 

Fiction  

 

Beyond El Camino Del Diablo: Beyond the Devil's Highway. By Cmdr. Eugene L. Sierras Jr., USN (Ret). Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4907-5603-5.  

 

El Camino Del Diablo (the Devil's Highway) today is an unpaved 130 mile route along the border between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The current route begins at Lukeville, Arizona 21 miles southwest of Ajo at the boundary between Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. From there it continues through barren and isolated Sonoran Desert to Yuma. Some of the features along the way are: San Cristobal Wash, the Agua Dulce Mountains, Papago Well; Camp Grip, the Pinta Sand Dunes and the Pinacate Volcanic Field. The road passes through the Tule Desert and Mountains and into Tule Tank Canyon to reach Tule Well where the road intersects with Christmas Pass Road. The road continues through the Lechuguilla Desert, Tordillo Mountain, and the Tinajas Altas Mountains. The route passes west of Raven Butte and Cipriano Pass. It then follows the western border of the Gila Mountains, passing by the abandoned Fortuna Mine before finally reaching the small community of Fortune Hills on the outskirts of Yuma.  

 

Cold Frame: A Novel. By Capt. P.T. Deutermann, USN (Ret), Life Member, Capitol Area (Mich.) Chapter. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-250-05933-8.  

 

The downtown area of today's Washington, D.C., has become an armed camp. Men with assault rifles crouch on top of monuments and buildings. Anti-missile sites bristle on the White House roof. Meter maids carry Glocks and tactical radios, all in the name of federal CT: counterterrorism.

 

In Cold Frame, the dramatic new thriller by P. T. Deutermann, a secret committee of government and civilian officials puts names on the Kill List, which targets overseas threats to America for termination. When a senior bureaucrat who is part of the Kill List process dies in Washington under mysterious circumstances that include a beautiful woman, a glass of wine, and a bouquet of flowers, Metro detective Av Smith is tasked to investigate. Smith and his fellow detectives soon find themselves besieged by a hornet's nest of intrigue and deception. With the aid of an FBI agent and a reclusive scientist who nurtures unusual interests, Av digs deeper into the mystery---only to become the target of a plan that reaches into the highest levels of the federal government, and far exceeds the mission of the Kill List itself.

 

Set in contemporary Washington, D.C., amidst the Byzantine counterterrorism bureaucracy, Cold Frame is a compelling thriller by masterful novelist P. T. Deutermann, whose insider knowledge of how the military, federal, and local intelligence agencies work---or don't---illuminates the dark world of Washington's War on Terror.  

 

Raven One. By Capt. Kevin P. Miller, USN (Ret). Stealth Books. ISBN 978-1-939398-22-2.  

 

UNARMED OVER HOSTILE TERRITORY... For a moment Wilson froze and looked at the white-helmeted pilot who sat high on the nose of the colossal fighter. Across the small void, he saw the pilot's eyes peer over his mask. Dark, chilling eyes… Wilson kicked right rudder to slide closer and jam any chance for a bandit gunshot. When the bandit pulled all the way over, almost on its back but in control, he cursed in frustration at what he knew was coming next. The hostile fighter reversed over the top in a negative-g maneuver, his nose tracking down on Wilson like a falling sledgehammer in slow motion. Horrified, Wilson realized he faced an imminent snapshot. With the little air speed he had, his inverted his Hornet to avoid the attack. His aircraft still rolling, Wilson saw that the monster had another weapon at its disposal…  

 

 

Memoir  

 

Changed By War. By Maj. Den Slattery, USAR (Ret). ISBN 978-1-61539-333-6.  

 

War has a very negative effect on people. Den's life was changed by the war in Vietnam. "Changed By War" is his personal story of the battles in combat and back at home. If you have aloved one who has been exposed to war, this might be a good book to help you understand them.  

 

Fighting the Cold War: A Soldier's Memoir. By Gen. John R. Galvin, USA (Ret), Life Member. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-6101-3.  

 

When four-star general John Rogers Galvin retired from the US Army after forty-four years of distinguished service in 1992, the Washington Post hailed him as a man "without peer among living generals." In Fighting the Cold War: A Soldier's Memoir, the celebrated soldier, scholar, and statesman recounts his active participation in more than sixty years of international history―from the onset of World War II through the fall of the Berlin Wall and the post-Cold War era.

Galvin's illustrious tenure included the rare opportunity to lead two different Department of Defense unified commands: United States Southern Command in Panama from 1985 to 1987 and United States European Command from 1987 to 1992. In his memoir, he recounts fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes about his interactions with world leaders, describing encounters such as his experience of watching President José Napoleón Duarte argue eloquently against US intervention in El Salvador; a private conversation with Pope John Paul II in which the pontiff spoke to him about what it means to be a man of peace; and his discussion with General William Westmoreland about soldiers' conduct in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia. In addition, Galvin recalls his complex negotiations with a number of often difficult foreign heads of state, including Manuel Noriega, Augusto Pinochet, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Ratko Mladić.


As NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the tumultuous five years that ended the Cold War, Galvin played a key role in shaping a new era. Fighting the Cold War illuminates his leadership and service as one of America's premier soldier-statesmen, revealing him to be not only a brilliant strategist and consummate diplomat but also a gifted historian and writer who taught and mentored generations of students.

 

 

August 2015

 

Nonfiction 

 

The Afghan Paradox. By Lt. Gennaro Buonocore, USN, Life Member. Jackson Hill Press. ISBN 978-0-9855762-2-6.

 

One of the most revealing and penetrating insights into Afghanistan and it's people since the beginning of the US involvement there following 9/11. Author, Gennaro Buonocore's (is Failure of European Multiculturalism, The Islamist Crusade) intellect is matched only by his intuitive grasp of the observations he makes as he explores the colorful culture of Afghanistan and the history of one of the most tumultuous countries in the world today. Readers will find this account of Afghan culture both entertaining and enlightening.

