We Had to Get Out of That Place by Steven Grzesik

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MWSA Review

In his book, We Had to Get Out of that Place, Steven Grzesik gives us a good view into his life as a soldier fighting the war in Viet Nam. While he does provide some basic background of his life before his time in the army and a little afterwards, the focus of the book is his two tours of duty in Viet Nam. For a person who didn't want to go, didn't want to be there, and had no career military ambitions, Grzesik volunteered to become a Ranger to get out of the infantry and away from a role that he thought would certainly get him killed. Already through most of his tour of duty, becoming a Ranger sent him right back to Viet Nam for a new tour of duty. This time, however, he was with an elite group of soldiers. He became more confident and mature. Later, in his second tour, when the army was looking for helicopter gunners, Grzesik once again volunteered. His nearly two years in Viet Nam gave him a plethora of stories to include in his book. He even acknowledges that he developed a drug habit and barely escaped hard jail time for his drug use.  This is an interesting book that fans of military history should enjoy.

Review by Bob Doerr (April 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

My book is a descriptive narrative of two tours of the Vietnam war. The title, ‘We Had to Get Out of That Place’ is a word play on the song titled ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’ by Eric Burdon and the Animals. It was a favorite of the combat soldier. 

The back cover has my photo and a bio as well as three reviews from notable people. 

For reasons explained in the book, I was lucky enough to get multi-angled views of the war because I served as a combat infantryman, in a rear engineer unit, as a long range patrol member with the original 75th Rangers, and as a door gunner on a helicopter for approximately 250 hours.

My story is told as a linear timeline of amazing events in and out of combat. There is some blood, gore and politics, but not much. There is beauty, passion and great sadness. The book starts with me as a child of the 60s, broken and disillusioned by drugs and the false promises of the ‘Age of Aquarius’. It ends with me, a changed grown man, angry at my own country for betraying its soldiers. My book is complete at 80,000 words.  

Anyone who reads it will enjoy it. It is exciting and colorful, but most of all, it is the truth: my  experience, unadulterated and unexaggerated.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 207

Word Count: 80,000

Shadow Tier by Steve Stratton

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MWSA Review

Shadow Tier by Steve Stratton introduces us to Lance Bear Wolf, a member of the Crow Tribe, former Army Ranger, and Special Forces soldier. Now a civilian contractor within the Joint Special Missions Command, he keeps his hand in the military through a position in the Florida Army National Guard. When his National Guard team is called upon to provide intelligence and training support to a Mexican Army Special Forces unit, in relation to their war on drugs, Wolf is in his element. Their support role in a mission places Wolf in the sights of the Sinaloa Cartel.

After his parents are killed in a cartel shootout, Wolf embarks on a private revenge mission, first in a special operation with his team, then entering Mexico alone on a violent rampage across multiple West Coast Sinaloa sites. The Mexican government, under the influence of the cartel, labels him a terrorist and demands that the United States bring charges against him. During the investigation, Army Special Operations Command steps in, realizing that Wolf’s revenge tour had been the most effective known attack on the drug cartels. Charges are dropped and a new unit, the Shadow Tier, is created.  

While I would have enjoyed a more in-depth exploration of Wolf’s character and motivation, the descriptions of weapons, technology, and procedures used in various operations were quite detailed. The many minor characters and subplots promise a long series of books on Shadow Tier missions. 

Review by Lynn Ellen Doxon (April 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

Lance Bear Wolf, a Crow Indian by birth and an American Special Forces leader, stops with his parents for a casual lunch during a family outing in Mexico. They are classically in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As they are seated in the picturesque Mexican restaurant, Wolf and his father witness and get drawn into soldiers from the Sinaloa Cartel killing the restaurant owners over a perceived slight to cartel princess Eliana Cortes, a leader in her family’s drug empire.

When Wolf and his father shoot back and save many lives, Cortes orders her soldiers to kill the Americans. Wolf’s father is killed, and his mother critically wounded. The cartel princess and her escorts get away, but not until many of their shooters are left bleeding out on the ground.

Wolf vows revenge no matter the cost.

He builds a team of like-minded men to join a new classified unit codenamed Shadow Tier—and Wolf is its head of operations, giving him free rein to build an assault on the Mexican drug kingdom. A training mission along the Arizona border provides a cover story for a devastating assault on the core of the cartel’s operations. They decimate Mexican drug runners, but there are unanswered questions,.

And Wolf is losing to the darkness of revenge.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 500

Word Count: 90,000

Ashur’s Tears by Bill Riley

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MWSA Review

Author Bill Riley in his book Ashur's Tears has introduced us to a new world of magic and magical creatures. From a goddess disguised as a cat to demons the size of a car with gnashing teeth to octopus-like tentacles, Ashur's Tears will stretch your imagination and have you reading all night. The book, aimed at the Young Adult audience, is an easy, fast read. As young Toby and his sister strive to find out what happened to their missing father, they find themselves thrust into a world of deceit, magic, and danger. Evil magic has found its way to Earth and has possessed one man already. Now, it's only a matter of time before it will take over the world. That is unless Toby, his sister, and a cat can stop it. I think any fan of Young Adult fantasy will enjoy this book.

