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www.talkingwithheroes.com
Talk Show Program Schedule
Air Date: January 24, 2010
To Listen 24/7 Go To:
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19487 Episode 137
Mike Mullins Military Writers Society of America Vice President will talk about their plans for 2010 including their 2010 Conference to take place in Pittsburgh, PA. Others will talk about their books!
www.militarywriters.com
Talk Show Host: Bob Calvert
Guests:
Stephen Phillips
December Author of the Month
Stephen Haywood Brown was born in California and lived both there and in Ohio. He earned a Bachelors and received his commission as a naval officer from Miami University in 1971 as its Distinguished Naval Graduate. Duties included anti-infiltration patrols along the South Vietnamese coast. In 1973 his ship spent eight months in North Vietnam clearing several ports of mines in exchange for Hanoi releasing American prisoners of war.
A member of the California Writers Club 2000−2003, Stephen won its Bulwyr-Litton Writing Contest in 2001. His first book, SWEEPS, was released in February 2003.
Member:
California Writers Club
Military Writers Society of America
Writing
Instructor:
College of San Mateo
Community Education program
The Navy's 1973 secret mission to North Vietnam ─ clear its ports of deadly mines Sweeps
'Sweeps
Précis
In May 1972 exhausted carrier pilots complete their strategic task to seal North Vietnam's harbors with advanced mines. Later, USS Vengeance sails with her unsophisticated gadgets on a secret mission to Haiphong to sweep several ports in exchange for Hanoi releasing American prisoners of war. Based on actual events in which the writer played a major role, 'Sweeps tells how iron men manning wooden ships bring home 591 POWs.
Summary
Ensign Samuel Wallace reports aboard USS Vengeance patrolling the Vietnamese coast out of Danang in October 1972. Sam, a communications engineer graduate and former basketball guard at Holy Cross College, has a tenacious personality, fierce loyalty to friends, endless passion for his new bride Karen, and a strong sense of duty to help conclude the Vietnam War.
His fervent quest─search the Navy for clues regarding his father's arcane death in Korea in 1950─causes friction aboard ship and at home.
Sam forms a dislike for a parochial officer slighting anything and anyone not from Wisconsin, and strikes a friendship with _Texas Craig" Rodgers, a hard-drinking ex-Mormon, but saves his strongest bond for the only black officer aboard, engineer Andre Jagoda, who endures subtle prejudice for having married a Caucasian. Sam and Andre discover they have much in common; both grew up fatherless and, to vent steam from the angst of close-in patrols, one often plays Stan Laurel to the other's Oliver Hardy.
A firefight ensues within moments of Sam stepping aboard Vengeance, who is injured later in a firefight rescuing downed pilots. On New Year's Day, Vengeance and four sister ships sail on a secret mission to North Vietnam to sweep ports sealed with sophisticated mines. In exchange, Hanoi will release American POWs. The historical event evidences a giant leap marking America's continuing withdrawal from the war. Before shoving off, Karen joins Sam in the Philippines where she announces she is pregnant. They spend time at an isolated coastal resort making love in sand and lagoon. Sam forewarns her of Operation Paragon: "Mines so advanced and our gear so crude, my love. We're Polish horse cavalry charging German Panzers." He witnesses Hanoi's hostile reception the day POWs board Angel Flight One for home.
A released POW whom he knows breaks down at his feet, and Sam has harsh words with the POW's jailer. Aboard ship, the crew works hard─eighteen-to twenty-hour days become routine─until a menacing patrol boat orders Vengeance to surrender. The patrol boat activates a mine and sinks with all hands. The blast causes a string of others costing the Navy two ships, 80
percent of those crews plus Ginger, Vengeance's mangy mascot riding sister ship Alacrity for good luck. The carnage and cleanup devastate Sam and Andre; both break emotionally.