 

Failure of European Multiculturalism: The Islamist Crusade. By Lt. Gennaro Buonocore, USN, Life Member, and Christian Von Rosen-Kreutz. Jackson Hill Press. ISBN 978-0-9855762-0-2.

 

Failure of European Multiculturalism: The Islamist Crusade is an up to date look, from two insiders, at the clear failure of European member nations' policies with regards to the integration of the last wave of immigrants. Supported by an impressive load of facts and data, the book sounds the alarm to a continent that is headed to financial meltdown and an unprecedented economic crisis. At a time when Europe desperately needs to pull together, there is little room for self-serving groups with divisive goals. The authors point out, in no uncertain terms, that this proven reality, coupled with the threat of radicalization of the poorer disenfranchised immigrant classes, could very well lead to an imminent "European Spring" of Islamist matrix or, at the very least, to massive security threats and social strife. Not a call to arms, but a call to action, this book is an honest look at what European member nations must see in the mirror before it is too late.

 

Fire in My Bones: Memoir and Journals of Brother Joseph Hewitt 1811-1878. By Cmdr. Donald A. Weir, USN (Ret). WestBow Press. ISBN 978-1-4908-6035-0.

 

This book is the personal journal of Joseph Hewitt, a profligate and degenerate young Englishman, who was powerfully converted by the power of the Holy Spirit, an experience he describes as "a fire in my bones." He joined the Primitive Methodist Church, where he was commissioned a lay preacher and sent to America to preach the gospel to the Cornish miners on the American frontier. Brother Hewitt's journal is a day-by-day record of a circuit-riding preacher in the nineteenth century, the era of slavery, the Civil War, and Lincoln. He traveled on foot, on horseback, and by buggy through Wisconsin blizzards and floods, often preaching several times a week. Read his journal; it may kindle a fire in your bones.

 

Gray Horse Troop: Forever Soldiers. By Col. Charles R. Baker, USA (Ret). Powder River Publications. ISBN 978-0-9888111-0-2. Signed copy: $18. Write to the author at PO Box 330978, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233.

 

This searing memoir of the war in Vietnam, and again in Iraq, captures the emotions, fears, and concerns of young men facing life or death in far away lands. Gray Horse Troop is a testament to the gallantry of the men of the 5th Battalion 7th U.S. Cavalry - from Montana in the 1870s to the Middle East in 2005. The author narrates the story about the soldiers, honoring the men who served in this storied unit. From his perspective as the Battalion Operations Officer, he gives a first hand account of combat as part of the legendary 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam in the first half of 1968. 5/7th Cav fights its way into Hue during Tet of 1968, clears the NVA away from the perimeter at Khe Sahn, and pursues the enemy into the infamous A Shau Valley. He provides the big picture that surviving veterans did not get while fighting for survival down at squad level. Gray Horse Troop is a personal account of what the author saw, remembered, and further researched; which he writes about with traces of wit, political incorrectness, and cynicism. Being embedded with 5/7th Cav in Iraq in 2005 provides the framework for recalling the various Vietnam battles. He is blunt about the human costs of war. He writes in simple language, directed beyond the military reader to all who are interested in the Cold War Era.

 

Great Plains Warriors of World War II: Air Bases and Plants Built for War. By Lt. Col. George A. Larson, USAF (Ret), Black Hills (S.D.) Chapter. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7643-4379-7.

 

Until now, Army Air Force Bases in Nebraska during World War II had never before been presented in a single book (most of the photographed structures are no longer visible). These stories and photographs mostly focus on America s Greatest Generation, which fought and won World War II. Also included are information on and images of the Martin B-26/Martin-Boeing B-29 Superfortress production plant at Fort Crook. One section deals with the building of modified B-29s for the 509th Composite Group, referred to after the war as the Atomic Bomb Group, which dropped the two atomic bombs on Japan, ending World War II. Also learn about German and Italian Prisoner of War camps, where POWs contributed to agricultural production in Nebraska, helping feed American troops, Allied troops, and civilian populations around the world. Most Americans are not aware of the huge numbers of Axis POWs held in America during the war.

 

Presidents in Crisis: Tough Decisions Inside the White House From Truman to Obama. By Cmdr. Michael K. Bohn, USN (Ret). Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62872-431-8.

 

Every American president, when faced with a crisis, longs to take bold and decisive action. When American lives or vital interests are at stake, the public—and especially the news media and political opponents—expect aggressive leadership. But, contrary to the dramatizations of Hollywood, rarely does a president have that option.

 

In Presidents in Crisis, a former director of the Situation Room takes the reader inside the White House during seventeen grave international emergencies handled by the presidents from Truman to Obama: from North Korea’s invasion of South Korea to the revolutions of the Arab Spring, and from the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the taking of American diplomats hostage in Iran and George W. Bush’s response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. In narratives that convey the drama of unfolding events and the stakes of confrontation when a misstep can mean catastrophe, he walks us step by step through each crisis. Laying out the key players and personalities and the moral and political calculations that the leaders have had to make, he provides a fascinating insider’s look at modern presidential decision making and the fundamental role in it of human frailty.

 

Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More than a Century of Service by Citizen-Sailors. By Cmdr. David F. Winkler, USNR (Ret). Navy Reserve Centennial Book Committee. ISBN 978-0-692-32765-4.

 

Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More than a Century of Service by Citizen Sailors coincides with the centennial anniversary of the U.S. Navy Reserve on March 3, 2015. However, as the title indicates, Americans have been leaving their civilian occupations since the birth of the Navy in 1775 to serve the nation at sea during times of crises. This heavily illustrated narrative aims to tell about the contributions of those civilians to the nation’s defense and security. Besides providing a broad chronology covering how citizen sailors served as privateers, naval militiamen, National Naval Volunteers, Naval Reservists, and finally simply as Sailors as part of a one Navy concept, the author elected to follow numerous individuals on their journeys in the Navy Reserve as representative stories of the millions of Americans who once wore Navy blue part-time. By highlighting the contributions of these individuals, the intent is to honor all who served in the USNR as well as salute their families for their service to country.

 

The U.S. Naval Institute on Naval Leadership. Edited by Lt. Cmdr. Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-801-5.