Review by Bob Doerr (March 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

Toby Cypher has it pretty good. He’s on the cusp of success with his mimics (programmable morphing robots advanced enough to be indistinguishable from humans), he’s got a side gig volunteering in the Air Force Museum, and a new job tutoring the coolest girl in school, Rachel Majeski. Toby’s world falls apart when he learns that his father, Dr. Erasmus Cypher, a scientist who runs a mysterious lab, has gone down in a plane crash over Iraq. But then Toby’s sister, Katie, uncovers a secret message… one sent after the plane crash that draws Toby and Katie into a dizzying world of untold danger and profound betrayal, where the two siblings will need all their wits, dark magic, and help from an unlikely feline to survive and maybe save the world.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)

Number of Pages: 320

Word Count: 87,000

An Imperfect Plan by Addison McKnight

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MWSA Review

An Imperfect Plan by Addison McKnight, the pen name of Nicole Moleti and Krista Wells, is a mystery/thriller involving two women of completely different backgrounds with a similar desire. Because of how they were raised, both women have their own motivations on how to realize their dreams, and for the actions they take to achieve them.

Colette DeLuca and Greta O’Brien are the two main characters, who are sometimes hard to like. The two women live parallel lives for a good part of the book. The authors devote alternating chapters to Colette and Greta and their various relationships. A reader can’t help but wonder what one has to do with the other.

The one thing the women have in common is that each is desperate to be a mother. Because of their backgrounds and life circumstances, Greta will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Colette has what she thinks is a viable plan. As the authors point out, “All it takes is one lie for the best-laid plans to go awry.”

When their lives finally do intersect through tragedy, both Colette and Greta, and their families, will never be the same. After overcoming betrayal, manipulation, lies, and deceit, the two women find that a common loss is cause for a tentative relationship.

Expect to be surprised, angered, perhaps shocked, and at times, saddened when you read An Imperfect Plan.

Review by Nancy Panko (March 2023)
 

Author's Synopsis

All it takes is one lie for the best-laid plans to go awry.

After decades of pushing away traumatic memories from childhood, Colette De Luca is ready to start a family of her own. It’ll be healthy, a wish come true, with a man she believes is the love of her life. Thankfully, she thought ahead when she was younger and froze her eggs for this very moment.

Greta O’Brien, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, is forced to confront the making of her own family when tragedy strikes her twin teenage sons. As she debates whether to confess a betrayal to her husband, the ripple effects of the family’s devastating circumstances begin to spread far beyond their home.

These two women, hopeful, disillusioned, and desperate, are on an emotional decades-long journey to motherhood by any means necessary. Strangers whose lives explode in the wake of a shocking event―and converge in more ways than one―Colette and Greta are forced to face the twists of fate and the choices they’ve made.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 381

Word Count: 80,000

Advance To Contact: 1980 by Alex Aaronson / James Rosone

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MWSA Review

Advance to Contact: 1980 is the flagship novel in the series of the same name.
It’s 1980.  The Shah may be falling in Iran, and President Carter and his staff are working tirelessly to keep this US ally in place in the volatile Middle East.  When the Soviets invade Afghanistan while at the same time Iranian fanatics storm the US Embassy, tensions flare.

The world knows what actually happened in the aftermath, but authors Alex Aaronson and James Rosone take us on a marvelous alternative history journey of what could have happened, and the realism is shocking.  Using in-depth knowledge of the historical military dispositions and political personalities, the two weave together an incredible story that shows just how bad things could have gotten, with CIA agent Fred Poole doing everything he can to avoid World War III.

This reviewer was continuously impressed with the military accuracy of the vast weapons platforms mentioned on both the east and west sides. At the same time, there are plenty of “raw grunt” moments that show that any soldier has more in common with his enemies than he thinks.  Fans of Dale Brown, the late Tom Clancy, or any military alternative history series will surely find this worth the effort.

Review by Rob Ballister (March 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

The Cold War threatens to go hot…

…when American hostages are taken in Iran.

Where will this conflict lead?

The Soviets invade Afghanistan, and the governments of Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev jockey for position on the international stage. CIA operative Fred Poole races against the clock to decode the pieces of a Soviet puzzle that could lead to war.

Will he be too late?

US Marines and Soviet paratroopers advance to contact with the enemy on battlefields across the globe, from the jungles of Central America to the deserts of the Middle East.

Can Poole and his ragtag team untangle the Soviet plans?

Or will skirmishes turn into a global nightmare?

You’ll love this gripping opener of the Soviet Endgame alternate history series because the history you remember takes a turn you never expected.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 329

Word Count: 119924

The Boys of St. Joe's '65 in The Vietnam War by Dennis G. Pregent

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MWSA Review

Dennis Pregent’s The Boys of St. Joe’s 65 in the Vietnam War is a very personalized account of twelve people from a small school in a small town in Massachusetts. They all did what they did for different reasons, all bonded together by their school and the Vietnam War.