Steaming to the Philippines for repairs, Sam plans to research his father's WWII activities at Manila's National War Archives Museum but gets restricted to the ship for aiding a shipmate Sam recommended for promotion. Vengeance returns to inimical waters, but this time helicopters towing special apparatus sweep the ports. Her work done, she sails for home with a spiteful staff officer aboard bent on undermining Sam. When the officer's accusations prove false, squadron Commodore Carson Yates replaces him with Sam. Jaws drop when Carson, unknown to Sam, reveals that the Navy holds him responsible for Sam's father's death. Sam, emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted, arrives at the hospital as Karen delivers twins, the words, "aloha au la oe," Hawaiian for "I love you" on his lips.
Work towards a PhD and careers in banking and business education evolved into Stephen's dual passions, teaching college computer courses, and writing in Palm Springs where he recently finished TRACK OF THE TREASURE and WRATH OF THE EAGLE.
With a total of twelve “Sam Wallace” adventure/action novels pending, Stephen plans to complete his current project, RETURN TO VENGEANCE, by year’s end.
Author: Stephen Haywood Brown
Title: Sweeps
Publisher: Publish America
Reviewer: W. H. McDonald, Jr. – AAA Founder
Navy Story Inspired by Actual Events in the Vietnam War
Author Stephen Brown takes actual events from the Vietnam War in 1972 through 1973 and turns it into a well written action novel called “Sweeps.” It is based on a little known U.S. Naval operation off the coast of North Vietnam that provided a role in bringing home our 571 POWs. The author was actually involved in these real operations and so his writing carries a little more clout and delivers a very well told and entertaining story.
Their ship’s secret mission to Haiphong Harbor to “sweep” the port of mines was linked with the release of POWs, however, that is just the background for the story. The characters and the dialog and other events unfold in a style that keeps you concerned and focused for the safety of the crew. There is plenty of suspense, a little humor and enough action to make this a very satisfying read.
There have been many books written about the Vietnam War but very few about what our Navy ships were doing off the coast. Even though the storyline itself is fictional most of the facts about this operation ring true and mirror some actual historic facts. The author does a great job telling this story and for an old Army guy like me, it was an education and history lesson.
If you like stories about naval history, or warfare, or just wanted to learn something totally different about the Vietnam War, then Brown’s book is something you should put on your reading list!
The author uses just enough salty language at times to remind us that he was a sailor. The book is for mature readers.
TRACK OF THE TREASURE
PRÉCIS
Reluctant Navy Lieutenant SAM WALLACE bests Hanoi, a presidential hatchet man, and a mysterious Japanese army deserter to recover Yamashita's Treasure in North Vietnam, thereby exonerating Sam's deceased father once accused of stealing the hoard.
SUMMARY
General DOUGLAS MACARTHUR takes time from his Inchon, South Korea invasion in September 1950 to interrogate Commander BRIAN WALLACE as to the location of Yamashita's Treasure, the fantastic hoard that Japanese forces looted from conquered lands during World War II.
Brian, ordered ashore and thinking he has again beaten MacArthur, dies when an American plane strafes the beach.
In early 1974 STERLING RYERS, an abrasive PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON hatchet man for twenty-five years,launches Plan Tango to assuage the political onslaught of the Watergate break-in. Ryers convinces Nixon that Brian Wallace found some of the treasure only to rehide it near Haiphong in 1946. Ryers assembles his team: Brian's son, Sam, now a Navy lieutenant; Sam's boss, Commodore CARSON YATES; and Sam's best friend, Navy Lieutenant ANDRE JAGODA who is the only black officer aboard Mine Division Seven, on Kauai where Sam grew up. Ryers flaunts borderline evidence that the three have all had their lives impacted directly by Yamashita's Treasure: Sam, because Ryers remains convinced Brian left his son a clue as to the treasure's location; Andre, because Ryers used his influence to cause Jagoda's graduate thesis on the treasure be rejected; and Carson, because the Navy censured him for Brian's death.
At the same time a mysterious figure, MUSHUKIMONO–Japanese for "THE OUTCAST"–searches for Yamashita's Treasure using proceeds from his highly efficient espionage organization. Since World War II, he has sought to present the treasure to Emperor Hirohito to atone for deserting the army.
