Forget Me Not; by Heather Ashby

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MWSA Review

When chance and a stray cat bring them together, Sky and Daisy find themselves caught up in the rotorwash of a doomed romance. A woman who can't forget the past and a pilot with a Peter Pan complex; what are their chances at any kind of future together? When history looks like it's repeating itself, Daisy hopes that through trust and forgiveness perhaps she has another chance at love... if it's not too late.

In her second romance novel, Forget Me Not, Heather Ashby takes our hand as the initial sparks fly, and leads us down a path of love and second chances. The author builds on layers of romance, heartache, secrets, and passion to reveal a past which won't permit either character to trust in a future together. Ms. Ashby's characters are real and engaging; the reader becomes entangled in the convoluted relationship between the doctor and the pilot, and caught up in their secrets: the pasts which haunt them.

Forget Me Not takes us on a tender journey of passion, romance, and hope. I found myself believing, if only for a while, in second chances at love. I look forward to reading Heather Ashby's other romance novels.

Reviewed by: Sandra Miller Linhart (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

A GOLDEN HEART Award Nominee

HEART HAMMERING ACTION AND SEARING ROMANCE

“Sexy, funny, poignant, and romantic!” – Kieran Kramer, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

Suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome and survivor guilt, Navy Seahawk pilot and renowned playboy, Brian “Skylark” Crawford, swears he’ll never settle down, unsure he deserves the happiness promised by marriage—besides, there’s too many hot chicks out there to choose from.

War widow and veterinarian, Daisy Schneider, swears to love only animals after her Marine pilot husband is killed in Afghanistan. Although she fills her life with work and volunteer activities, it fails to put a dent in her loneliness—or the guilt that she might have saved her husband.

Between one stray, matchmaking cat and fiery battles with drug runners at sea, the fur flies as Sky and Daisy learn valuable lessons about life, love, and second chances.

Praise for FORGET ME NOT:

“Forget Me Not takes flight with a dose of humor and suspense and reminds us of the healing power of love for wounded warriors and the ones left behind.” – Cindy Dees, Award-Winning Author of Military Suspense

“A perfect combination of military detail, heart-hammering action, and searing romance.” – Merline Lovelace, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Heart-pounding, realistic action and deeply drawn characters make Forget Me Not an unforgettable read!” – Rachel Grant, Author of Body of Evidence

“Pull your five-point harness tight and brace for impact as sexy Sky Crawford pilots a Navy Seahawk helicopter and closes in on his targets. When it comes to terrorists, drug runners, and hot women, Sky never misses.” – S. L. Menear, Author of Deadstick Dawn

Books in the Love in the Fleet Series:

FORGIVE & FORGET
FORGET ME NOT
NEVER FORGET on sale July 2014

Part of the Henery Press Mystery & Romance Collection

Fade to Black; by Jeffrey Wilson

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MWSA Review

Jack is a dedicated high school teacher. His Biology students love him. Life at home couldn’t be better. He has a loving and beautiful wife. He adores his toddler daughter. Jack is happy, content, fulfilled.

Then he has a nightmare. In the dream, he is a US Marine sergeant named Casey. Casey and his team are in the middle of a firefight in Falujah, cut off from their platoon. The smells, the sounds, the feels of combat in the desert are so real, real, too, is the feel of Casey being wounded.

Bullets striking Casey rip Jack from sleep screaming. For a moment, he struggles to understand that he is in his bedroom, that it is his wife, Pam, worrying about what has happened to him.

Fade to Black is a psychological thriller. The reader follows Jack from a gripping beginning through sustained tension of recurrent nightmares. Pam is worried sick about her husband. Jack questions his sanity.

At the end, the tale settles to earth like a Blackhawk with an experienced pilot on the controls. The reader is left with two thoughts:

The combat scenes are drawn by a been-there-done-that artist.

The story is woven by an author who has a special understanding of the workings of the mind and heart.

Reviewed by: Jack Zerr (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Jack is a young man caught between two terrifying worlds. In one, he is Marine Sergeant Casey Stillmam, locked in combat in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. He is lying next to his dead and dying friends, bleeding in the street – until he wakes up at home, in bed with his wife.

In this other world, Jack is a high school science teacher, husband, and devoted father to his little girl. But the nightmares of war continue to haunt him, and to Jack/Casey they feel in many ways more real than his life at home with his family.

When news of killed Marines in Fallujah surface, Jack realizes he knows far more about these men then he should. But, when the dead Marines begin visiting him while he is awake—he realizes he is in serious trouble.

Faced with the possibility of losing his mind, or far worse, the nightmares being real, Jack knows he must somehow find a way to bridge the two realities and fight his way back from the nightmares to save his wife and little girl.

Restless Hearts, What if Fallen Heroes Could Go Home; by Dennis Baker

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MWSA Review

Author Dennis Baker has told a beautiful, but sometimes difficult to reflect upon, story about the impact of war. No matter the particular service to our country, whether actively participating in the military, or becoming a part of it due to a family member’s service, all are affected. I believe that Restless Hearts goes to the heart of service. The subtitle of the story, What if Fallen Heroes Could Go Home? presents an interesting question and Dennis Baker allows that to be the case through this story. He also draws on earlier national heroes to provide the support needed for the completion of a failed mission. We each need to discover from where we can draw our strength for the “missions” we face each day.

Just what can we learn from those who have gone before us? Do we pay attention to how our loved ones have been affected by military service? Or do we pretend that it never happened? Time heals all wounds, but does it really? Service, whether during wartime or not, changes people. Sometimes for the better but, not always. This book might just be the catalyst for a family discussion that could begin to heal some wounds.

Reviewed by: Joyce Gilmour (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Restless Hearts is a book for all veterans and active duty military. Its a fictional story of hope and destiny that follows five fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen in search of closure to their unfinished lives.

Restless Hearts will captivate your heart and allow you to spend the day with characters that were given the names of real live heroes who once fought for our country covering the period of WWI to current day. This story will take you to the depths of your emotions of sorrow for those who are gone and joy for the outcome of the choices in their journeys.

Make this a part of your recognition for those who have served and are currently serving this country.

Endorsed by Lieutenant General Snowden, the oldest surviving Marine Officer who fought on Iwo Jima, Korea, and Vietnam. Also endorsed by Rear Admiral James H. Flatley, recipient of the Navys prestigious John Paul Jones Award for inspirational leadership.

Amazon Moon; by Glenn Starkey

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MWSA Review

Bad choices, misspent trust, and perceived rejection fuel the protagonist, John Alveraz, on a journey of self-destruction and ultimate personal truth, in Glenn Starkey's Amazon Moon. Thrown to the wolves, and left for dead more than once, John Alveraz makes his way through life with sheer will and brute force.