Eleven men and one woman are featured. The eleven men all served; seven in the Army, three in the Marines, and one in the Navy. One was an officer, the rest enlisted. Most saw combat. All were from blue collar families, and every one of their fathers was a World War II veteran.

One of the eleven was killed in action; two were seriously wounded, with one of those paralyzed from the waist down. Most of the rest carry significant scars seen and unseen, including PTSD and Agent Orange exposure. The lone young woman found herself on the opposite side, protesting the war, much to her veteran father’s chagrin. Though she hated the war, she loved her classmates who fought in it, and their wounds hurt her deeply.

The information was gathered after long sessions with each of the survivors, or in some cases their families. The author does a great job of tying the stories together; one section about one of the young men might mention two of the others featured in other parts of the book, tying them together and adding a poignant depth to the book. These were intertwined lives, not numbers on the evening news, and their stories are told in a well-written and very personal manner. I especially liked how the author made a point to highlight the similarities and differences between those featured, both as people and as members of the military. The book includes a glossary of military terms and many clear photos to help further the understanding of those whose stories are told.

Those who served in the Vietnam War, or who are interested in memoirs from that war, will find this book valuable and well worth the read.

Review by Rob Ballister (February 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

Eleven high school friends in idyllic North Adams, Massachusetts, enlisted to serve in Vietnam, and one stayed behind to protest the war. All were from patriotic, working class families, all members of the class of 1965 at Saint Joseph's School. Dennis Pregent was one of them. He and his classmates joined up-most right out of school, some before graduating-and endured the war's most vicious years. Seven served in the Army, three in the Marine Corps, and in the Navy. After fighting in a faraway place, they saw the trajectories of their lives dramatically altered. One died in combat, another became paralyzed, and several still suffer from debilitating conditions five decades later. Inspired by his 50th high school reunion, Pregent located lhis classmates, rekindled friendships, and-together, over hours of interviews-they rememberd the war years.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 248

Word Count: 90,000+

A Rock in the Clouds: A Life Revisited by Joseph R. Tedeschi

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MWSA Review

Wars may last for years—or even decades—but they often end in an instant for the individual soldiers who fight them. A Rock in the Clouds tells the story of one such instant, a plane crash in Vietnam that ended the author’s deployment a mere three weeks after it began. It also ended the lives of thirteen fellow service members, and the author never takes his survival for granted as he revisits the entirety of his life before, during, and after that near-death experience.

Any account of a plane crash would be harrowing, but this book’s finest feature is that the author goes beyond a first-person account and provides a painstakingly compiled record that sheds light in a way no single person could. The research also includes interesting nuggets about medical personnel he met during his recovery and, most strikingly, a picture of the airplane’s pilot with three of the sons he left behind after perishing in the crash.

The accident and its aftermath comprise the middle third of the book, with the first portion listing biographical details and the final third largely reprinting correspondence that happened during the book’s creation. Yet the central third reflects an interesting balance of personal narrative and research, with moments that provide welcome texture, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Perhaps the most resonant aspect of A Rock in the Clouds isn’t a particular section but that the book exists at all—that even a survivor whose injuries largely healed, whose military career continued successfully, and whose subsequent life has been nurtured by family, faith, and community still thinks back to a foggy Vietnam hillside in 1966, peering out of a broken fuselage, wondering what had just happened and why his right leg was stubbornly refusing to move.

Review by John McGlothlin (May 2022)

Author's Synopsis

“On 4 October 1966, a C7-A Caribou airplane flying through blinding cloud cover crashed into Hon Cong Mountain near the base camp of the 1st Air Cavalry Division at An Khe. There were thirty-one people aboard the aircraft, an air crew of four along with twenty-seven passengers. Thirteen people died in the crash. I was one of the survivors.”

Joe spends 45 years of his life uncertain of the true details of the crash. And he is always trying to make sense of his survival. In the many years searching for answers he discovers a very human story of faith, compassion, GI grit and humor, and patriotism.

As his journey reveals his faith-based purpose and destiny, he hopes to bring hope and inspiration to other Vietnam-era veterans, their families, and people of faith.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 278

Honor Through Sacrifice by Robert E Lofthouse

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MWSA Review

Honor Through Sacrifice: The Story of One of America’s Greatest Military Leaders is a memoir/biography chock full of history. From World War II through the undeclared war in Vietnam, author Robert Lofthouse gives a well-document account of his highly-decorated cousin, Gordon Lippman.

Lippman, a bonafide hero, came from a farming county in South Dakota with ingrained leadership skills. To have these attributes in a young man who never graduated from any of the service academies is an anomaly. Yet anyone who served with or under his command would say that Lippman was the one they’d follow into battle.

Gordon enlisted in the army to serve his country, carrying with him his faith and the traditional values of his South Dakota family. He served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He earned some of our country’s highest honors: Silver and Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, and three Combat Infantry Badges, to name a few. He was part of the second D-Day landing and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Years later, he served in Korea. In the 1960s, as a brigade executive officer, Lippman led men young enough to be his sons while fighting the Viet Cong in the Iron Triangle.