Andre, Carson, and Sam, accompanied by the obnoxious Ryers, arrive in Haiphong after surviving one of the last American firefights in South Vietnam. Though accompanied everywhere by Colonel XUYEN, the officer who tortured American POWs, they recover Yamashita's Treasure just as Mushukimono links Hanoi selling Treasure to finance its war effort.
Aboard a decrepit water taxi, Sam correlates several clues, including one etched into an antique coin that his father gave him, to deduce that Mushukimono ordered Brian killed. RAMON CONĆION, a longtime aide frequently abused by the Outcast, throws Mushukimono overboard, and then begs asylum from Ryers.
An unappreciative Ryers transfers the treasure to Washington, D.C. Sam, Andre, and Carson assume Plan Tango has concluded but in July the President summons them to Camp David. In a face-to-face confrontation, Sam proves that Ryers is the Outcast's White House source. He subsequently disappears with much of the recovered treasure. Nixon, reeling under Watergate's unrelenting effects, asks Andre and Sam to catalog the remaining treasure under Carson's guidance.
In one of his final presidential acts, Nixon clears Carson's service record, secures acceptance for Andre's thesis, and vindicates Brian Wallace's name. Three bright futures dim quickly when Ryers’ phone call to Sam promises vengeance for dismantling a political career. Nixon resigns in disgrace, and a ruminative Jagoda declares that Yamashita's Treasure has logged but another victim.
Two families filled with hate.
Terrorists waging war.
Wrath of the Eagle
the new Sam Wallace novel
Stephen Haywood Brown
Wrath of the Eagle
Summary
Lieutenant Sam Wallace reports as executive officer aboard the missile-equipped patrol gunboat USS Leopard (PGM-88) at the Naval Station, Rota, Spain in January 1976. In April she sails to the Suez Canal to guard Allied ships clearing it of mines. Leopard's ambitious captain, Lieutenant Curtis Yoder, places greater emphasis on planning his career than commanding his ship. His command ethos includes relieving watch officers for the slightest trespass. This mien often entangles Sam, who must himself reconcile son Kevin's learning disability.
In Cairo, Leopard's engineer, Ensign Harry Mahan, meets an Egyptian Christian–a Copt–Shekoofeh Nakib. The two are at once drawn to one another. Meanwhile, a fanatical group, Hafez-el-Sayef–Keeper of the Sword–develops plans to humiliate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the Allies, the American navy in particular. Hafez leader Ahmed Yassin remains particularly incensed that Shekoo, promised to him in a brokered marriage, ran away rather than marry a Muslim.
Yoder surrenders to Sam increased authority so his uninvited captain may attend strategy planning sessions reserved for senior Allied officers.
A Hafez mob attacks Leopard's liberty party, and Yoder blames Sam for embarrassing the command. The captain cancels all liberty “until all you guilty in my crew step forward.” Morale sinks further when Yoder, attempting to regain his wardroom's regard, makes disparaging remarks toward "those uppity Jews that Hitler just had to control" using riot guns that Yoder now collects. At Rota, Karen Wallace enrolls Kevin in a special school.
Harry and Shekoofeh marry in a Coptic ritual witnessed by her brother Labib, and Sam. Yoder then chastises Sam for witnessing a "crossbred" marriage. At the Pyramids, Hafez kidnaps Leopard's crew while simultaneously at Suez City seizes two British ships and attempts to capture Leopard. Sam, using Leopard’s missiles, sinks the pirated ships. A dying Hafez leader tells Sam the crews' whereabouts. He sustains an injury in the ensuing search that frees all hands. Then, with Labib guiding, Sam meets Harry and Shekoo at a student apartment building that is Hafez' rendezvous point.
Infighting erupts; Yassin shoots all. A stray bullet ignites the boiler; quickly a fire erupts. Flames rise as looters and firefighters arrive. Harry and Shekoo slip away. Sam helps rescue an infant tossed from the apartment mere moments before it collapses. Everyone suddenly realizes that Harry and Shekoo were inside the building.
Sam's nomination for the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions aboard ship and ashore generates fierce opposition from Yoder who, to protect his career, files charges against Sam and the deceased Harry. Accusations against Sam prove unfounded, and for "shipboard performance that doesn't even succeed as substandard" an investigating board recommends relieving Lieutenant Yoder of his command.