Starkey gently draws the reader in, and doesn't let go until the last page is turned. The author builds on layers of interactions and decisions, to reveal a tapestry of mystery in Amazon Moon. His plausible course of events gives credibility to the plot; his characters are real and engaging, which adds integrity to the events. The reader becomes entangled, unable turn away as the ensuing destruction unfolds.

Amazon Moon is an emotional roller-coaster of revenge and redemption, full of action and adventure, which touches the reader through myriad emotions. I found myself crying, shocked, animated, and angered - and, albeit apprehensive at times, couldn't wait to see what happened next. I look forward to reading Glenn Starkey's next book.

Reviewed by: Sandra Miller Linhart (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

As a young man, John Alvarez is a bad boy, so its no surprise when a judge finally gives him the choice between going to prison and joining the Marine Corps. Alvarez reluctantly decides on the latter, not realizing that he will discover himself and find a home in the Corps.

Shipped off to Vietnam, Alvarez leads his own band of bad boysIron Raveninto the jungle. They become the terror of their enemies and always the first choice for the most dangerous missions. On one such mission, the brain child of a couple of CIA ops, Alvarez and his squad are cut off from escape by their CIA handlers and are left to fight their way out alone or die. Only Alvarez survivesbut his revenge upon the men who abandoned him and his brothers lands him in prison for life.

After twenty years of incarceration, Alvarez is offered his freedom, but only if he agrees to undertake another suicide mission. If hes going to be a free man, Alvarez must become the bodyguard of a Mr. Standish and lead him on a journey into the mysterious Amazonian kingdom ruled by the devil himself. It is only in the heart of the jungle that Alvarez discovers that he has accepted a mission with only two possible outcomes--redemption or death.

Revolution 2016: Take Back America; by Lee Boyland & Vista Boyland

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MWSA Review

Revolution 2016: Take Back America should be read as intended, as a Political Satire/Thriller! Whether you are left or right this book presents an interesting concept of a possible reality. Based loosely on events taking place today it proceeds to weave its satirical web through the concerns of many today. 

The scenarios presented come alive on the pages backed up by various media reports we all see and hear currently. The Boyland’s present possible results coming from less than well thought out laws and their implementation. Whether you agree or disagree is not as important understanding how it may be possible to arrive at this destination by straying from the constitution, while keeping in mind this is satire.

The reader will come down on various sides of the concept, some will be all for it, others opposed. Nothing wrong with either opinion if that opinion is based on two things (1) An honest read based on what the book is a “Satirical/Thriller” (2) Opinion based on the books entirety, not on a single item that irks the reader.

I enjoyed the book, was amused in places with the names of folks made to closely resemble those of real people in the news. An enjoyable read!

MWSA Reviewer: jim greenwald (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Except for California, the scenario satirized in Revolution 2016 has not occurred, and the story is alternate history. 

In 2013 America was approaching the tipping point regarding the Second Amendment. If progressive-liberals gained control, negated the Second Amendment and attempted to seize guns, would patriots rise up and throw the bums out by force? The 2014 and 2016 elections would decide the issue. Revolution 2016 explores the consequences of this future.

Enjoy a story of what might have been, and be glad it didn't occur.

The Warriors; by Tom Young

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MWSA Review

I finished reading The Warriors by Tom Young on the 50th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. March on Washington and as the violence in Syria goes beyond diabolical. This past year also included the horrific bombings of the Boston Marathon. Young dares to address and unmask a little more of the inherent behavior of human beings divided over race, language, religion, and self-righteousness. Even though the Balkan War attained a level of outward peace, the war within the human heart continues to smolder, often hidden beneath the complicated forest bogged down by the fog of war, racial tensions, and greed. Our own U.S. civil war was supposedly concluded 150 years ago, but the divide between north and south, race, religions and greed still smolders in the ruins of our not so united states. “Serbian elders remind us that no group is ever on the wrong side.”

Tom Young is the prophet who writes a thrilling and profound parable of truth. There were times as I read this book that I had to put it down because I was terrified by where it was threatening to go. I have always feared that terrorists would make martyrs of their own people to further their own distorted, zealous and radical views. Young suggests this, but he raises the stakes when the plot is to destroy one’s own faith leaders, historically significant buildings, and one’s own soldiers.

Just this week, Pope Francis in an impassioned statement with regards to Syria reiterated previous appeals for all sides in the civil war to put down their arms and “listen to the voice of their conscience and with courage take up the way of negotiations."

With remarkable insight, the book probes the human heart and how it can be stirred into a frenzy of hatred and disastrous reactivity. It also speaks of the everyday struggles of soldiers both male and female who struggle with vocational choices, like when veteran Sgt Major Gold wrestled with her choice to work in Afghanistan as a civilian or use the G.I. Bill for studies in philosophy.

Even though fictional, Young helped me to understand the Balkan War and lesson my ignorance. Young points out how raw emotions and fear without reasonability often lead to obscene atrocities. I was even honest enough to admit my sadness at the demise of the bad people. Is it possible to have a slightly better understanding of victim, enemy civilian, and terrorist?

I gleaned from Young that the further we distance ourselves from ground zero, the easier it is to avoid the emotional conflict and disgust of all wars and the grisly consequences. He does this by allowing us a prismatic look into the thoughts of his warriors on both sides of the conflict.

Incorporating the blunt force of modern warfare, Young presents an image that forces us to ponder our moral, ethical and philosophical reasoning, while at the same time encouraging us to manage our emotional outrage and terror. The story felt so real I desired to respond with a similar decry as the pope in reference to images of victims in Syria. “With utmost firmness, I condemn the use of chemical weapons. I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart.”

Chaplains, warriors, civilians caught in the crossfire of war, and political leaders could benefit from wrestling with the profound and disturbing thoughts within this story. On page 138, the following dialogue between the officer and the veteran sergeant major is one of many examples of this exquisite writing.

“I was pretty young back then,” Parson said. “I guess I just couldn’t reconcile a world where those things could still happen.” He went on to say he’d seen awful things in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. But he was older and more jaded then. Bosnia had first taught him that cruelty persisted in human nature like a dominant gene. “I don’t know about philosophy and history and religion; I just fly airplanes. But it seems the more I learn about what we’re capable of, the worse it gets. I don’t see how you stand it.”

Gold liked it that he’d said “what we’re capable of.” Not this group or that group. He might feel older and more jaded, but he was also older and wiser.

