MWSA Member

Title: Pass The Salt Doc
Authors: Mike Mullins and Jim Greenwald
Genre: Poetry
Reviewer: Joyce M. Gilmour

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1630005959

This collection of poetry is about after. After the war, its focus is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), a serious issue among returning Veterans from all wars. Not easily recognized or readily identified. It does not have a set pattern that can be written down and checked off for all, as PTSD has many faces. This book is dedicated to all Veterans, past, present and future. For it is the Veteran we owe everything to, and taking care of each one is a national responsibility. The arts can and do work wonders for those suffering from PTSD and we would suggest that writing poetry is the strongest drug available to each of you and requires no prescription. Writing provides the externalization necessary to overcome traumatic events/experiences. No poetry you write is wrong or right it is simply necessary on the path of recovery. We are not therapists or professionals in this field and do not pretend to have magic cures. We will state that no professional can "cure" you without your coming to grips from within yourself with the issue and using that ability which we all possess to help ourselves. Writing allows the individual to place on paper emotions they find difficult to vocalize. It is this written expression that can bring about the change needed if "cure" is the desired destination.

Big Mother 40: "A great read on Navy helicopter rescue operations in the Vietnam era. A very well-written, exciting, fast moving book about the life of two Navy lieutenants. A Navy Helicopter pilot and a Navy Seal and their teams performing their duties in extremely hazardous conditions. Although fiction, Marc's knowledge of Navy Helicopter and Navy SEAl operations and the planning it takes to complete these types of missions is evident throughout the book. His understanding of the overall concept of joint and naval operations and the specifics of both Special Forces and helicopter missions during the Vietnam era makes this a very believable scenario. I personally know that Marc lived the life of a Navy rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War."
Ken L. Fisher Rear Admiral USN (retired) Naval Aviator and fighter pilot

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1611792312

The U.S. Navy entered the Vietnam War prepared to fight either a conventional, or God forbid, a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In the mid-sixties, as the Vietnam war escalated, the U.S. found itself without significant aviation capability to support special operations or combat search and rescue (CSAR). To support SEAL operations in the Mekong Delta, the Navy created a Helicopter Combat Attack Squadron that was eventually split into four squadrons tasked with combat search and rescue and special operations missions. Its call sign was the Sea Devils, but over time, the matte-black Sea King helicopters became known as the "Big Mothers." BIG MOTHER 4O is about the life of a Navy helicopter pilot, a Navy Seal, and their teams performing under extremely hazardous combat conditions and includes the women they loved.