Much has been written about Gordon Lippman in Readers Digest and Newsweek Magazine. He was eulogized on Paul Harvey’s radio program, and Harry Reasoner told Lippman’s story for CBS news. Gordon was honored by his state in South Dakota Magazine. Robert Lofthouse has pulled articles and interviews together to create a historically accurate memoir in a tribute to his hero cousin.

Review by Nancy Panko (June 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

My debut book tells the story of Gordon Lippman, serving with the US Army from WWII as a paratrooper until his untimely death in Vietnam, where he was deployed as an executive officer with the 1st Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade. 

We need heroes today. Gordon fits this description. His bravery in combat is emphasized along with his zeal to be a servant leader throughout a 22-year Army career.

At the core of the biography is a question that I wonder about: “Where does America get such gallant men?”

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 205

Maritime Unmanned by Ernest Snowden & Robert F. Wood Jr.

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MWSA Review

For those of us outside the government and defense industry, Maritime Unmanned is a golden nugget of information. Authors Ernest Snowden and Robert F. Wood do a superb job of giving a historical perspective on 100 years of Naval aircraft deployment, and pointing to the next new challenge, all on the first page. It’s an intriguing outline for what is to come in this book.

Maritime Unmanned is a fascinating story for anyone interested in Naval aircraft or the US Naval service and is a historical account of the growth in UAV development, both from an amalgamation of program convergence, innovation, and development and the politics of people coming together to forge a new military program.

Due to the 100-year scope of the story, detail can get a bit overwhelming. But this work provides a comprehensive investigation of the details surrounding Naval aviation history, which is a compound undertaking. The intrigue of politics, inner-workings of the military/industrial complex, technology advances through the years, and continual paradigm shifts present a deep subject in a brief retail format. The authors succeeded in telling their story with adequate protagonist and antagonist depth of character while not losing sight of the storyline—definitely a good read for someone interested in Naval aviation and/or military drone development.

Review by Robert Lofthouse (May 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Maritime Unmanned recounts the promising beginning, demoralizing setbacks and ultimate success experienced by teams of Navy and Industry visionaries who committed themselves to bringing revolutionary UAS technology to a legacy Navy mission – the very first time in the history of naval aviation that an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was adopted into frontline squadron inventories, in this instance as an enabling component of the maritime patrol and reconnaissance mission. What should have been a fairly uncomplicated cross-service transition of a DARPA and Air Force-developed UAS (Global Hawk) took twenty years to nurture and mature through introduction of the concept to realization of its initial operational capability. 

The authors take the reader deep inside the machinations of aerospace & defense industry leadership, strategy development and execution; alongside industry representatives and Navy counterparts socializing an unfamiliar and unconventional concept of operations in their effort to cultivate new adherents; and into the dialogues of senior government acquisition officials, who either advocated for the concept or purposely road-blocked its advancement, revealing the motivations for those actions.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 262

Just Another Day in Vietnam by Col (Ret) Keith M. Nightingale

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MWSA Review
Just Another Day in Vietnam tells the story of the 52nd Vietnamese Ranger Battalion’s battle for survival in War Zone D northeast of Saigon in June 1967. With no time to plan or prepare, the Ranger Battalion’s commander, Major Nguyen Hiep, must deploy his forces to attack a suspected Viet Cong base camp located in a bend of the Dong Nai River. After a helicopter insertion into a landing zone near the suspected camp, the Rangers discover they’ve been ordered into a trap and are soon surrounded by numerically superior Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. Only through the heroic leadership of Major Hiep, the incredible fighting qualities of his men, and the assistance of U.S. airpower, does the Ranger Battalion survive.

This is an important story that needs to be told. The bravery and fighting ability of the 52nd Ranger Battalion and the heroism of Major Hiep dispel the myth that all South Vietnamese fighting forces were ineffective in combat. The author’s role as a U.S. military advisor to the Ranger Battalion ensures the credibility of the narrative, which captures as only a combat veteran can the emotions and true horrors of war. If you are looking for a gritty combat narrative covering a battle from planning through execution, you need to read Just Another Day in Vietnam.

Review by David Grogan (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Keith Nightingale’s accomplishments in both military and civilian life largely contribute to the excellence of Just Another Day in Vietnam as a creative memoir of unusual depth as well as breadth.

Uniquely adopting a third-person omniscient point of view, Nightingale eschews the “I” of memoir in favor of multiple perspectives and a larger historical vision that afford equal time and weight to ally and enemy alike. Examples of the many perspectives based on real-life characters include: Hu, a VC “informant” whose false information led the Rangers straight into the jaws of a ferocious ambush; General Tanh, the COSVN commander; Major Nguyen Hiep, the 52d Ranger Commander; and Ranger POWs later returned by the North.