The Warriors would make a great movie, but a movie would miss the true value of the story. The truth lies in the thoughts of all of the “warriors”, good, bad and mixed up. Young allows us a glimpse into the thoughts and emotions of the warriors. After reading this thriller/mystery, much remains unresolved in my heart, as it should be. A war is never over until it is over in every human soul… with no exceptions.

MWSA Reviewer: Ron Camarda (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

A novel of modern warfare from the author of Sand and Fire and The Hunters..."one of the most exciting new thriller talents in years" (Vince Flynn).

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Parson’s newest assignment is a welcome change of pace. Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan is a major stopover for planes in and out of Afghanistan, but his new job as safety officer is a pretty laid-back way to spend the next year. Or so he thought.

A C-27 crashes on the runway, its fuselage packed with electronic gear—and raw opium. Recruiting Sergeant Major Sophia Gold as interpreter, Parson must investigate not only what caused the crash, but who supplied its cargo. And the answers they find lead to a nightmarish revelation.

A new Balkan war is brewing, driven by a man of ruthless ambition. Parson himself flew during the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, so he knows their horrors firsthand. But neither he nor Gold has seen anything like what’s about to happen now.

Cochabamba Conspiracy; by Brinn Colenda

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MWSA Review

Cochabamba Conspiracy is one of those rare books that compel the reader to keep turning pages to see what happens next in the exciting intrigue taking place in South America’s towering Andes Mountains or on a plane carrying biological agents to spray a holiday crowd in Baltimore.

Fighter pilot Lieutenant Colonel Tom Callahan was not happy leaving his fast jets for assignment to the U.S. embassy in Bolivia where he faced bureaucratic frustrations and sinister intrigue from his own colleagues.Tom’s flying skills are tested to the limits in the difficult flying conditions not only through rough Andes weather, but also in coping with devastating sabotage.

A rogue Army Colonel takes over as Tom’s boss and begins conspiring with a power-hungry deputy chief of mission against Tom and the ambassador. Colonel Steele amasses a fortune in drug money after importing several disreputable sergeants to create havoc at the embassy and with the anti-narcotic efforts by the combined U.S.-Bolivian military.Steele plots to destroy Tom’s career, or have him killed, while Steele’s embassy mistress forces Tom’s wife to leave the country.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, drug money from Bolivia goes via Cuba to fund an international terrorist group headed by a former East German Stasi agent who is implementing a plan for a devastating biological attack on the east coast of America. Back in the states, Tom finds himself in a race to thwart the attack.

As a former Air Force Section Chief in the U.S. Military Group in La Paz, author Brinn Colenda uses his intimate knowledge of Bolivia, flying, and U.S. embassy operations to create this believable action-packed yarn of drug cartels, rogue military and diplomats, global terrorism, and harrowing flights in the high Andes.

Cochabamba Conspiracy also has its tender moments interspersed with the horrific incidents.It’s a great novel and recommended for those who love thrillers.

Reviewed by: Joe Epley (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Award winning author Brinn Colenda captures the essence of international terrorism as Kurt Wallerein, feared, hated and hunted by every intelligence service and law enforcement agency in the West, forms a partnership with an embattled Fidel Castro. Their goal is to destabilize the democratic governments in South America--and the United States. Lieutenant Colonel Tom Callahan, USAF and his compadres in the U.S. Military Group-Bolivia risk their lives and reputations battling enemies--foreign and domestic--in this exciting novel.

"Colenda's thriller is a sensation. He owes me for the month's worth of adrenalin that I used up reading his book -- all without getting off the couch. And the scary part? The plot is all too plausible."

Scott Archer Jones, Award-winning author ofJupiter and Gilgamesh, The Big Wheel, and A Rising Tide of People Swept Away

Fear of Beauty; by Susan Froetschel

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MWSA Review

What has an intricately woven plot, an unlikely sleuth, romance, mystery, intrigue, war, and political/social commentary that brings compassionate understanding of the nation of Afghanistan? Fear of Beauty by Susan Froetschel.

Set in modern-day Afghanistan, the book is, at its core, a mystery that will keep you turning pages from the first sentence to the last word. Beginning with the prologue, we are introduced to Sofi, an Afghan woman whose son Ali was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in the unforgiving mountainous area near the village of Laashekoh in the Helmand Province. The villagers seem willing to call it a tragic accident, but Sofi fears there is more to the death than the slip of a foot.

Sofi’s perspective, told in the first person, alternates with the third person narrative of American forces leader Army Ranger Joey Peterson, whose mission is to share agricultural knowledge and technology with nearby villages. Rounding out the cast of characters, Taliban extremists have descended on the village to create mistrust and division, while furthering their goal of forcing women back into more traditional roles of subjugation.

Thinking that I was reading a simple mystery, I was slowly reeled in to contemplate the lives of hardworking Afghan farmers along with their isolated women. In the maelstrom of war torn Afghanistan, cultural traditions of all sides of the conflict are explored in an engaging and insightful manner.

Fear of Beauty is a book that will stay with you for a long time, causing you to examine your beliefs and inform your heart. After the mystery is solved, the author includes an epilogue from Sofi’s point of view that is a skillfully and beautifully written essay that spans all cultures, all beliefs, all traditions, and all countries. Its message endures beyond the reading of the last word.

MWSA Reviewer: Betsy Beard (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

The battered body of an Afghan boy is found at the base of a cliff outside a remote village in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Did he fall as most of the villagers think? Or is this the work of American soldiers, as others want to believe? Not far from the village, the US Army has set up a training outpost. 

Sofi, the boy's illiterate young mother, is desperate to find the truth about her son's death. But extremists move in and offer to roust the "infidels" from the region, adding new pressures and restrictions for the small village and its women. 

We hear two sides of this story. One is Sofi's. The other is that of US Army Special Ranger Joey Pearson, who is in this faraway place to escape a rough childhood and rigidly fundamentalist parents. 

In time, and defying all odds, Sofi secretly learns to read--with the help of Mita Samuelson, an American aid worker. Through reading, the Afghan woman develops her own interpretation of how to live the good life while discovering the identity of her son's murderer and the extremists' real purpose in her village.  

As they search for answers, Sofi, Joey, and Mita come to the same realization: in each of their separate cultures the urge to preserve a way of life can lead to a fundamentalism that destroys a society's basic values.
 

Flying into the Storm; by Bill Norris

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MWSA Review

Seldom does a historical fiction book read so accurate and true that one senses it is not fiction but rather in this case a true memoir of combat.  Bill Norris undoubtedly has put his personal experiences into this remarkable work. Only a Vietnam vet can convey such a strong and coherent message.

