Dispatches May2012

Submitted by Jim Enderle on May 30, 2012 - 13:33

Hi everyone,

This past month, it has amazed me to see the popularity of blogs and social media among our members. I would encourage those who are not involved with sites like Facebook to get an account. Some lively conversations, promotion information, and updates can be found there and on various authors' blogs through the MWSA website. I'd like to also welcome new members Christopher Kelly and Steve Maffeo to the group.

Is your calendar circled for our MWSA Annual Conference from Thursday to Sunday, September 27 -30? This year we're meeting in Dayton, OH, home to the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson and, as Ohioans like to brag, the birthplace of Orville and Wilbur Wright and aviation. They are many other historical locations in the area, including the Civil War's Camp Dennison. Ohio was third in the number of men who served as Union soldiers. Besides the opportunity to meet other members, both those you've yet to publish a book, artwork, photography or music, and those who have. The schedule will be chock full of interesting and beneficial information.

In the Gray Area, written by Author–of–the–Month, Seth Folsom, builds on an earlier award-winning memoir, The Highway War. In February 2008 Major Folsom was deployed to Iraq as the leader of a U.S. Marine advisor team embedded with an Iraqi Army Infantry Battalion. The realities of the Marines’ mission is frankly addressed by Folsom in this new work as he reflects on challenges they and their Iraqi counterparts faced in their struggle to gain control of al-Anbar province. He explores the bonds he formed with his men, the Outlanders, and the tenuous relationships forged between the American and Iraqi soldiers whose cultures were so vastly different. The author creates a compelling picture of the obstacles faced by both as they lived, ate, and fought side-by-side.

Book–of–the–Month, Being Taken, authored by Richard M. Barone, is an exposure taken on the battlefield turns an American soldier into a prisoner of war who can never be free. During the height of the Vietnam War, the Army resorted to a bait-and-switch scam that recruited thousands of unsuspecting college graduates into its combat ranks. This is the story of two of its victims who join to become signal officers, but must serve in the infantry, a fate that turns their beloved diplomas into one-way tickets to the jungles of Vietnam. Their misfortunes — Nello lugging a 25-pound radio on his back and Eliot writing military propaganda in Saigon —lead them down different paths, one becoming a war hero, the other a casualty of war.

The William E. Mayer inspiration phrase for June is: "The Final Flight"

MWSA Site Features

Group Calendar

News Feeds

Columns

Writing One-on-One with Dwight – Dwight Zimmerman

In the Ranks - Charles Bailey

Moon's Mutterings -- Mike Mullins

Lead Reviewer Notes - jim greenwald

Feature Articles

News in Brief – Nancy Yockey Bonar

Fighter Pilot Rules for Life #12: Rank and Flying – Marcia Sargent