Nightingale moreover offers the point of view of an American advisor to elite Vietnamese troops, a vital perspective regrettably underrepresented in the literature of Vietnam, including Burns’ documentary. Added to this are well-informed conjecture of enemy psychology; insight into the dedication and often misunderstood role of the elite Vietnamese Ranger forces; the intelligence acquired from debriefing captured Rangers, whose captors had told them that the entire battle had been a carefully staged attack planned by COSVN as part of a larger Total War strategy developed by the leadership of the North Vietnamese Army; and an eyewitness account by a gifted author who is a rare survivor of one of the most vicious—and heretofore forgotten—battles of the war.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Creative Nonfiction

Number of Pages: 264

Sapphire Pavilion by David E. Grogan

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MWSA Review
Sapphire Pavilion by David E. Grogan is a gripping, fast-paced mystery that will challenge any reader to put it down.

Attorney Steve Stilwell sets out to help his friend, Ric Stokes, a former Navy JAG officer, who is arrested and thrown in a Vietnamese jail for heroin possession. To complicate matters, Stokes is found in the same room with his traveling companion Ryan Eversall, dead of an overdose and in bed with a prostitute. Alarm bells go off in Stilwell’s head because he knows his friend as an ethical and morally upright prosecutor of drug crimes. Steve travels to Vietnam to investigate, wondering who would frame his friend and why.

Steve visits Ric in prison and discovers that Ric and Ryan came to Vietnam in search of a lost Air Force transport plane piloted by Ryan’s father. Ric relates to Steve that, before the heroin arrest, they had located the wreckage. Fortunately, Ryan kept a detailed notebook, which Steve manages to obtain. In it, the exact location of the plane is noted. However, it is soon apparent that others are also interested in the notebook and are willing to do anything to have it in their possession. One feels the heat and chaos of the ancient Asian city, especially when Steve realizes that his investigation puts his life in danger.

Steve’s business partner, Casey, a former Army helicopter pilot, visits Ryan’s widow in the States while Steve is investigating in Vietnam. The grieving widow gives Casey a file labeled Sapphire Pavilion. Casey realizes that the documents are another valuable piece of the puzzle and when she leaves the widow’s home with the file, Casey is followed.

Apparently, someone has unlimited funds and is willing to go to any lengths to steal all evidence of the 1968 airplane crash and the mission called Sapphire Pavilion. Casey and Steve realize that someone high up in the bureaucratic atmosphere of Washington, D.C. is involved in attempting to silence them. However, the bad guys underestimate the determination and resiliency of Steve Stilwell and his associate, Casey.

The chase scenes in this book will have the reader flinching when bullets fly. Sapphire Pavilion is a fast-paced, thrilling page-turner.

Review by Nancy Panko (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

The Vietnam War ends for a Top Secret U.S. warplane when it disappears in 1968, but for the two men who discover its wreckage 32 years later, the fight is just beginning. Travel to Vietnam with former Navy JAG Steve Stilwell as he and his associate Casey Pantel, a former Army pilot who lost her leg in a helicopter crash, try to outwit a powerful adversary who will stop at nothing to keep them from solving the mystery of Sapphire Pavilion.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 280

Captain of the Tides Gunner Morgan by Charles D. Morgan, Jacque Hillman

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MWSA Review
Historical Fiction is a tough category to write in, but Charles D. Morgan and his friend Jacque Hillman do a fantastic job with the cooperative work Captain of the Tides: Gunner Morgan. It’s no coincidence that one of the authors and the hero share the same name. Charles D. Morgan is the grandson of the main character.

While Morgan has a few cherished memories of his grandfather, he was far to young to absorb all that the older Morgan had accomplished. However, fate smiled on the young Morgan, and he came in possession of his grandfather’s sea chest, which contained numerous scrapbooks, personal letters, and other memorabilia that allowed him to reconstruct this account of his ancestor’s colorful life.

Gunner Morgan lived well into his nineties in an age when most people were lucky to see age 60.  Enlisting at age seventeen (before even there was standardized recruit training) he climbed the ranks and became one of the first enlisted “mustangs” to become an officer.  He recovered bodies from the USS Maine, also almost died at the hands of Thomas Edison, and spent many years helping grow trade between the U.S. and Cuba.  He was an outstanding baseball player, and one of the first executives for Pan-Am airlines.  In short, he had enough adventure to fill three or four lives, and his grandson did an excellent job of capturing the essence of the spirit of his grandfather.

The book reads like an autobiography, and if you didn’t know it was written by the grandson, you would swear the Gunner himself had written it. Morgan and Hillman had to fill in a few gaps using some creativity, but it’s impossible to tell the true historical moments from the filled-in fiction. All in all this is a terrific read for those interested in the early U.S. Navy around the turn of the century.

Review by Rob Ballister (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

In 1882, Charles "Gunner" Morgan, 17, shipped from New Orleans as a 3rd class apprentice seaman, Navy No. 817. In 1898, he led the dive team pulling bodies from the USS Maine disaster, reported to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, and became "The Man Who Started the Spanish-American War." Known as "The Man Behind the Gun" for his shooting prowess, he was among the first enlisted men promoted to officer. He taught the Japanese how to fire the big guns in the Russo-Japanese War and survived working in Thomas Edison's Key West Navy lab.