Centered on a young drafted soldier named Jared, we go from a raw recruit coming in country at Cam Rahn Bay being assigned to the 23rd Division more commonly called the Americal Division. In Jared’s one year tour of duty, we find a young man more attuned to the realities of Vietnam life in which he shows compassion beyond his young age.

First of all he recognizes the need for human relations in which he sees the futility of war and all the baggage it brings. His empathy for the local population brings him to the need to protect and defend a young Vietnamese boy who is without a family due to the war.

Along with Jared’s concern with the Vietnamese boy, we see a soldier dedicated to the service of his comrades and a concern to do the best job he can in order to survive the ordeals of combat Along the way in order to survive Jared learns the ropes of what it means to be an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam.

With this knowledge Jared not only learns how to be a good infantryman in the process he learns leadership. It is with this leadership in which Jared comes full circle with his philosophy of life. He struggles with the war but in reality has a solid basis of his basic morality. His thesis is correct and he was a good soldier. However as a veteran of that war, the rest of the country did not appreciate the sacrifices of our military. So be it, as these veterans for the next three decades would be known as the forgotten soldiers.

Mr. Norris has conveyed the key message for our long forgotten Vietnam veterans. This book in an affirmation of what the Vietnam veteran is all about.  Norris has conveyed my longstanding message of what it means to be a Vietnam veteran.

MWSA Reviewer: Geschke, Richard (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Jared Christopher’s transition into adulthood was defined by youthful indecision. He followed his childhood friends to college. Then, halfway through first semester, he began to acknowledge the futility of the path he had chosen. 

Jared decides to withdraw from college and volunteer for the draft. A year later, the young infantry soldier is thrown boots first into an escalating Vietnam War. The glory of going off to war turns out not to be so glorious after all.

It’s 1968, the year of the Tet. Jared finds himself in a place called Quang Ngai. Just a young private fresh out of training, Jared is suddenly in the heat of combat, following orders and taking lives. Meanwhile, he develops a compassion and need to understand the plight of the ordinary Vietnamese citizen. He seeks purpose where there seems to be none and quickly develops instincts that help him to survive while sustaining his most basic human principles. Not your typical war story, it carries you along and encourages you to see, feel and share the experiences of a young soldier's journey into both war and manhood.

When Wars Were Won; by Hugh Aaron

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MWSA Review

Drafted, Hal Arnold finds himself on an ocean liner converted to a troop ship en route to the war in the Pacific. Most of the men are much older than Hal, an intelligent, naïve, nineteen year old who longs to attend college, but is without resources to do so. This is Hal’s story, told in the first person, of his journey to maturity in a foreign land as a member of the Navy’s version of the Corps of Engineers — the Seabees. His adventures provide the reader with a first hand look at war, the last “great war,” as experienced by men behind the front lines.

No one in the battalion, including the commander, knows their destination. No one that is, except a sailor named Barry Fortune, an ordinary man — at least ordinary at first glance. Fortune is an entrepreneur, a wheeler-dealer, an opportunists, who unlike most of his breed, is a very successful one. Military units in the field during wartime are often short of needed items. The supply chain is slow and clogged, so the necessary — and sometimes not so necessary — items must be obtained by other means. The men who fill these needs are know by such names as “scrounger” or my favorite, “midnight requisition specialists.”

Fortune quickly became one such man; and as we read on we discover he is also an educated, wealthy, complex, adventurer, planner and doer. Recognizing Hal’s potential, Fortune takes him under his wing and becomes one of the men who will guide young Hal and shape his future. Over time the two become friends, forming a relationship that will last long after the war is over.

Next we meet the second man who will greatly influence young Hal: Roger Billiard, a man known to the Seabees as “Billiard Ball”, because of his bald head. The opposite of Fortune, Billiard Ball, a large, powerfully built man, is a cynical, professor who’s been drafted from his perch at Columbia University. Recognizing Hal’s intellect, Billiard Ball begins the young man’s education.

When Wars Were Won is an intriguing story that must be carefully read to be fully appreciated. WWII transforms America into its new role as the world’s first Super Power. A role America wasn’t ready for; but then again, how could it have been, for America was entering unexplored territory.

Hal Arnold struggles with his natural aversion to war and killing, yet realizes it’s unavoidable. At first the use of two atomic bombs that ended the war elates him. Later he muses, “To this day I regret my innocence. I regret that I celebrated our victory rather than mourned. The price our enemy paid gives me pain. Yet, it would be foolish to resent the bomb; its time had come, whether created by a defending, mission-bent America or a zealous, ambition-driven Axis. I was proud and thankful that the United States solved the nuclear riddle first, for I believed in America and it our good intentions. Yet I feared for all humanity. What is more dangerous than a well-meaning, self-righteous people bent on a mission?” Several more of Hal’s piercing observations are scattered throughout the book’s pages.

Hal’s experiences expose him to a wide range of human emotions and weakness: conflicts, petty jealousies, egos, Japanese atrocities, and the Navy cast system. In WWII’s Navy there were officers, enlisted, and Negroes: each treated differently and each with different restrictions and privileges.

Love interests? There are several, including a unique love triangle. Arnold also describes the basic human need for sex. The Philippines have been destroyed by the Japanese, and the Americans offer the only source of employment. Some women become servants, and others became “business women.” Soon temporary relationships flower between sailors and local women, women who refer to their man as their “husband” even though no marriage has taken place.

When Wars Were Won is a serious historical novel, or perhaps it is a memoir. Either way, along with providing an enlightening look at the rear areas of the Pacific campaign, the title subtly reminds the reader WWII was the last war won. But, that’s a discussion for another day.

MWSA Reviewer: Lee Boyland (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

In this first novel, Hal Arnold, a professor of English, returns to the Philippines after forty years yearning for the unity, spirit and optimism he knew as a 19- year-old member of a Seabee battalion in the South Pacific theater during World War II. Trying to recapture that experience, he writes this story, vividly portraying members of the battalion who impacted his life. Searching for his own identity, he finds it in the warm, rich culture of a small Filipino village where love and dignity thrive among a people who have suffered under the Japanese yoke.

Firehammer; by Ric Hunter

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MWSA Review

The F-4 Phantom was originally designed to be a close air support bomb platform to be used in support of Marine Corps ground operations. It evolved into an extremely fast, maneuverable fighter with missile launch, and later, mini gun air to air capabilities, and was mightily feared by the North Vietnamese Mig pilots.

Flown by the best of the best, it responded technically to men at the stick who knew how, and were not afraid to push this sleek beast to the limits of its design capabilities. Firehammer is a work of fiction, but based on the actual experiences of an outstanding pilot during the Vietnam War.