 

In the U.S. Navy, "Wheel Books" were once found in the uniform pockets of every junior and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a substitute for experience among neophytes and as a portable library of reference information for more experienced personnel, those weathered pages contained everything from the time of the next tide, to leadership hints from a respected chief petty officer, to the color coding of the phone-and-distance line used in underway replenishments.

 

In that same tradition, the new Naval Institute Wheel Books will provide supplemental information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute's vast archives, the series will combine articles from the Institute's flagship publication Proceedings, selections from the oral history collection and from Naval Institute Press books to create unique guides on a wide array of fundamental professional subjects.

 

Leadership is vital to any highly functioning organization. The Naval Institute has devoted countless pages of its publications to the subject of naval leadership, providing start-up guidance to neophytes, giving voice to the accumulated wisdom and experience of those who have led, and serving as a forum in search of answers to the many questions that have always been a part of this vital but sometimes elusive practice. In the pages of this book are some of the most outstanding examples of this wealth of knowledge, gathered for use by both would-be and seasoned leaders in the never-ending quest for strong and effective leadership.

 

Fiction 

 

The Hittite Warrior. By Capt. Delbert Teachout, USAF (Ret). Tate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-63122-314-3.

 

When Uriahs hometown was attacked by enemy soldiers Uriah rallied his friends and encouraged them to fight. His plan worked and they saved the town. The story of his victory spread throughout the land from Anatolia to Egypt. He became the legendary Uriah the Hittite Warrior.

 

 

Memoir 

 

Giving the Infantry a Green Glow. By Lt. Col. Robert Quinn, USA (Ret), Southeastern (N.C.) Chapter. New Hanover. ISBN 978-1-939132-09-3.

 

In early 1961 the Cold War became colder and the activity in the 2d Armored Division became more intense. President Eisenhower was leaving office and his replacement was the much younger John F. Kennedy. President Eisenhower was the man that won the war in Europe and was considered a master at dealing with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. The Warsaw Pact was a euphemism for the East European countries that the Soviet Union occupied and controlled when World War II ended and the Cold War began. The Cold War was a stand-off between NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the Western Powers led by the United States and the Warsaw Pact led by the Communist Soviet Union. President Kennedy was tested very early in his presidency by the older more experienced Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev. The provocations were serious ranging from missiles in Cuba, closing the border between Eastern and Western Europe and building a wall around West Berlin. To make matters worse, the Warsaw Pact outnumbered the NATO Forces in soldiers and most significantly in armored vehicles. To deal with this numerical disadvantage, President Eisenhower initiated the development of a special weapon that would give the NATO Forces time to respond to an attack. This special weapon and its effective tactical employment were to fall on the shoulders of young officers in the infantry. The challenge, the weapon, the tactics and the officers were all new. Could the challenge be met? The army leadership at the highest levels wanted to know.

 

When the Eagle Soared. By Brig. Gen. Donald R. Delauter, USAF (Ret), Life Member, Sandhills (N.C.) Chapter. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1503179776.

 

This is a chronological account in memoir form of a USAF officer/fighter pilot's career. It covers the military side (training, aircraft flown, operational and staff assignment, base locations and positions held, career path and promotions, etc.) and the family side (family separations, frequent uprooting of children to new schools and communities, wife's worry about the dangers of flying jet fighters, and more) of an Air Force career during the Cold War and the Vietnam War. The book does not address policy, strategy, doctrine and political considerations (except briefly regarding the Vietnam War). It is instead a lighter read about how one man answered his Country's call to duty and enjoyed flying high performance fighter aircraft and the opportunity to serve in various countries and from many different bases. It is a look back at a time in the Air Force when the mission was clear, and the enemy and his capabilities were well known. It was a time when morale always seemed to be high. Considering the situation then, one can almost be nostalgic for the Cold War as compared for example with the war on terrorism. It was a time when military life was at times hard on families, but no where near as tough as currently (2014). All told this is a story about a successful Air Force career that was most enjoyable and personally rewarding.

 

 

September 2015

 

Nonfiction

 

The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A. Robinson. By Glenn Robbins. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-4323-1.

 

While serving as a crew chief aboard a U.S. Air Force Rescue helicopter, Airman First Class William A. Robinson was shot down and captured in Ha Tinh Province, North Vietnam, on September 20, 1965. After a brief stint at the "Hanoi Hilton," Robinson endured 2,703 days in multiple North Vietnamese prison camps, including the notorious Briarpatch and various compounds at Cu Loc, known by the inmates as the Zoo. No enlisted man in American military history has been held as a prisoner of war longer than Robinson. For seven and a half years, he faced daily privations and endured the full range of North Vietnam's torture program. 

In The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A. Robinson, Glenn Robins tells Robinson's story using an array of sources, including declassified U.S. military documents, translated Vietnamese documents, and interviews from the National Prisoner of War Museum. Unlike many other POW accounts, this comprehensive biography explores Robinson's life before and after his capture, particularly his estranged relationship with his father, enabling a better understanding of the difficult transition POWs face upon returning home and the toll exacted on their families. Robins's powerful narrative not only demonstrates how Robinson and his fellow prisoners embodied the dedication and sacrifice of America's enlisted men but also explores their place in history and memory.

 

Military Beginnings: Early Development of American and Maryland Forces. By Maj. Richard J. Martiny, USA (Ret), Star Spangled Banner (Md.) Chapter. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-48264-949-9.