Yet, he found time for love. He met Vivian, the sugar king of Havana's daughter, married and pregnant, both situations temporary. She became his soul's safe harbor. Later, he helped build the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West. As maritime inspector, he developed Pan Am Airways’ South American airports.

An American patriot, he lived for the moment the sunset's green fire on the sea's horizon promised the dawn. Always he returned to the sea. Board the ships; climb the rigging; shoot the guns when America came to rule the seas. 

His grandson, Charles D. Morgan, discovered in his grandfather's sea chest documents that led the author on a lifetime journey to reveal his grandfather's legacy. Captain of the Tides Gunner Morgan is that legacy, retold as a historical novel, a riveting story of a young Navy seaman whose heroism captured Americans’ loyalty.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 234

Combat Engineer by John Racoosin

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MWSA Review
Combat Engineer by John Racoosin is a well-researched, well-written book about the model citizen soldier. Colonel H. Wallis Anderson was a humble man who rose through the ranks of the Pennsylvania National Guard, earning a commission in time to go fight in Europe in World War I. He returned home to Pennsylvania and his job with the railroad and started a family. His determination and competence saw him rise through both the ranks of the railroad and of the reserves, and all was well until Europe exploded in World War II.

The rapid mobilization of America resulted in an immediate demand for combat engineers to assist the infantry and mechanized forces which were so important in this new war of mobility. Colonel Anderson was given almost the impossible task of developing an engineer group from scratch. Never one to back down from a challenge, he trained and inspired his men so that when the time came, they would be at their best.
That time came in the Ardennes in 1944. In a last desperate gasp, Hitler threw everything he had left at the American presence in Europe in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. When all the other units on the line broke and ran, the only thing between several Panzer columns and the vulnerable American rear was Colonel Anderson and his engineers.

The author does a fine job of detailing the history of Colonel Anderson without making the book read like a boring biography. There is plenty of dialogue, and even material from the German commander that Anderson’s troops faced. Through the entire book, Racoosin does a fine job of painting a portrait of a humble citizen soldier who inspired his men as the consummate combat leader.
Those who enjoy books about World War II, combat engineers, or leadership portraits in general will enjoy this book.

Review by Rob Ballister (April 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

In his service along the Mexican border and in both world wars, Colonel H. Wallis Anderson, Army Corps of Engineers, commanded troops in the most critical actions of his generation. 

This tribute to an unsung American hero weaves through Anderson's life as a Pennsylvania railroad engineer and as an Army combat engineer. Throughout, he endures tragedy and triumph as a shining example of the uniquely American concept of a citizen-soldier. 

Combat Engineer tells the well-known stories of the Bulge and Remagen from a new and different perspective, that of the commander. In both desperate actions, the senior engineer officer provides the steadying hand that inspires the troops to succeed. The story might seem fit for Hollywood, but no fictional account can compare to the real-life drama of Combat Engineer.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 347

The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line by Major General Mari K. Eder

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MWSA Review
Mari Eder has done a great service to both the U.S. military and women who found themselves in various military roles during World War II. In this book, she presents the stories of women serving as pilots and spies, nurses and administrative innovators. In each case these women's enemies were bureaucracies, racism, sexism, and the general belief that women couldn't achieve what they achieved. In fact, all of their achievements added greatly to the Allied war effort. Some suffered under the hands of fascist torturers, but all of these endured, most living to deep old age. These women were ultimately recognized for their efforts, although many years later, and many continued on in the service of the U.S. following World War II. Ms. Eder's book is a fine—and needed—chapter to the U.S. military's role in this war.

Review by Bob Mustin (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line:  Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II  is about many of the heroes of the Greatest Generation whose stories have slipped away into history.  These women who did extraordinary things didn't expect thanks and shied away from medals and recognition.  Despite their amazing accomplishments, they've gone mostly unheralded and unrewarded, but no longer. These are the women of World War II who served, fought, struggled, and made things happen―in and out of uniform.  Eder features 15 women who risked their own lives to gather intelligence, transport materials or information, help protect those in greater need, or to enable successful operations against the enemy.  Each story is filled with details about how and why the women answered their individual calls to service based on their varied backgrounds, nationalities, and family situations.  She details the women’s struggles, severe injuries, loss of loved ones, and how each went on to contribute to society at the war’s end.  These stories and more reveal the secrets of those women who didn’t just make history, they created the future.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Creative Nonfiction

Number of Pages: 400

Ahab: A Hockey Story by Brad Huestis

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MWSA Review
Ahab: A Hockey Story is very good exposition of what the average person knows nothing about: service in "the rear." We often hear vaguely about the bureaucratic nature of the services and the VA, but few of us have to deal with the ossified regulations which frustrate the average citizen—especially twenty-year-olds. The unfairness of Foley’s injury and the tragedy of his amputation was vivid and real. The narrative following his amputation—and his communication with his father—was disappointing; I would expect more from his father.

The book is a fast read, and I learned a lot about hockey tactics. Foley’s teammates' quirks and personalities could have been expounded more fully, as competition brings out the good and lacking in most people. The ending at the Boston Garden with Foley's hero, Bobby Orr, was a surprise—as was the tragedy of his father's amputation: an interesting touch.