Reading this book is not only an education in the art of flying fast moving combat aircraft, but a journey through the vernacular of flying. The reader is placed in the aircraft, and can feel the heat and excitement of split second decision making upon which lives depend.

The warmth of friendship and the respect for one’s fellow pilots is in keeping with the same reverence felt by all soldiers, sailors, and flyboys who have had the honor of being the best that they can be in the presence of kindred spirits.

Fittingly, the book ends with an epilogue of emotion at The Wall. Where veterans have gathered daily for thirty years to try and make sense of what they did by remembering those that they did it with.

MWSA Reviewer: Bob Flournoy (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

FIREHAMMER is a novel based on a true story about the final battle of the Vietnam War. Written by Ric Hunter, a fighter pilot who participated in this event, this book educates, entertains and excites the reader. It also honors those who served including the author's high school friend, Tim Davies, USMC -- who died earlier in the war.

Widow of Gettysburg; by Jocelyn Green

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MWSA Review

So often we speak of the soldier returning from war with a mysterious injury to the psyche and soul. Over the years it has been called many things, but today it is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The community pours in resources, sympathy, support and compassion for the veterans while often neglecting the widows, children and families. But what happens when the community itself is sucked into the fog and brutality of the horrific civil war? What is the soul and moral injury of the community?Widow of Gettysburg offers soul repair.

Jocelyn Green uses historical fiction to wrestle with the very divisive, blunt, boiling and true issues of the Civil War (and all wars) that still reside in our bloodstreams today. The book is prophetic, hopeful and extraordinarily challenging. All of her characters, including heroines, victims and villains, all have flaws and strengths. I found myself loving all of them even when their behaviors were sometimes despicable or psychotic. We must love our enemies.

Widow of Gettysburg rocked my soul. The story took me beyond history into a sacred place after the battlefield. Bitterness and sweetbread, brokenness and restoration, desperation and hope, hunger and relief, and hatred and powerful love triggered my senses. As a field hospital chaplain for over seven months in Iraq after the Battle for Fallujah, I also experienced the amputations of the body, spirit and soul. My return home and encounter with the families and friends of the fallen has been much more difficult, challenging and purging of my soul than I imagined. This book was extremely painful, but the healing of my soul was worth the excruciating pain.

Widow of Gettysburg is well researched, clever, prayerful, tearful, suspenseful and loaded with hope.I have a much more realistic and compassionate understanding of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and history of war itself. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

War can truly be confusing and morally ambiguous. As long as we breathe, the work is truly unfinished. In this historically truthful tale, one will better understand the devastation when people emotionally react to the polarities of north and south, union and confederate, slave and free state, left and right, or black and white. Jocelyn Green is a prophetess. Peace is attainable if we have the courage to acknowledge our own discrimination and then seek out Liberty and Beauty (Bella).

As long as we profit from war, we cannot live with the prophets or the prophetesses. Let us love one another.

To the widows and women of Gettysburg let us say, “Thank you for your service!”

MWSA Reviewer: Ron Camarda

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Author's Synopsis

For all who have suffered great loss of heart, home, health or family; true home and genuine lasting love can be found.

When a horrific battle rips through Gettysburg, the farm of Union widow Liberty Holloway is disfigured into a Confederate field hospital, bringing her face to face with unspeakable suffering-and a Confederate scout who awakens her long dormant heart. 

While Liberty's future crumbles as her home is destroyed, the past comes rushing back to Bella, a former slave and Liberty's hired help, when she finds herself surrounded by Southern soldiers, one of whom knows the secret that would place Liberty in danger if revealed.

In the wake of shattered homes and bodies, Liberty and Bella struggle to pick up the pieces the battle has left behind. Will Liberty be defined by the tragedy in her life, or will she find a way to triumph over it?

Inspired by first-person accounts from women who lived in Gettysburg during the battle and its aftermath, Widow of Gettysburg is Book 2 in the Heroines Behind the Lines
series. These books do not need to be read in succession.  For more information
& resources about the Heroines Behind the Lines series, visit heroinesbehindthelines.com.

The Dark Side of Glory; by Richard McMahon

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MWSA Review

When Matthew Clark agrees to write the biography of General Coursen, he hasn't any idea the layers of deceit and deception he'll uncover in his pursuit to be thorough, nor does he realize his own life will be forever changed in the process.

In his novel, The Dark Side of Glory, Richard McMahon alternatively paints past and future love stories blossoming while wars rage on two types of battle fronts. McMahon deftly captures all audiences by producing a manuscript worthy of a factual military history book, while sating a romantic's appetite, and tipping the scales toward a true mystery who-done-it.

The Dark Side of Glory kept me up past my bedtime, and entertained me throughout my day until the last word was read. I'm looking forward to experiencing Mr. McMahon's other works.

MWSA Reviewer: Sandra Miller Linhart (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

AWARDED THE 2014 GOLD MEDAL FOR HISTORICAL FICTION BY THE MILITARY WRITERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA

In this page-turning suspense novel set during the Korean War, Matthew Clark, the biographer of a respected and highly decorated Army general, learns that there is a hidden side to his life, involving a brutal, covered-up murder, a secret mistress, and an abandoned illegitimate daughter. As he delves deeper, Matthew discovers an intriguing mystery and a tragic love, in a world of surprises where nothing is at it seems. 
Tracing the general’s earlier career during the occupation of Japan and through the early days of the Korean War, Matthew follows the lives of four principle characters: Philip Coursen, who appears to be the perfect Army officer, but with a disturbing dark side, Miriam Coursen, equally perfect Army wife, who may hide a secret agenda, Calvin Carter, an idealistic young West Pointer, beset with guilt as a result of his clandestine affair with another officer’s wife, and Samantha Winstead, the beautiful, vivacious cause of Calvin Carter’s discomfort. The biography takes a personal turn for Matthew, as he finds himself drawn into the story when he falls in love with the young woman who claims to be Coursen’s daughter.

"The Dark Side of Glory by Richard McMahon ranks right beside David Baldacci's bestselling novels when it comes to plot twists and turns and jaw-dropping surprises. Just when you think you've figured out what happens next, McMahon throws a ten-pound sledgehammer through your preconceptions. It's an edge-of-your-seat thriller by a top-flight talent. Truly, The Dark Side of Glory is a stunning triumph!" —Dwight Jon Zimmerman, award-winning military historian and #1 New York Times bestselling author.

"In his novel, The Dark Side of Glory, Richard McMahon alternatively paints past and future love stories blossoming while wars rage on two types of battle fronts. McMahon deftly captures all audiences by producing a manuscript worthy of a factual military history book, while sating a romantic's appetite, and tipping the scale toward a true mystery who-done-it." –Military Writers Society of America.