Sam, temporarily in command, gives a powerful pierside eulogy in front of a grief-stricken crew, embassy officials and Egyptian families. Leopard then sails home to Rota. Off an isolated cove on Mallorca Island, Harry and Shekoofeh Mahan approach the Wallaces as they sunbathe nude. Harry explains to an astonished couple how Labib planned their phony deaths; Shekoo conveys that the Mahans have new lives in Haifa. Over dinner in Palma de Mallorca, Sam narrates events that lead to his nomination. Karen approves Sam's idea to adopt the orphaned Egyptian child, but only if they name her Shekoo.
An October 1976 newspaper article notes Sam's award ceremony; a second, dated June 1977 heralds Leopard's decommissioning amid Congressional bickering.
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Karl Boyd Hoepfner
January Author of the Month
Karl Boyd
Author and Storyteller
My name is Karl Boyd Hoepfner, but I use the pen name of Karl Boyd. Boyd is the last name of my grandparents. It works out very well on a book cover, four letters and four letters.
I have written seven novels, four of which have been published, and the remaining three will be published during 2010. I am currently working on two others that I believe will be just as good if not better than my previous efforts.
My first novel is titled “Signs of Our Times”. This is a tale of a planned terrorist attack during the annual grudge match between the universities of Texas and Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl. The terrorists plan to kill the President of the United States and two hundred screaming fans by dispersing stolen nerve gas hidden in phony fire extinguishers throughout the Cotton Bowl stadium.
My second novel, “The Nearly Perfect Plan”, is the first of a trilogy of lighthearted crime stories concerning two young ambitious “con” men, Roger Booth and Carl James. In this story, Roger and Carl stumble across the perfect plan to highjack three Brinks armored trucks and make them and their combined $34 million dollar payloads disappear on the open highway in a matter of minutes. As you might gather from the title, things don’t always go the way you plan, but, (as you will learn), if you are resourceful and clever, sometimes “nearly” is close enough.
(This is the one that won "Author of the Month" for December 2009 by MWSA).
My third effort at writing I think is my best so far. It is titled “From China with Love” and tells how China takes over all of North America, including Canada, the USA and Mexico in five days without, essentially, firing a shot. It’s a frightening tale, but has a great ending. On a recent cruise to China, I left a copy with the American Embassy in Beijing. So far, I haven’t received a reply, but I’ve been noticing several men and women in dark suits and glasses following me; and I know China is wondering where and how I discovered their future plans.
My fourth novel, “The Cyrus Caper”, is the second in the trilogy I mentioned before. Roger and Carl are at it again, only this time on the high seas, as they and a gang of 30 ex-Army vets use the guise of hijacking a cruise ship to assist the FBI in capturing a most wanted terrorist. True to their nature, Roger and Carl have plans of their own. Double and triple crosses abound. Again, the ending is unexpected. By now, my readers have found the statement often repeated in these stories to be true: With Roger and Carl, nothing is as it seems!”
A fifth novel, “Palmyra, Isle of Death” is due to be published in January 2010. In this story, ghosts of Pirates from the past collide with modern day treasure hunters on a small atoll far from civilization. I’ve combined historical fact with my own style of fiction to tell what happened to a treasure laden ship named “The Esperanza” that wrecked on this small pile of coral in the Pacific Ocean. Murder, lies, greed, betrayal, unrequited love and revenge are only a few of the strange bedfellows you meet along the way. Readers can decide whether my assumptions of where the treasure may still reside is fiction or perhaps more historical fact waiting to be discovered. Only Palmyra, the isle of death knows for sure.
My sixth novel, the third installment of the trilogy, “The Texas Two Card Hold ’em Heist”, tells the story of how Roger, Carl and several members of their gang manage to make off with the $20 million dollar prize from the final table at the Universal Poker Tour in Las Vegas. Along with the FBI, you’ll wonder how they did it and where the money is. This novel will be published in May of 2010.