Review by Patrick Ritchen (April 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Ahab tells the gripping story of Corporal Will Foley, a young paratrooper stationed in Bavaria. Injured in a training jump in early 2013, he rehabs in Landstuhl and later with the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s rear detachment in Grafenwöhr. He manages to reconnect with his hard-boiled father through their shared love of Boston Bruins hockey. Then, with the help of a high-tech prosthetic, Will skates with the post hockey team and finds safe harbor at the local ice rink.

Will tells his story firsthand and in the present tense. This puts readers in the middle of the fast-paced action on and off the ice. The pacing is as quick as a slap shot and as intense as a bench clearing brawl, but the story manages to go far beyond being an exciting hockey adventure by confronting the tough issues of loss, exclusion, and suicide head-on.

The Bavarian settings are vivid, the hockey scenes are thrilling, and Corporal Foley and his friends are unforgettable, making this novel a must read for anyone who cares deeply about the physical, mental, and emotional healing of our wounded warriors.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction

Number of Pages: 376

Strike Hard and Expect No Mercy by Galen D. Peterson

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MWSA Review
I had trouble putting this book down. It was an easy read—and I'm not even a ground-war guy. The writing style of the author was informative and exciting. His use of metaphors was excellent and often humorous. The book not only brings the support operations onto center-stage with the combatants, it places the reader in the boots of the author. I felt that I was living it as I was reading it.

Teamwork is a central theme. Battles are won and lost by the good or bad combination of logistics, maintenance, life support, valor, planning, command, communications, weather, mental and physical preparedness, and so on. This book embodies all of the elements. The author is straightforward and vulnerable enough to discuss his own mistakes.

In the end, lives are lost, lives are saved, and lives are broken. Warriors have their moments of "glory" but after the fighting, they are rarely the same. This book forces us to face the reality that after the guns are silent, another battle goes on—one which the broken warrior must sometimes fight alone.

Review by Jerry Burton (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Strike Hard and Expect No Mercy is the story of boots on the ground in Iraq, as seen through the eyes of a tank platoon leader. Baqubah on the eve of the Surge and Sadr City during the spring uprising of 2008 saw some of the darkest hours of the war. A tough dragon, the M1A2 Abrams tank and its crews were often called to crack the toughest nuts on the battlefield and victory, even survival, was not guaranteed. It is a gritty and visceral dive into the combat experience, flavored with the anguish of loss, the exhilaration of victories, the frustrations of defeats, and the humor required to survive. Along the way, the story shares rarely told insights into the duties and expectations of an Army junior officer.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 241

The Pilate Scroll by M.B. Lewis

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MWSA Review
In the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark, M.B. Lewis's Pilate Scroll is the story of the fast-moving quest in search of a religious artifact. Kadie Jenkins is part of a team of scientists and academics on a noble mission to help find a cure for a virus with the capability of biological weaponry. She learns that the real mission is quite nefarious, but does she catch on in time? She unwittingly embarks on a dangerous and deadly adventure with her younger brother Brian in tow. Duke Ellsworth, a savvy pilot, finally earns Kadie's trust and reintroduces her to God while saving all of their lives over and over.

Lewis's exquisite descriptions as we traipse around the Middle East with Kadie, Brian, and Duke paint a beautiful picture of ancient icons. The twists and turns will make your head spin and you won't be able to put the book down.

Review by Sue Rushford (February 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

A quest to save the world...a secret that could change it. Forever. Kadie Jenkins is a survivor. Now part of an elite group of scholars and scientists, their mission is to stop an impending global terrorist threat. But when a colleague is murdered in Egypt, Kadie finds herself pitted against a foe more evil than the one they were trying to stop. Teaming with a renegade pilot and her younger brother, they find themselves in a race against time, greed, and certain death, can she uncover the 2000-year-old secret to save themselves and possibly the rest of the world?

The Pilate Scroll is a pulse-pounding Christian thriller. If you like complicated heroines, stunning twists, and divine light shining through the darkness, then you’ll love M.B. Lewis’s breakneck page-turner.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 346

Dead Men Flying, A Remembrance by Mike "Mule" Mullane

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MWSA Review
Dead Men Flying describes the rapid pace at which a college “kid” is turned into a hardened combat veteran. The book’s pages reveal, with vivid descriptions, the author’s struggles through flight training, admitting failures and successes alike. Quickly maturing, the author advances his account after initial Naval Aviation flight training with his preparations for war, flying the famous and nimble A-4 Skyhawk. Then, from an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam during the deadly months of 1967 the author, Mike “Mule” Mullane, in a first-person account, does the math. As missions mount and friends die, depicted with highly accurate descriptions of dodging deadly missiles while bombing targets in North Vietnam, he realizes time remaining and missions to go are longer and greater than his life’s expectancy based on pilot losses in his squadron. A brotherhood, with bonding only experienced by warriors where their very lives depend on the other, is fully revealed through the author’s somber remembrances. Fatalism becomes an overriding factor affecting his life ever after. Carrier flight operations and tactics flying the Skyhawk are real and written with precision and clarity even a non-aviator can understand. Wartime missions flown in the Skyhawk and trials experienced by their pilots are as real as any ever revealed in the written word.