“This is a marvelously well told story. The plot is different and exciting. The characters are described vividly to the extent I felt a loss when any of them died. A murder is committed at the beginning but it is a wild ride before the killer is exposed. And among all this are the Korean War and a tragic love story.” —Readalot Reviews.

“An excellent book, written by an author who obviously knows what he is talking about. Brings to life what is known in Britain as the “Forgotten War.” The plot and the characters are well developed and make you want to know their stories. The military aspects are brilliantly presented, certainly on a par with other authors such as Coyle or Bond.” —Peter Nicholas Farrell Reviews, London.
 

Eyes of the Blind; by John W. Huffman

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MWSA Review

There are some casualties of war that we rarely account for. Sometimes when an ineffective leader is caught in his own distorted views/actions of rank at the risk of his soldiers’ lives, then the removal or reassignment of that soldier could be considered a casualty of war. Eyes of the Blind explores this aspect of war with humor and thought provoking reflection on personal responsibility. It takes a great bit of courage to see the beam in our own eye while insisting on pointing out the speck in another’s eye. John Huffman dares to write about the blindness we all carry through war. This blindness is not restricted to the Vietnam War or any war for that matter. However, it takes others to help us see our own blindness… even if we are the hero or heroine.

His writing is insightful and delightfully crafted to draw the reader into the ugliness of war while maneuvering us into exploring and untangling our own truth. If our blindness is healed, war experiences almost always inspire us to a higher wisdom. The book explores the gray areas of choices we are forced to make in and beyond combat. The characters, even the heroes and heroines, all have their flaws, grace and blindness.

The characters of the book occasionally outmaneuver the reader with their humanness, vulnerabilities and blindness. For example, after being humbled by another sergeant, the narrator (while recovering from his third purple heart which ironically included temporary blindness) admits to his nurse and the reader: I sank back glumly. “I just made a total ass out of myself… he’s right, I was so upset seeing one of my men hurt and feeling guilty because I’m not out there with them, I took it out on Jay.” She smiled. “Well, as you infantry types say when you’re out maneuvered, fall back and regroup…”

The book is powerful, truly inspiring, and a fun read. The training gleaned from Eyes of the Blind would have helped me tremendously while ministering to the casualties of Bravo Surgical in Fallujah Iraq (2004-2005). It will definitely help me in ministering to the survivors ten years later. As the Top suggested to the soldier, “Sometimes war causes wounds in the soul as much as the body.” He observed, “It sounds like your friend wants to be around people he can trust, and who expect nothing from him. I think he’s got some serious healing to do.”

MWSA Reviewer: Ron Camarda (2014)

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Author's Synopsis

Winner of the 2014 National Indie Excellence Book Award for Historical Fiction

Winner of the 2014 National Military Writers Society of America Gold Award

Eyes of the Blind, the second in the John Joseph Sharpe trilogy series following America's Diplomats and leading into Above all, is a forceful saga set in the Vietnam conflict's initial phase as support for the war effort wanes amidst the media coverage's most exploitative stage. Following his second battle wound in Operation Attleboro, young Private Delarosa earns his way out of combat, but becomes entangled in his best friend Jay Sharpe's driving desire to remain in the infantry and signs a waiver to remain on the line. Together, the two rapidly rise in rank while enduring a downward spiral in moral as political agendas replace aggressive military tactics, chronicling the best and worst of that difficult era.

The Sandbox - "Dispatches from Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan;" edited by David Stanford

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MWSA Review

Who are these Marines and Soldiers whose courage and tenacity is so glorified and politicized by those who never served ?

 Editor David Stanford brings us the daily stories of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in their own blunt words. An Gary Trudeau-inspired addition to his 11-year old Doonesbury.com website, Trudeau and Stanford invited the warriors overseas to write back so the folks back on the homefront could stay informed about the war. They weren't looking for strategy and tactics, but rather the daily routine - ranging from boring to mundane to kinetic - that the troops experienced.

 And write they did, as "mil-blogging" increased in popularity, the writing skills of a few of the blogging Marines and Soldiers brought the wars back home in a visceral fashion that often leaves the reader with damp eyes. No slick writing here, but rather just the honest words of your son and daughters and husbands at war.

 1st Sgt Troy Steward, New York Guard, writes of his time in Afghanistan as part of an Embedded Training Team (ETT) with an Afghan National Army Unit. Sgt Roy Batty, stationed in Baghdad, writes of the boredom associated with living on a FOB and then later segues into problems with an Iraqi Police unit that shot and killed an old man. "They are our buddies," he writes,"our comrades in arms with whom we are supposed to bring Jeffersonian democracy and security to this wonderful country..." . 1st Lt Stefan laments the death of a fellow officer, 2nd Lt Scott Lundell, with whom he attended OCS. "Rest in peace,"Stefan grieves on his keyboard,"...a brother in arms who is loved and missede. The debt will not go unpaid..."

 Stanford has sifted through the hundreds of articles posted on the more popular milblogs such as bouhammer.com, sackiniraq.blogspot.com. and traversa.typepad.com, and posted a few of the best. "The Sandbox" has articles from men and women, officers and enlisted men, and warriors, chaplains, and corpsmen. These are unforgiving wars where the combat zones start at the border, and Stanford lets those doing the fighting talk about how it affects them. In an environment where the media is criticised for playing politics by wanting to show photos of coffins being returned to the United States, one can instead read SPC J.R. Salzman's (jrsalzman.com.weblog) blunt description of having his arm blown off "...the tast of blood in my mouth, realizing that the bottom half of my arm was missing with nothing left but a couple of fingers and part of my hand hanging off by some skin and tendons and realizing how much pain I was in."

 The value of "The Sandbox" is that it lets the reader forget the petty politics of the last few years and instead get to know something about the Marines and Soldiers who are doing the fighting and dying. Republicans - Democrats are unimportant when one reads 1st Sgt Stewards reports from Afghanistan, or SPC's Salzman writing about how "the last time I saw my wedding ring was when it was being snipped off with a pair of bolt cutters at a hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad." Thank you, Gentlemen, for what you are doing, and thank you for sharing it with us; "The Sandbox" should be read by every American.

MWSA Reviewer: 

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Author's Synopsis

Launched as a military blog (or "milblog") by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau in October 2006, The Sandbox is an online forum through which service members in Afghanistan and Iraq share their stories with readers here at home. In hundreds of fascinating and compelling posts, soldiers write passionately, eloquently, and movingly of their day-to-day lives, of their mission, and of the drama that unfolds daily around them.