I am currently working on the fourth novel in the trilogy, titled, “The Don’s Stimulus Package”, which tells how Roger, Carl and their mentor, Mafia Don Giacomo Remualdi plan to take the Federal Government to the tune of $1 billion dollars. How can a trilogy have four parts? Remember, with Roger and Carl, nothing is as it seems!
And, last, but by no means the end, is my seventh novel, “The Lost Priest”. This is my longest endeavor, containing two parts, “The Lost Soul” and “The Lost Spirit”. Set in Texas, Brazil and Bermuda, the tale tells of the lives, loves, hopes and sometimes shattered dreams of twin brothers, Tom and Tim Fitch, one a contractor, the other a priest. There is suspense, intrigue, a little romance for the ladies and a mean shark thrown in to pique the interest of the members of the male persuasion. I will release this novel in October 2010 and know you’ll enjoy this one.
Following are my replies to a recent interview:
Question: How would you describe your writing style?
A. I strive for realism in every book. There are no “super heroes” who dodge a hail of bullets without getting hit while knocking off bad guys by the dozens with a single shot weapon. Everything that happens in my novels can actually happen to any of us in everyday life.
Q. When did you start writing?
A. Eight years ago. I always liked to write, and created several short stories for fun, but never got serious about the art until I turned 65. I would have begun writing sooner, but thought I couldn’t write dialogue. That was my big hang-up. You should never tell yourself you can’t do anything until you try. Now I find it’s easy – I just put myself in the situation of the person I am writing about and say what I think they would. It works.
Q. Where do you get your inspiration?
A. Strange as it may seem, from dreams most of the time. I’m a borderline insomniac and don’t sleep much, but when I do, my mind runs wild. A wise man once told me that if inspiration strikes early in the morning; get out of bed and begin typing or you’ll forget it by sunrise. It’s true.
Q. Can you give me an example?
A. In my first book, “Signs of Our Times”, I awoke thinking of a man lying on a hillside waiting to assassinate someone – who or why, I didn’t know. But, I got out of bed and began pounding the computer keys. At the end of that session, I had decided the victim was a young college student named Katie. My last thought for the night was that Katie was driving a car and one of her passengers was a chimpanzee.” Why a chimpanzee? Again, I don’t know, but my mind said, “Put it down,” so I did. That one line made the entire storyline possible. How? I’d love to tell, but you’ll have to purchase the book to discover the answer!
Q. Say you do have one or two best sellers on your hands, or one of them gets picked up and made into a movie. What will you do with the profits?
A. My wife, Carol, and I are both retired Master Sergeants, as is our daughter, Carla. Carla’s husband, Dave, is a retired USAF Lt Colonel. Their son, Brandon, is currently serving with the Air Force and will be deployed to Afghanistan in May of 2010.
Early on, Carol and I decided to donate most of the proceeds from my first novel to The Wounded Warrior Project – A transition program to assist our brave servicemen and women who have lost limbs in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In March of 2008, we sponsored a bike ride from San Antonio to Corpus Christi for nineteen of these brave men and at the end of the ride presented them with a check for $5,000. There were many tears of happiness shared with these wounded warriors. It made the long hours of sitting in BXs throughout Texas and Starbucks coffee shops for book signings all worthwhile. We continue to donate $2.00 for each copy of all my books sold to this worthy organization.
If we are lucky enough to have one or more of my novels made into movies, half the proceeds will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Our brave troops deserve much more than lip service. God bless them!
Q. Where can your readers learn more about this program?
A. Go to www.woundedwarriorproject.org to view their website and several videos available there. Have a large box of tissues on hand. You will shed some tears.
Q. Any future plans for publicizing your books?
A. I’ve been selected by Princess Cruise Lines to lecture on writing and have book signings on several cruises. This way, we hope to have my books spread out all over the world.
In June we cruised to Alaska. In September, we cruised from Anchorage to Beijing. In December, we spent the entire month on the Royal Princess from Rome to the Amazon River, then back down the river to several ports in Brazil and the Caribbean. My novels received great reviews from all the passengers who purchased a copy.