 

Military Beginnings opens with an examination of the development of militia and regular military forces in the Near East, the Mediterranean rim and Europe, from their ancient beginnings to the early 17th century, when the American colonization was in its infancy. The focus then shifts from the Old World to the New, primarily Maryland, where its early development of militia military units and their utilization in the Province’s defense against internal and external threats is dealt with in detail through the Seven Years/French and Indian War. As the Revolution approached, Maryland and the other colonies stepped up their efforts to develop independent military forces, initially to defend themselves, and then to aggressively engage the British. Smallwood’s Maryland Regiment was the first regular military unit created by the Marylanders in early 1776. It became the state’s first regiment incorporated into the growing Continental Army commanded by George Washington. After he had successfully forced William Howe to leave Boston for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Washington moved his army to New York. He thought, correctly, that it would be Howe’s next objective. Howe departed from Halifax and in the summer of 1776 met the British and Hessian troops that his brother Lord Richard’s fleet had brought from Europe on Staten Island. Washington positioned the majority his troops on Long Island in the mistaken belief that they would be able to adequately cope with and contain the British professionals. Howe also transferred his units to Long Island. On August 27, 1776 he attacked, maneuvered around the Americans’ left flank and proceeded to route them. Washington’s army was disintegrating before his eyes. Smallwood’s Maryland Regiment, with fewer than 400 men, attacked thousands of enemy soldiers multiple times, delaying their advance and allowing many of the fleeing Americans to reach the safety of Brooklyn Heights. Military Beginnings explores Smallwood’s Regiment in detail, its origins, organization, and training in an attempt to determine what military traditions, if any, what expertise, if any, what experience, if any, existed which the Marylanders could build on when creating their Revolutionary War military units, especially this one. Washington’s army was able to withdraw from Long Island and survived five years until it forced Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. Smallwood’s Regiment became the core of what evolved into two Maryland Brigades, which fought successfully throughout the rest of the war. They weren't at Yorktown, but their actions and bravery on Long Island were instrumental in allowing the Continental Army to survive long enough to get there. Military Beginnings answers the question of how they did it

 

The Road to Modern Rocketry. By Cmdr. Doug Gangler, USN (Ret), Life Member. Champion Books. ISBN 978-0-9915177-0-1.

 

In this riveting book, Doug Gangler brings alive the fast-moving yet intensive history of the modern rocket. Featured are forty-one rocket and space "attractions" spread over the five countries - Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States - in which the story of the modern rocket occurred. Discussed are:

 

--Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, American Robert Goddard, Austro-Hungarian-German Hermann Oberth, France's Robert Esnault-Pelterie, German-American Wernher von Braun, the Soviet Union's Sergei Korolev, and other great rocketeers.

 

--The German A-4/V-2 which was the critical link to modern rocketry. This wartime rocket was controversial, yet marked amazing technological progress for its era.

 

--The latter 1940s/1950s which saw rocket efforts first aimed at ballistic missiles; major resources and technologies were soon also directed toward developing the great launch vehicles - to this day taking magnificent payloads to space.

 

Pure, fascinating history with a good dose of rocket technology, "The Road to Modern Rocketry" relies on Doug's seamless blending of sources including great publications, archival work, and a superb collection of images, to bring a fresh perspective to rocketry. The present-day launch bases, test/engineering centers, museums, old WW II planned launch bunkers, memorials, rocket/space theme parks, and monuments are an almost unique set of sites telling the incredible, inspirational story of the modern rocket. Let the journey begin!

 

Fiction

 

Article 93: Cruelty and Maltreatment. By Lt. Col. William C. Westgard, USA (Ret), Life Member. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1500885977.

 

Article 93: Cruelty and Maltreatment is a military justice procedural novel. It is set in West Germany in 1964 and recounts the death of an insubordinate trouble maker soldier who has been physically beaten by his superior. It also involves the attempted manipulation of the justice system by a senior commander to his own benefit. It is the fourth in a series on the military-legal career of Charles Kimbrough and his romance with Mathilde von Beningsen.

 

Article 99: Misbehavior Before the Enemy. By Lt. Col. William C. Westgard, USA (Ret), Life Member. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1503316348.

 

Article 99: Misbehavior Before the Enemy is the fifth in the series recounting the military legal career of Charles Kimbrough and his romance with Matti von Beneingsen. In this story, Kimbrough is assigned to defend an American officer who is falsely accused, based on racist bias, of cowardice in combat by his military superior. The case is set in the [former] Republic of Vietnam. While it is not based on a real incident, the events and environments described, especially the combat operations of the Republic of Vietnam Army, reflect the author's personal experience.

 

Article 104: Aiding the Enemy. By Lt. Col. William C. Westgard, USA (Ret), Life Member. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1507766668.

 

Article 104: Aiding the Enemy is the sixth novel in the series of military-legal mysteries recording the career of Charles Kimbrough in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and his romance with Matti von Beningsen. It is set in the [former] Republic of Vietnam (RVN) and describes the clandestine espionage activities of a young American soldier, the counterintelligence operations of both US and RVN Army agents, the soldier's apprehension and his court-martial. Although not based on real circumstances, the plot reflects the author's experiences, especially the combat actions, during his service in Vietnam. The American soldier, Mark Salzman, is the product of a family in which his parents are both active, covert Communists under the control of the Soviet KGB. He is led to enlist in the Army specifically to act as a penetration agent, and, as the book opens, he has completed two years in France in that capacity and is now working in a US Army detachment advising the armor center of the RVN Army. His work has resulted in Viet Cong successes until the counterintelligence agents discover him, provide him with false information, and offer him redemption to become a double agent. Salzman renegs on the agreement, is apprehended and is tried by general court-martial.

 

Darker Than Dark: A Story of Courage and Compassion as Four Young Marines Fight to Survive the Vietnam War. By Maj. Gen. John Admire, USMC (Ret), Life Member. Yorkshire Publishing. ISBN 978-1-942451-04-4.