A dog adopts a unit on patrol in Baghdad and guards its flank; a soldier chronicles an epic day of close-call encounters with IEDs; an Afghan translator talks earnestly with his American friend about love and theology; a dad far from home meditates on time and history in the desert night under ancient stars; a Chuck Norris action figure witnesses surreal moments of humor in the cramped cab of a Humvee —Doonesbury.com's The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan presents a rich outpouring of stories, from the hilarious to the thrilling to the heartbreaking, and helps us understand what so many of our countrymen are going through and the sacrifices they are making on our behalf.

* I really feel like most people look at this war as little more than a television event. How many have ever taken the time to stop and think about what we go through every day over here? The bullets, rockets, and IEDs are not the hard part. The hard part is knowing that life goes on back at home. —FC1 (SW) Anthony McCloskey

* The man looks at me, his jaw working in anger. For a brief second, I get the impression that he is going to attack, and then suddenly, as if the energy has gone out of him, his shoulders slump slightly and he looks down at his brother's body. —1LT Adam Tiffen

* Out here in the desert, Time is King; the minutes are his minions and the months his sabers by which you are knighted. The King controls all that you do, when you come and go, and how long until you see your children. —Capt. Lee Kelley

Securing the Global Transportation Network; by Luke Ritter

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MWSA Review

An in-depth look at one of the country's greatest security concerns.

Everything we use everyday comes from somewhere.  Getting that product from point A to point B in a timely, cost-effective way is important to everyone in the transportation industry.  But the attacks against America both domestically and abroad have shown that we are as vulnerable as ever, and one way to secure our business interests is to secure our transportation networks. 

That is the subject of this excellent book, written by three veterans of the industry and featuring a foreward by Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security.  Using their years of experience, the authors develop in the book the concept of Total Security Management, and use compelling case studies to illustrate their point that a secure business is a successful business.  The book breaks down the global transportation process, shows where value is added along the way, and how to maximize that value while minimizing risk, not only from terrorism but from other less malicious but equally damaging impacts.  The book further demonstrates the financial benefits of investing in security, and also how to protect physical corporate assets, whether they be fixed or goods in transit.  A "Book of the Month" of the American Society for Industrial Security in December 2006, this book is a must for anyone working in or around global transportation industries.

Highly recommended.  FIVE STARS!

MWSA Reviewer: Rob Ballister

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Author's Synopsis

Viable, value-creating solutions for securing global transportation networks

Securing Global Transportation Networks demonstrates how improved security processes can create value across all the business functions throughout an entire value chain. Readers will learn a whole new security management philosophy, as explained through domestic and international examples and case studies ranging from major retailers such as Home Depot to shipping giants such as Maersk and FedEx. This book also looks ahead to future developments and "best practices" for the future. If you're charged with making or evaluating transportation security decisions, you'll find the tools you need to succeed -- and prosper -- with the Total Security Management approach.

• Explains globalization's impact on transportation networks
• Creates a framework for realizing a return on security investments by integrating it as a core business process
• Details how transportation firms, investors, and insurance companies can measure and reward smart security practices that protect a firm's fixed assets, assets in transit, brand equity and goodwill, and human capital

The Highlanders; by Rob Kauder

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MWSA Review

Some books need to be read by everyone, and “The Highlanders” is one of them.

Written by former Marine Rob Kauder about his year in Iraq as a sergeant with the Washington National Guard, this book ignores the politics of the war, and instead focuses on the lives and events of 2004-2005 south of Baghdad.

Kauder can surely write. This book is as realistic and gritty as was the Salman Pak area he and his men were tasked with peace-keeping. From his descriptions of the heat, the dust, and the stench of months of uncollected garbage and sewage, to his dealings with the local sheiks and  children, Kauder draws the reader into his world – the world of the American National Guardsman - citizen-solider – that so few Americans know exist, much less understand.

At the same time Kauder and Charlie Company are dealing with IED’s and potentially fatal ambushes in their little corner of the Sunni Triangle, they also find themselves fighting some incredibly inefficient and inept active-service army officers. While Kauder’s Guardsmen are up-armoring their humvees themselves, and devising their own IED tactics, they are forced to deal with Army officers like MajGen Peter Chiarelli who was ordering snap eye and ear protection checkpoint inspections within the safety of the Green Zone. “Gotta look good; Hooah.” He then contrasts this inanity with the actions of the Marines – some friends from his old unit - 20 miles away fighting door-to-door in the November 2004 fight in Fallujah.

For those who have served in Iraq; this book is for you. Kauder returns you to “The Stables”, brings you back to standing guard at 0300 as the sand and grit forms on your chapped lips, and reminds you of the friendships and bonds formed with those who fought and bled together.

And for those who didn’t serve – read this and you’ll begin to understand what these few endured in the opening years of the war.

MWSA Reviewer: Andrew Lubin

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Author's Synopsis

By April Fools Day 2004, the war to liberate Iraq had "officially" ended with Saddam Hussein's capture and President Bush's announcement that major combat operations had ceased. The truth was the war in Iraq was just getting warmed up, and it was at this point that the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry of the Washington Army National Guard arrived in Baghdad. This is the story of Charlie Company's 1st Platoon, who were mobilized for federal service and attached to the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team for a year in Iraq. A motley crew of part-time weekend warriors, 1st Platoon had its share of cops and criminals, professors and students, fathers and husbands, teenage privates eager to see war and thirtysomething veterans who had served in Panama and Kuwait. This is the story of 1st Platoon as told from the perspective of their "Invisible Embed" Rob Kauder, a former Marine turned journalist serving as a National Guard infantry squad leader. In The Highlanders Kauder captures the stories of struggle and sacrifice of the enlisted men as they fought the boredom, madness, heartbreak and the enemies both inside and outside the wire of the Green Zone.

The Border; by David Danelo

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MWSA Review

Is the Mexican-American border defensible? Should it be? These are questions that our politicians in Washington should be asking, but are not, so former Marine David Danelo drove the 1,951.63 mile border from the Gulf of Mexico’s Boca Chica, Texas to Border Field State Park on California’s Pacific coast, and he asks the questions for us.

Danelo took three months driving along both sides of the border, and his interviews and observations illuminate the growing divide between the two countries, and also whether or not the real crisis is immigration or narcotics. Talking with citizens of both Mexico and the United States in the major border cities of Matamoros – Laredo – Ciudad Juarez – Nogales- and San Diego, he personalizes the situation with a series of interviews with Border Patrol agents local sheriff’s, church groups, Minutemen, various American and Mexican citizens, and even a couple of Mexican teenagers who were about to be deported.