Q. Where can readers purchase your books?
A. They can order a signed first edition of “Signs of Our Times” or my newest books, “The Nearly Perfect Plan” , “From China with Love”, and “The Cyrus Caper” directly from the author for $19.75 each, plus $3.00 shipping and handling for each book.
Send a check or money order for $22.75 for each novel to:
Karl Boyd Productions, P. O. Box 2096, Rockport, TX 78381-2096
Be sure to include which book(s) you want, the name of the person you’d like each book signed to, and any personal message(s) you wish the author to add.
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Mike Angley
January Author of the Month
MICHAEL “Mike” ANGLEY is the award-winning author of the mystery/suspense thriller series, the Child Finder Trilogy, which features USAF Special Agent protagonist, Major Patrick S. O’Donnell.
His debut novel, Child Finder, received the Silver Medal for fiction in the 2009 Military Writers Society of America’s Annual Awards program, and when the book launched in June 2009, the Library Journal placed it on its Summer Reads list and called it a “compelling debut novel” and “a real find.”
Mike retired from the U.S. Air Force in September 2007 in the rank of Colonel, following an exciting and dangerous 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI).
He held thirteen different assignments throughout the world, among which were five tours as a Commander of different units, to include two Air Force Squadrons and a Wing. Michael Angley is a seasoned criminal investigator and a counterintelligence and counterterrorism specialist. In his last assignment as the Commander of OSI Region 8 at Air Force Space Command, he was fond of saying, “If it entered or exited the Earth’s atmosphere, I had a dog in the fight!”
He has an M.A. in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, and a B.A. in Criminal Justice and Psychology from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA. In 2001, he served as a National Defense Fellow and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Florida International University, Miami, FL. Mike and Evelyn, his wife of 24 years, make their home in Colorado Springs, CO. They have three children, and they usually can be found chasing after their rambunctious beagle named Brynn.
“It has been a year and a half since Air Force Special Agent Patrick O’Donnell left the TOP SECRET child rescue program after it went horribly off-track, resulting in murder and endangering his own family. And just when he thinks he’s comfortably put this painful past behind him, he receives a call from his mentor. The murky, shadowy TOP SECRET community where he once was center-stage has been revised, revamped, resurrected!
The government needs his psychic skills more than ever. A sick, twisted, menacing child killer is on the loose, and no one but Pat can stop him. But Agent O’Donnell soon discovers this new nemesis is more than he bargained for. Nothing can prepare him for the psychotic genius he must fight…and the life and death cat-and-mouse game that entraps him! Once again, Pat must call upon his faith and strong spiritual connection with God to sustain and guide him, especially during his darkest hours as he battles…pure evil.”
Mike Angley
Special Agent, USAF (ret)
Colonel, USAF (ret)
Award-Winning Author of the Child Finder Trilogy
www.childfinder.us
Publicity Contact (Print/Radio/Television):
Terri Mitchem
TotalRecall Publications, Inc.
352-596-1192
mtmitchem@aol.com
Author Contact:
Mike Angley
719-660-6772
author@childfinder.us
www.childfinder.us
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Hugh Scott
January Book of the Month
Hugh Scott’s debut novel, Saigon Gold, won the January Book of the Month award from the Military Writers Society of America.
Scott’s military service includes two years in Vietnam with U.S. and South Vietnamese combat infantry units. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, four Bronze Stars, four Air Medals, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
He returned to Vietnam four times in recent years for educational and business reasons and to collect materials for his book and website, www.saigongold.com
A censored version of his book is sold in western-oriented bookstores and tourist venues in Vietnam.
After retiring from the military as a lieutenant colonel, Scott held senior financial management positions and was an adjunct professor of finance at the University of San Francisco and the University of California at Berkeley.
His education includes a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master of business administration from Syracuse University. He also graduated with honors from the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He lives in Sedona, Arizona.
About Saigon Gold:
An American war veteran returns to Vietnam and finds himself faced with the harsh realities of his military exploits.
Robert Anderson expects a winery consulting job. Instead, he is thrust into a dangerous scheme to recover a gold fortune missing since Communist forces captured Saigon in April 1975.