 

This is a story of the Vietnam War and four young Marines. It's about fighting and killing. Compassion and love, however, are defining parts of the story. The story personalizes what war does to those who fight it and what they do to survive it. Enduring and caring relationships forged in combat are as much a part of their survival, maybe more, as their combat skills. While the book is fiction, the majority is based on actual battles and personal experiences. Vietnam was a challenging war for those on the battlefield to fight as well as those on the home front to support. The conflict was a limited war and the complex nature of such war was confusing and contentious to many. The combatants' frustrations with the war's limitations and the miseries they endured are captured in the actions and thoughts of the Marines. Their story is about living and dying in combat. But it's also about the love and loyalty they share in a truly unique relationship. It's a story that testifies to the human spirit and will as well as the belief that love and friendship conquer all...even the hatreds and animosities of war. The Marines share with you their hopes and dreams as they struggle with the despairs and nightmares of Vietnam. They take you into their battles and bunkers. They acquaint you with combat's horror and humor. The story is the universal infantryman's story for most all who have fought in war-the challenge of defying death daily while fighting to survive till tomorrow. This is also, however, America's story. In the aftermath of Vietnam the consensus was that the war's true legacy would be the lessons learned from it. Vietnam was insidious as well as instructive. Today, the war on terror and the dysfunction of various states and the ideological rivalries in the international community pose serious threats to the stability and security of our world. Then, as well as now, the conflicts of our time and the future present us with challenges similar to Vietnam. We must understand them to protect our freedoms and nation and peace. John Admire is a Vietnam and Gulf War Marine. His 43-year United States Marine Corps career includes 33 years of active duty and 5 combat tours as an Infantry Marine, plus 10 years as a consultant and advisor with the US Joint Forces Command and Military Academy Headmaster. He commanded units world-wide at every level from an Infantry Platoon Leader in Vietnam to the Commanding General, 1st Marine Division in California. He served as the Senior Military Social Aide to the President of the United States at the White House, as the Marine Corps' Legislative Liaison to the United States Congress on Capitol Hill, and as a member of General Colin Powell's Joint Staff in the Pentagon. John is an Oklahoman, born and reared in Tulsa. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and Honors graduate of the University of Oklahoma with one Bachelor's and four Master's degrees.

 

 

Saigon Gold. By Lt. Col. Hugh J. Scott, USA (Ret), Grand Canyon (Ariz.) Chapter. Presage Press. ISBN 978-0979953484.

 

Saigon Gold won the 2010 Gold Medal award for fiction from the Military Writers Society of America.

 

Veterans and tourists will be entranced by this fast-paced thriller in which a decorated American officer returns to Vietnam and must face the harsh truths of his military exploits. The daring plot includes China's expansionist navy attempting to seize a key base, thus upsetting the balance of military power in the Western Pacific.

 

Robert Anderson is lured into a scheme to help a wartime friend recover a gold fortune. But a vengeful North Vietnamese official is watching. Discovery of cryptic documents about an ambush that only Anderson and a Vietnamese officer survived launches Anderson and companion Jenny Ngo on a wild chase around scenic Vietnam to unravel their secret before every witness is silenced by a mysterious killer.

 

This Nation Under Attack. By Lt. Col. Alex Salaiz, USAR (Ret), Life Member. FriesenPress. ISBN 978-4602-4553-8.

 

The extreme right wing (Tea Party) votes not to approve both the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling increase eventually causing the federal government to shutdown. This gives a wealthy expatriated American the idea that this is the process to use to bring the US government down. Failure to approve the debt ceiling increase would cause a catastrophic effect not only in the United States but throughout the free world because the United States would default on its debt. This would definitely bring the US economy down and destroy the country. A corrupt Congressman is bribed with a few thousand dollars by the wealthy expatriated American to keep the US Congress from approving a continuing resolution (CR) and the debt ceiling increase. But the Congressman was talking too much and the expatriated American sends a terrorist to shut him up by assassinating him. He does not need the Congressman; other members of Congress are doing what he wants done. Rookie FBI agent Chad Winters recognizes the assassin as a former Guantanamo detainee he had interviewed while he was in the Army and finds out the shooter is the link to the expatriated American. The goal of the expatriated American in conjunction with the al-Qaida leadership was to bring the United States down based on their Muslim propaganda beliefs that the United States is to blame for all of their nations’ problems. No more flying planes into buildings. They will instead use the US Congress to do their job. Will they succeed? The events become extremely challenging for the retired Army Colonel Winters more than the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq or the clandestine operation into Pakistan in solving the crime and bringing the expatriated American financier hiding in Yemen to face justice in the United States.

 

Totem. By Capt. James A.B. Hadman, USN (Ret), Life Member. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4917-6106-9.

 

When Abraham Petrovich leaves his native Russia to join the 1741 Bering Expedition of Discovery to explore what is now Alaska, he can only think of finding his fortune in a strange new land.

 

That vision comes to an abrupt halt, however, when he and a shipmate are captured by Tlingit natives near present-day Sitka after a horrifying bear attack.

 

Abraham's ability to adapt to an alien culture is tested, and with the help of the village chief and guidance from his wife, he fits into what he discovers is a complicated society.

 

The shaman wants to kill the whitefaces, but the chief wants to learn from the strangers. When the shaman conspires to get his way, Abraham and his surviving family flee Sitka fearing for their lives.

 

Finding refuge in Klawak, Abraham immerses himself in Tlingit life-not knowing that he'll soon make an eerie discovery on a deserted beach that will solidify his place among the Tlingits.

 

Abraham continues his incredible journey, seeking whitefaces like himself, but he ultimately finds something much more valuable as he explores the land and meets new people in Totem.

 

 

Memoir

 

A Different Face of War: Memories of a Medical Service Corps Officer in Vietnam. By Col. James G. Van Straten, USA (Ret), Life Member, MOAA Alamo (Texas) Chapter. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1574416176.

 

A Different Face of War is a riveting account of one American officer in the Medical Service Corps during the early years of the Vietnam War. 

Assigned as the senior medical advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in I Corps, an area close to the DMZ, James G. Van Straten traveled extensively and interacted with military officers and non-commissioned officers, peasant-class farmers, Buddhist bonzes, shopkeepers, scribes, physicians, nurses, the mentally ill, and even political operatives. He sent his wife daily letters from July 1966 through June 1967, describing in impressive detail his experiences, and those letters became the primary source for his memoir. 