It is when talking to these young men, and a Mormon couple in Arizona, that Danelo cuts to the heart of the matter “why do Americans hate us so much,” the teenager asks, “why do they pay us so much to work for them, and then kick us out?” An interesting question, to be sure, and especially when posed to the couple who run a restaurant in Arizona. The husband and wife find themselves torn between wanting to obey American immigration law, yet troubled that not only do American teenagers refuse work as busboys and dishwashers, but that they are breaking the law by providing work that gives hope, dignity, and survival to otherwise impoverished individuals. These are good questions, and ones whose eventual answers will help provide solutions to the problem.

The immigration question is a complex one, and Danelo touches on its many facets. The issues are a combination of economics, growth of the ‘narcotraficantes’ and the recent orgy of ‘narco-killings’, cultural change as American demographics morph from Anglo to Latino…all of which is due to a slowly failing state (Mexico) whose citizens are fleeing by the hundreds of thousands for a better life. Similar to situation in Iraq, where peace came only after the Iraqi government became engaged with their own citizens, the immigration situation must include the Mexican government becoming more engaged in resolving those conflicts that otherwise send its citizens walking north.

The first 535 copies of “The Border” printed should be delivered to our congressmen and senators. This is a book that discusses immigration without a political slant, which makes it a rarity in these days of Lou Dobbs-led hysteria. “The Border” is an impartial, honest, and well-written synopsis of the situation on the border; Danelo asks all the right questions - now let’s see if anyone in Washington can provide an equally thoughtful answer.

MWSA Reviewer: Andrew Lubin

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Author's Synopsis

Thoughtful investigative report about a central issue of the 2008 presidential race that examines the border in human terms through a cast of colorful characters. Asks and answers the core questions: Should we close the border? Is a fence or wall the answer? Is the U.S. government capable of fully securing the border? Reviews the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects and discusses NAFTA, immigration policy, border security, and other local, regional, national, and international issues.

Proximity; by Steve Phillips

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MWSA Review

If you see these guys running, try to keep up!

Author Stephen Phillips takes you on a wild ride with one of the Navy's elite Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) teams as they do their part in the Global War on Terror.  The main character, LT Jascinski, gave up a promising career as a surface warrior because he wanted to pursue the high-speed low drag world of Navy EOD.  In his first billet out of EOD school, he gets all he can handle as he and his team end up in the middle of a world-wide terrorist ring that may just have someone on the inside.  Who will have the steady hand, and who will end up as a "big pink mist?"

Phillips writes from experience, and obviously knows what he's talking about.  While the story is fiction, the author draws from his years as a Navy EOD Officer-in-Charge to develop the story and provide the technological balance all good military stories need in order to be believable.  He also does an excellent job of developing the personal relationships between the LT and his men, the LT and his Chief Petty Officers, and finally the LT and his wife.  The result is a fast moving, completely believable action story that's a great read for those who enjoy military fiction, especially Special Operations.

Highly recommended.  FIVE STARS!

MWSA Reviewer: Rob Ballister

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Author's Synopsis

EOD - "It's a lot like brain surgery, except if we screw up the patient detonates....Oh yeah, and we do it underwater."
- A Navy EOD Technician

The Sailors of the United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community "perform under pressure" in the hazardous job of bomb disposal, often deep beneath the sea...alone.

An EOD Technician must have the brains of an engineer, the hands of a surgeon, and the courage of a martyr. In the U.S. Navy, carrier flight operations only occur under the watchful eye of EOD Techs ready to respond to ordnance accidents. U.S. Marines assault enemy beachheads only after EOD Techs clear the littoral seas and landing zones of mines. The U.S. Secret Service even relies on military bomb squads to protect the President and visiting foreign dignitaries. Perhaps the best testimony of their value is that when the Navy needs to place a limpet mine under an enemy ship it tasks the Navy SEALs, but to respond to such an attack - the Navy summons EOD.

Proximity highlights the exciting work of one EOD detachment as they become enmeshed in the efforts of a terrorist coalition operating both in Europe and the United States. Lieutenant "Jazz" Jascinski and the men of Detachment Four become the key to helping the FBI apprehend these terrorists - until their unique skills place them under suspicion. To protect themselves, the Techs must race to find the culprits before they become the next victims... 

Advance Praise for Proximity:

"Stephen Phillips is the real deal; a Navy EOD Officer and front line operator in the war against terrorism. Proximity is a well crafted thriller-- enthralling, realistic and frightening. Move over Tom Clancy."

- CHUCK PFARRER, author of Warrior Soul and Killing Che

"Steve Phillips is a member of a select group who live by the creed `Initial success or total failure.' EOD Technicians are the special operations community's unsung heroes...until now. Proximity is a great read and hopefully one of many more books by Phillips."

- STEVE WATERMAN, author of Just a Sailor

One Weekend a Month; by Craig Trebilcock

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MWSA Review

This book is the Iraq War’s answer to frustration and cynicism we saw so many years ago in the movie **MASH**

First-time author – and decorated veteran – Craig Trebilcock has written a highly revealing and irreverent ‘memoir’ of the 2004-2005 war in Iraq. Drawing on his extensive time on the ground during both the 2003 invasion as well as 2004-2005’s poorly-planned and led post-invasion occupation forces, Trebilcock shows the reader how the Marines and soldiers tried to succeed in spite of the odds against them.

A JAG officer (lawyer) and Civil Affairs officer in real life. Trebilcock writes about the war through the eyes of an 8-man civil affairs team (Team Jaguar”) made up of Reservists. As a reservist himself, he experienced the disdain the regular Army hold for Reservists, despite this being the first war in which Reservists played such an important role as combatants.

Writing on his experiences in Iraq through the fictional persona of Major Trevanthan, the team leader, Trebilcock describes the incompetence and disinterest he and his team encountered through their year in Iraq. From senior officers only interested in their next promotion to officers too interested in paperwork to learn how to actually lead troops in combat, it is no surprise that not only did the Iraqi people quickly learn to think of America as an occupying power, but also that it’s no surprise that 2004-2005 are considered two wasted – and unnecessarily bloody years.

For as bad a light as “One Weekend a Month” portrays the REMF’s in the Green Zone and back in Washington, D.C, it shines a brilliant light on the efforts of the American Reserves and National Guard -- the citizen-soldiers who answered their country’s call. They gave the mission 150 % of their effort, blood, and dedication, even if their superiors did not. Highly recommended.

MWSA Reviewer: Andy Lubin

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Author's Synopsis

An eight man Army Reserve team struggles to find meaning in the Iraq War, as their attempts to save a critically ill Iraqi boy are hampered by careerist superiors, enemy insurgents, and the unyielding Arab culture. Written by an Iraq War veteran.