When a government agent dies, Anderson uncovers cryptic documents linking him to an ambush that only he and a Vietnamese officer survived. That sends him and alluring American Consulate employee Jenny Ngo racing around the country, desperately searching for the meaning of the documents before everybody they question ends up dead.
Meanwhile, China’s expansionist Navy lurks in the background, preparing an invasion that threatens America’s military supremacy in the Western Pacific.
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Mike Mullins, Vietnam Veteran, Delta 3/7, 199th Light Infantry, '68-'69; author of "Vietnam in Verse, poetry for beer drinkers." "ViV" won the Gold Medal for poetry, 2007, from the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA). The book is available on line from Amazon, B&N, and B-a-M book stores
MWSA Vice President
Michael D. Mullins is a graduate Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia (now U. Va., Wise). He earned his undergraduate degree with a major in English in 1974 after serving in the U. S. Army. He later completed an Associate’s Degree in Operations Supervision at Indiana University, Kokomo, Indiana.
Mullins has worked in production, inventory control and human resources management. Between stints in industry, the State of Indiana employed him in its Department of Commerce, where he eventually became the liaison with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mullins was a Team Leader for a major automotive manufacturer. For a short time he was a small business owner, operating as a human resources consultant.
During these years he served his community in many capacities, primarily working with youth-oriented organizations. He was a member of his local board of school trustees for sixteen years and a co-founder of that schools Citizens Scholarship Foundation.
In March of 1968, Mullins was assigned to the Republic of South Vietnam as a soldier in the 199th Infantry Brigade. He served proudly with other young men fighting for this country as an infantryman in combat. He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action during September of that year. He returned home in March of 1969 as a young man who had seen and learned much.
His most vivid learning experience was still ahead of him. The experience led to his award winning book, Vietnam in Verse, poetry for beer drinkers, in 2007, which earned the Gold Medal for poetry from the Military Writers Society of America.
Mullins married in 1970 to a woman who has tolerated him ever since. Now he is the proud father of two sons and four grandchildren. They are tired if hearing his stories and are ready for him to share them with somebody else.
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The Following is information about the 2009-2010 President of MWSA:
Joyce Faulkner
President for 2009-2010
Military Writers Society of America
www.militarywriters.com
Joyce Faulkner lives in Pittsburgh, PA. She published her first article in high school back in 1965. Her writing credentials include many magazine, newspaper & web articles. She also wrote columns -- "The History of Aerial Applications" for AG Pilot International and one on writing topics for webzine "Scribe & Quill."
She is a ghostwriter, an editor and a web, newspaper & book designer. Her published books include "Losing Patience" (a Collection of Short Fiction), "The Complete Writer: A Guide to Reaching Your Full Potential" (with coauthors), "In the Shadow of Suribachi" (2006 MWSA Gold Medal for Historical Fiction), "For Shrieking Out Loud" (a collection of humorous creative non-fiction essays), "Sunchon Tunnel Massacre Survivors" (with Pat McGrath Avery, Non-fiction).
Two of her stories -- "Part the Horse's Mane (fiction) and "Rosa" (nonfiction) are available as Amazon "Shorts."
Her educational background includes a Major in Writing at the University of Arkansas (3 years) in the 1960s, an Associates Degree in Engineering Science, a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Cleveland State University.
She worked in the Gas Industry for many years...first as an Engineer and then as a Supervisor of Gas Supply and then Manager of Information Services. When she left industry in 2000, she was the Director of eCommerce with many years experience in web development and design.
She has been a member of MWSA since 2006 and has served as Secretary and MWSA Webmaster since January of 2008. Her skills include Management, Project Management, Web Site Design, Writing and Layout. She volunteered for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center for several years and has led various corporate, community and volunteer committees & organizations. Her goal is to help veterans record their piece of history -- for themselves, their families, their communities -- and our country.
"It all started when I wrote 'In the Shadow of Suribachi'," she says. "It's basically the story of my father's experiences as a young Marine at the Battle of Iwo Jima. That book has my heart. It was also the beginning of my working to get veterans' stories written and published. Working with MWSA is an extension of that dream...to make sure that all of our history is recorded and recognized.
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