Review by Tom Beard (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

The squadron starts with twelve A-4E Skyhawks and twenty-two pilots. Seven days later the squadron was down to eight aircraft and nineteen pilots. With 200 days of combat to go, the arithmetic is inescapable. The author knows he will never see home again.

An honest, unflinching account of a college kid becoming a Naval Aviator and doing what he must to become a warrior among his squadron's brotherhood of combat pilots.

Intense real-time descriptions of combat bring he perishable art of aerial combat to life. Experience the transformed state of being where mind-body-aircraft become one, senses stretch to the horizon, time slows, and comprehension is quicker than thought.

The author flew 212 combat missions between June 1967 and January 1969.

Dead Men Flying offers the reader a vicarious experience of carrier operations and combat against the densest and most experienced defenses of their time.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-13 9798692604477, ASIN B098GV14MT

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 393

From Michigan to Mekong by James B. Hubbard, Jr.

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MWSA Review
James Hubbard, Jr. and Deborah Nylec have given us an up-close and personal look at the life of Hubbard in their book, From Michigan to Mekong. The style is somewhat unique in that the vast majority of the book is a collection of letters from James, or Jim Jr. as he referred to himself back then, to his parents and later to his wife. The letters run from the time he was away for college to shortly afterwards when he was away in Vietnam. The college letters portray a young man struggling to get through college but determined to do so. The ones from Vietnam give us insight into his loneliness, his sense of humor, and a definite desire to shield the extent of danger he faced from those back home in the U.S.
The book did make me interested in Hubbard's life, and I would have loved more backstory detailing his actions, which resulted in his receiving a Silver Star, and his observations regarding the Tet Offensive. His not going into detail in his letters is, of course, understandable. This book is an easy read and could be a cherished heirloom for generations to come.

Review by Bob Doerr (February 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

This is a collection of correspondence from me to my parents and my wife beginning my freshman year in college in 1961 and concluding with my return from Vietnam in late 1967. It details the struggles of a young man not quite ready for the discipline of a college regimen through a combat tour with the 9th Infantry Division in III Corp and IV Corp in Vietnam to include the Tet Offensive and the award of a Silver Star. The book concludes with an epilog of what the experiences of the better part of a decade taught me.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-7373024-0-7, 978-1-737024-1-4

Book Format(s): Soft cover, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 231

Zone of Action: A JAG's Journey Inside Operations Cobra II and Iraqi Freedom by Colonel Kirk G. Warner, USAR (Ret.)

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MWSA Review
Zone of Action is a first-hand account of a different side of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. While the coalition’s bombs fell and ground forces rolled over the wire, Lt. Col. Kirk G. Warner and his JAG team refined and enforced the rules of engagement and advised senior leadership on legal matters. When Baghdad fell, they moved in to rebuild and reform a shattered legal system built on the vestiges of decades of brutal repression. The author’s compilation of journal entries, essays and emails follow the action from the command centers of Kuwait to the streets and courtrooms of Baghdad, and beyond.

Entertaining and informative, the book is a front-row seat to historically significant events with key actors, some of which the reader may find familiar. The vivid accounts read like a series of boisterous adventures as Warner zips around Iraq on C-130s, helicopters, and Humvee gun-trucks. The reader rides along as Warner works to reconstruct a fair and effective court system, dismantle the mechanisms of the fallen dictator’s reign of terror, and addresses high-profile criminal activity.

Warner’s colorful prose, descriptive narrative, and wit provide an immersive reading experience. Touching side-stories and anecdotes about living in an active war zone add depth and humanity. While there is repetition, a few editing opportunities, and a heavy dose of military jargon, the book’s readability improves after the first few sections, and the author provides a glossary. Certain gallows humor and a clear pro-war stance give the book an authentic flavor and energy that might turn off certain readers, but this doesn’t detract from its central premise.

Zone of Action is a stimulating read and a testament to a talented team of legal professionals who successfully accomplished a monumental task in the face of overwhelming odds. It should appeal to a wide audience, in particular, fans of military and political history, and legal fiction and non-fiction.

MWSA Review by Ingo Kaufman (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Zone of Action is a front-row seat to major combat operations, leadership, tragedy, and nation-building. These are the war-theater observations of a senior Army JAG constantly in the thick of the war, the occupation, and the Iraqi community. He tells the inside-the-war-room story of Operations Cobra II and Iraqi Freedom during the march to Baghdad and the nation-building beyond. It details his official and inner journeys and those of soldiers and Iraqis encountered along the way. It reveals the sacrifice of many unsung heroes and the challenges of liberating and occupying a broken country. It shows the character of our soldiers and leaders . . . and the occasional lack of it. But above all things, it is an honest, often humorous romp through war by someone deep in the arena.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-1-64663-139-1, ISBN 978-1-64663-137-7, ISBN 978-1-64663-138-4, Library of Congress Control Number: 2020911734

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 302