The author describes with great clarity and poignancy the anguish among the survivors when an American cargo plane in bad weather lands short of the Da Nang Air Base runway on Christmas Eve and crashes into a Vietnamese coastal village, killing more than 100 people and destroying their village; the heart-wrenching pleadings of a teenage girl that her shrapnel-ravaged leg not be amputated; and the anger of an American helicopter pilot who made repeated trips into a hot landing zone to evacuate the wounded, only to have the Vietnamese insist that the dead be given a higher priority.

 

An Airman’s Journey: From 1947 Enlistment Through 1972 — Always a New Adventure. By Maj. Robert M. Fletcher, USAF (Ret). Strategic Book Group. ISBN 978-1-63135-400-7.

 

From enlistment at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1947 to Las Vegas, Warner Robins, post-war Japan, to Korea, Germany, and Okinawa, Robert Fletcher rose through the ranks of the US Air Force and proudly retired as a Major with full honors. His chosen field was meteorology and he later became a high school physics teacher. Truly "a life well lived". Fort Benning, Georgia • Lackland, San Antonio, Texas • Randolph, San Antonio, Texas • Goodfellow, San Angelo, Texas • Las Vegas, Nevada • Robins, Warner Robins, Georgia • Camp Stoneman, California • Johnson, Japan • Korea • Germany • University of Georgia, (AFROTC) • Tyndall, Panama City, Florida • Tinker, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • Oklahoma A&M, Stillwater, Oklahoma • Pinecastle, Orlando, Florida • McCoy, Orlando, Florida • Naha, Okinawa, Japan • Grand Forks, North Dakota • Shemya, Alaska • Ramstein, Germany • Simmons, Fort Bragg, North Carolina • Pope, Fayetteville, North Carolina • Tanson Knut-Vietnam • Eglin, Florid

 

 

October 2015

 

Nonfiction

 

Boots and Saddles: Military Leaders of the American West. By Col. Thomas Phillips, USAF (Ret). Caxton Press. ISBN 978-087004-591-2.

 

The Indian Wars of the American West were fought over a period of more than three decades across a landscape that spanned more than half of the land mass of the lower continental United States. The leaders of the small army that was sent to carry out the government's policies faced formidable adversaries. Tenacious and aggressive, native warriors formed what some have called "the best light cavalry in the World". The officers that confronted them faced a daunting tasks. Some succeeded brilliantly; others failed utterly. 

 

Boots and Saddles: Military Leaders of the American West provides an encompassing look at the leaders and the battles they fought, often in conditions notable for difficult terrain and inhospitable climate. This comprehensive work captures the personalities, abilities, triumphs, failures, and lasting legacies of the leaders who waged the campaigns of the American West. 

 

Business Espionage: Risks, Threats, and Countermeasures. By Lt. Col. Bruce Wimmer, USAF (Ret), Life Member. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-420054-8.

 

Business Espionage: Risk, Threats, and Countermeasures provides the best practices needed to protect a company's most sensitive information. It takes a proactive approach, explaining the measures and countermeasures that can be enacted to identify both threats and weaknesses. The text fully explains the threat landscape, showing not only how spies operate, but how they can be detected.

 

Drawn from the author’s 40 years of experience, this vital resource will give readers a true understanding of the threat of business spying and what businesses can do to protect themselves. It is ideal for use as a tool to educate staff on the seriousness of the threat of business espionage.

-- Shows how to identify a company’s threats, weaknesses, and most critical assets
-- Provides proven and practical countermeasures that any business can employ to protect their most sensitive assets from both internal and external threats
-- Uses real-life case studies and examples to help the reader understand how to apply the tactics discussed

 

Courage, Compassion, Marine: The Unique Story of Jimmie Dyess. By Maj. Gen. Perry Smith, USAF (Ret), Life Member. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4917-6691-0.

 

For his extraordinary bravery in the rescue of a drowning woman, Clemson undergraduate Jimmie Dyess received America's top civilian award for heroism, the Carnegie Medal. Sixteen years later, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Dyess led his battalion into combat. He went behind enemy lines to save four wounded Marines. The next day, Dyess was shot and killed. For his exemplary valor and leadership in combat, he received the Medal of Honor. May Jimmie Dyess's life of service and selfsacrifice be an inspiration to all.

 

A Hero’s Walk: The World War II Journey of Lt. B.B. Darnell. By Mike Darnell. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781511521598.

 

Growing up on a small farm in rural Alabama, B.B. Darnell had never traveled far from home. Entering the Army in 1942, World War II changed everything for the soft-spoken, humble young man. By the time World War II was over, he had journeyed thousands of miles and had become a decorated combat veteran with the singular purpose of making it home to marry the woman he loved. “A Hero’s Walk” is the story of his journey. 

 

Proceeds from this book will be used to benefit veterans through USA Cares, a non-profit organization that assists military families. 

 

Lt. Darnell served in the 328th Field Artillery Battalion, 85th Infantry Division. In the fall of 1944, he was an artillery forward observer moving with the infantry in the Apennine Mountains of northern Italy during the bloody battle to break the Nazi’s Gothic Line. After a brutal series of assaults and counter-attacks, his commanding officer wrote the following: 

 

“When Lt. Darnell was relieved and returned to the battery he was staggering from sheer fatigue and illness. He had been in the assault with the infantry for twenty-one days. Two different forward observer parties had been with him and were completely exhausted. He had always been with the spearhead of the attack, never faltering, never asking for relief and even refusing it when he was told to take it. Upon return to his organization he was placed under immediate medical care, but refused evacuation to a hospital, remaining with his battery which was moving in the attack in support of the infantry. Lt. Darnell’s devotion to duty, his extreme courage in the face of withering enemy fire, severe illness and extreme fatigue as well as his superior leadership at the most critical moments were an inspiration to his men and are in the finest tradition of the service.”

 

Two years earlier, B.B. Darnell had just turned 21 years old and graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University). Along with his degree in Agriculture, he received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

 

His overseas journey began on Christmas Eve, 1943, as the 328th loaded onto a ship in Hampton Roads, VA, bound for North Africa. They joined the war in Italy in March of 1944. From Naples to Trieste, Lt. Darnell slogged northward in that bloody conflict, enduring physical, emotional, and mental ordeals he never could have imagined. 

 

The crucible of battle exposed the young man’s fear as well as his courage. It also strengthened his faith in God and galvanized his desire to marry the woman he loved. He finally returned home to Alabama in November, 1945, determined to build a life with his beloved Mildred. 

 

B.B. Darnell’s story is similar to thousands of other young men in an era of heroes who came from the farms, small towns, and cities in the United States to confront evil in another part of the world. And when the enemy was defeated, the survivors returned home, forever changed. 

 

Follow this young soldier’s journey through war overseas as author Mike Darnell tells his father’s remarkable story. 

 

A portion of the proceeds from “A Hero’s Walk” will be donated to USA Cares. USA Cares is a nonprofit organization that supports military families by providing emergency financial assistance in the forms of grants not loans. Preventing evictions, foreclosures, auto repossessions, keeping the electricity turned on and food on the table. For additional information about USA Cares, go to http://www.usacares.org

 

War in the Chesapeake: The British Campaigns to Control the Bay, 1813-14. By Lt. Col. Charles Neimeyer, USMC (Ret), Life Member. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-865-7.

 

In the early nineteenth century, the United States of America was far from united. The United States faced internal strife over the extent of governance and the rights of individual states. The United States' relationship with their former colonial power was also uncertain. Britain impressed American sailors and supported Native Americans' actions in the northwest and on the Canadian border. In the summer of 1812, President James Madison chose to go to war against Britain. War in the Chesapeake illustrates the causes for the War of 1812, the political impacts of the war on America, and the war effort in the Chesapeake Bay. 

 

The book examines the early war efforts, when both countries focused efforts on Canada and the Northwest front. Some historians claim Madison chose to go to war in an attempt to annex the neighboring British territories. The book goes on to discuss the war in the Chesapeake Bay. The British began their Chesapeake campaign in an effort to relieve pressure on their defenses in Canada. Rear Admiral George Cockburn led the resulting efforts, and began to terrorize the towns of the Chesapeake. From Norfolk to Annapolis, the British forces raided coastal towns, plundering villages for supplies and encouraging slaves to join the British forces. The British also actively campaigned against the large American frigates- seeing them as the only threat to their own naval superiority. 

 

War in the Chesapeake traces these British efforts on land and sea. It also traces the Americans' attempts to arm and protect the region while the majority of the American regular forces fought on the Northwest front. In the summer campaign of 1814, the British trounced the Americans at Bladensburg, and burned Washington, D.C. Afterwards, the Baltimoreans shocked the British with a stalwart defense at Fort McHenry. The British leaders, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Major General Robert Ross, did not expect strong resistance after their quick victories at Bladensburg. 

 

War in the Chesapeake tells the story of some of the earliest national heroes, including the defenders of Baltimore and naval leaders like John Rodgers and Stephen Decatur. The following December 1814, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, ending hostilities and returning North America to a peaceful status quo. The United States and neighboring Canada would not go to war on opposing sides again. The United States left the war slightly more unified and independent of the British.

 

 

Fiction

 

Balance of Night: A Military Procedural. By Maj. Allan P. Avery, USMC (Ret), Life Member. Amazon Digital Services. ASIN B00PYN61VK.

 

Sometimes the reward is getting out alive. A Marine Corps KC-130 Hercules aerial tanker aircraft carrying 36 marines has plenty of fuel on a dark night over the storm tossed South Pacific until a desperately low fuel Navy Hornet fighter arrives. Risk everyone so no one is left behind? The requirements for success are perfection in calculations, airmanship, nerve, and luck. 

Christmas and marines are on liberty in Brisbane, Australia and the Gold Coast. If only half the truth is told of how good it was the marines will still be called liars when they return to Okinawa. 

There can be great risk in defending the right of free passage in international waters, particularly if those waters are claimed by North Korea. The United States Navy deliberately sails into harm's way to assert the right of free passage, on the high seas, for every nation. Sailors and marines man the ships and aircraft necessary to protect the fleet as it asserts the right in dangerous waters. 


Peacetime is not war, except for the casualties. A benign environment in a non-combatant evacuation south east of the Strait of Malacca turns to war for the handful of marines involved. 

Flavius Josephus stated the philosophy of the Roman legions of antiquity: "The drills are bloodless battles and the battles are bloody drills." The succinct and echoing words of the Marine D.I. are: "the more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war." Every marine knows this to be true. 

Some marines can justify leaving another marine to the mercy of wrongful court martial but cannot leave a marine to die on the battlefield. A marine lacking moral courage is not necessarily a marine lacking physical courage. Only one attribute may be needed for promotion. 

This novel is a modern military procedural. The duties, demands, and procedures described in this novel are factual within the realm of literary license. The novel revolves around the routine yet demanding service in a Marine Corps KC-130 Hercules aircraft squadron in what is considered peacetime. The story is the result of the author's sense of the flavor of the times, experiences and situations that could have evolved as told here.

 

Lightning Strikes Twice. By Lt. Cmdr. William H. LaBarge, USN (Ret). Gordian Knot Books. ISBN 978-1-937530-66-2.

 

From William H. LaBarge, Author of Four National Bestselling Books and Co-Author of Aviation Book of The Year SWEETWATER GUNSLINGER 201: The news is grim. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has threatened to attack Iran if they don't stop enriching uranium. United States interests back the threat. In LaBarge's latest novel, Lightning Strikes Twice, U.S. Navy pilots Captain "Sweetwater" Sullivan and Lieutenant "BigHands" Johnson, aboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), are called upon to carry out the impossible mission of deterring the Iranian threat under daunting circumstances. Lightning Strikes Twice is an action-packed story dealing with today's current events. The covert operation during the story is called "Rolling Thunder." The story deals with the Bushehr Nuclear Plant in Iran, the Newest Stealth Fighter F-35C, the CIA, Navy SEALs, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, the world's longest sniper kill shot, and an SSGN Nuclear Submarine with the SHED. This electrifying story is bigger than today's political winds on Capitol Hill. The F-35C has the most advanced Integrated Senor Fusing Technology and Multispectral Electro-Optical Targeting capability in the world, and this jaw-dropping story is a fast-paced political thriller.

 

The Prayer Rug. By Cmdr. H.M. Hymas, USN, Life Member. Black Rose Writing. ISBN 978-1-61296-538-3.

 

Powerfully emotional, The Prayer Rug is a story of strength, faith and resilience. Reem, a wife and mother of two, is caught in Iraq after the invasion of US Forces. What began as a future full of hope slowly begins to unravel before her eyes. As the original effort to remove a tyrannical dictator degrades into civil war, it engulfs everyone and everything around her. Everything she loves is slowly taken from her as she watches forces beyond her control destroy her family. Helpless, she clings to her prayer rug in an effort to find strength and peace.

 

The Second Advocate. By 1st Lt. Harry H. Seipel, USMC (Ret). Xlibris. ASIN B00Q7UDVTO. 

 

 

Memoir

 

From Watermelon Inspector to the White House. By Lt. Col. Henry Spencer Faircloth, USAF (Ret), Life Member, Sun City Center (Fla.) Chapter. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1503555310.

 

For an old country boy from South Georgia, I never dreamed of all the adventures my journey through life would produce during my eighty-plus years on this earth. I began life with two loving Christian parents who taught me I could achieve any goal if I worked hard and followed my Christian upbringing. I graduated from Leesburg High School in 1947, one of ten in my class, and set out to put those lessons into practice. After my first year at Emory at Oxford College, it was clear I had not been exposed to as comprehensive an education as many of my fellow students. I was a young man from a small Southern town, and I still had a lot more to learn. But I was also the son of parents who taught me the value of working and learning and challenging myself, so I never shied away from hard or demanding work. Decades of service in the United States Air Force, including two tours in Cold War Europe and leading a committee for the President of the United States, would continue my education. I approached each new challenge with the same understanding and determination as that first semester of college. Maybe I was not as equipped as I could have been, but I could learn and I would not quit. With each success, my bosses continued to recommend me for more important and more challenging work, and each recommendation gave me the confidence I needed to rise to the next challenge. Over the years I have laughed with famous actors and fighter aces, dined with mob bosses, and partied with presidents. I have worked to dig civilization out from the ruins of war, helped feed a continent, flown around the world in service to my country and her veterans, and built a life with the most amazing woman I have ever known. This incredible journey has taught me many important lessons and left me with countless stories of historic events and incomparable people. I feel blessed to have lived this life, and I hope my stories are an equal blessing to you.

 

Grandfather’s Journal: A Grandson’s Journey into His Grandfather’s Life. By Capt. Tom Maxwell, USN (Ret), Life Member. WestBow Press. ISBN 978-1490850863. 

 

In 2012, after sharing a number of sea stories with my only grandson, I was told I needed to write a life journal to include my years as a child in the Philippine Islands just following World War II. The journal, which addressed a time from June 7, 1935 to December 28, 2013, includes the important events of my life, including my twenty-seven years in the US Navy. As could be expected, there are more reflections from my years as a naval aviator, flying combat missions in Vietnam and numerous secret missions against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 

 

Not as exciting, but just as important, was my journal following my naval service after my retirement in December 1982. Most importantly, I have shared what took place in my life on June 9, 1977, two days after my 42nd birthday and two days before my oldest son graduated from high school, when I accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of my life. This event radically changed my life and immediately healed a broken family. It also addressed the thirty-plus years in which I was called as a volunteer to serve the least of these in our prison systems. If I have a desire for the journal, it would be that it encourage others to address the importance of their spiritual needs before age forty-two and that it would challenge my grandchildren in their walk with Christ.

 

Silver Taps. By Lt. Col. Max L. Knight, USA (Ret). Outskirts Press Inc. ISBN 978-1-4787-5175-5.

 

"Silver Taps" is the author's personal journey coming to grips with the loss of his father. It illuminates their relationship and describes what it is to be a hero in the context of love, friendship, and respect. It contains the memories, anecdotes, and musings of a son written down for his children and grandchildren, but will resonate with anyone who fondly remembers a parent whom they loved and who loved them in return. The book also explores the terrible effects of dementia and the dynamics of a family trying to understand and cope with Alzheimer's disease, their reaction and interaction following the death of a family member, and how faith gives hope to some and raises questions in others. The book's title pays homage to the traditions at Texas A&M University, the author's alma mater. The institution, the Corps of Cadets, and its time honored customs serve as the backdrop for the inspirational tribute to a man who served his country in three wars; World War II, Korea, and Vietnam while also caring for family. Whether the reader is looking for inspiration or entertainment, "Silver Taps" delivers.

 

 

December 2015

 

Nonfiction  

 

Afrique: A Warning for America. By Lt. Col. Henry John Poole, USMC (Ret). ISBN: 978-0-98186-590-4.  

 

Through intelligence-gathering methods routinely used by U.S. law enforcement agencies for crime solving, Afrique reveals for the first time just how completely Africa has now been subverted by America’s long-time foes. Not only have Muslim expansionists been making great inroads there, but also those from the People’s Republic of China. Afrique then briefly discusses how the U.S. military might more effectively block this takeover.  

 

Blades of Thunder Book One. By Lt. Col. W. Larry Dandridge, USA (Ret), Charleston (S.C.) Chapter. Tigers, Vikings, and Vipers Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-0-578-15637-8.  

 

Six young Army pilots and green officers, all between 20 and 21 years old, arrive in Vietnam where they each become men, highly skilled pilots, and proficient officers within a few months. None of them will be the same after their first combat tour in Vietnam. All of them will bear the scars of war for life, either physically, mentally, or both. All will be spiritually strengthened, and none will ever be the same. Some soon will be dead, and most will be injured or wounded within the next 12 months. One will become an amputee, and all will suffer from varying degrees of post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives. All will become beloved brothers, and all will honor their families, friends, and this great nation with their dedication, sacrifice, courage, and love of family, country, and God!