Helicopter Training at Fort Wolters: Mineral Wells and the Vietnam War by Wes J. Sheffield

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MWSA Review
Helicopter Training at Fort Wolters, by historian Wes J. Sheffield, is a pictorial account from the period when the US Army trained new pilots in helicopters. US Army Camp Wolters, in Mineral Wells, Texas, was a common training ground for American and foreign armed forces from its beginning in 1925. As also noted in the introduction, World War II caused the base’s expansion into an infantry replacement training center for soldiers. The US Air Force activated the base in 1951 following the base's end-of-war closure. The Army regained its management beginning in 1956 with the burst of helicopters and the need to train thousands of aviators. The oncoming Vietnam War, within a decade, increased that need. The region was ideal for primary helicopter training with its broad, open prairies and good weather. The Army management staff was fortified in its flight training and aircraft maintenance by Southern Airways, a civilian corporation.

The 126-page, soft cover book contains approximately 200 photographs, many picturing military commanders. The author had access to private and public photo collections plus written histories collected by a former commanding officer. All photos are in black and white. Images might invoke some vivid memories when viewed by individuals among the thousands of flight students in their few weeks passing through. Included is a section recognizing Medal of Honor recipients who once trained at US Army Camp Wolters.

Review by Tom Beard (February 2025)
 

Author's Synopsis

Originally a World War II infantry training center, followed by a brief stint as a US Air Force base, Camp Wolters was redesignated a US Army installation in July 1956, and its primary mission was to train helicopter pilots.

Mineral Wells offered an ideal climate and terrain for flight training with predominately clear skies, rolling open ranch land, high bluffs, and the Brazos River valley. An integral part of Mineral Wells’ economy, the flight school expanded in the 1960s due to escalation of the Vietnam War. During the war, with the exception of the US Navy, all helicopter pilots receiving primary flight training passed through Fort Wolters. During its 17 years of operation, over 40,000 pilots were trained, which included international students from 33 countries. The last Fort Wolters pilots graduated in 1973, and it was formally closed in 1975 and was converted into an industrial center.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Artistic—Pictorial/Coffee Table

Number of Pages: 128

Word Count: 16,914

Desert Tough by Katie Bonecutter

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MWSA Review
 Diego Martinez is an eleven-year-old military child. Every few years he moves with his family to a new base somewhere in the world because of his Marine father’s assignments. In Desert Tough, author Katie Bonecutter gives the reader a peek into Diego’s life at Twentynine Palms Marine base in Southern California. It is a desert location, quite different from other places where the family has lived.

Diego has grown adept at being the new boy in class. Many of the kids in his middle school are also military children, and they know how it feels to be the new student. On the first day of school, one of these boys, Dante, befriends Diego; they become fast friends. They run together, explore the desert after school and on weekends, and play endless games with Diego’s best non-human friend—his Belgian Malinois dog, Radar. Radar flunked out of the canine police training academy, yet he is a loyal, loving, protective, and intelligent pet.

Nathan, a neighborhood toddler, exercises a penchant for taking unauthorized walkabouts around the neighborhood, much to the chagrin of his mother, whose husband is deployed overseas. Nathan has fallen in love with Radar, Dante, and Diego, as well as with Diego’s younger sister, Lily. Despite the age difference, the children include Nathan in many activities.

Diego loves science and nature. He hung on every word a ranger said at a school assembly about the beauty of the desert and its dangers. Diego takes the ranger’s word as gospel and learns how to equip himself for desert adventures. When something unthinkable happens, Diego, his friends, and Radar must apply all their skills to save a life.

Desert Tough highlights how adaptive a military child can be, and how close a military family is to its members and other military families. This novel provides middle-grade adventure, solid friendships, and a remarkable dog.

Children around the same age as Diego will find this story engaging and informative, as will their parents.

Review by Pat Walkow (January 2025)

Author's Synopsis

 Imagine starting over as the new kid every one-to-three years. Eleven-year-old Diego Martinez, son of a US Marine, doesn’t have to imagine this reality; he lives it. His dad has recently been transferred to a remote Marine base near the small city of Twentynine Palms, California and the Joshua Tree National Park. In Desert Tough, Diego endeavors to find his new sense of normal—sorting out a new base and a new school—all while trying to make friends and to navigate the unforgiving natural environment of the high desert. Diego faces the hardships of this transition as he always does, with courage and grit. The friendships he makes are forged from the shared experience of life as a military kid and highlight the toughness gleaned from their lives of transitions and unique challenges. Understandably, then, when a local boy goes missing in the desert, Diego and his friends step forward to help search for him. Aided by Diego’s dog, Radar, they come together to successfully rescue the missing boy.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Middle Grade Chapter Book

Number of Pages: 144

Word Count: 27,900

Home is Where the Murder Is by Rosalie Spielman

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MWSA Review

If you want to curl up with a cozy mystery with unpredictable twists and turns—mingled with a delightful dose of humor—Rosalie Spielman’s Home is Where the Murder Is would be a great choice.

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Tessa Treslow, her family, and the small town of New Oslo are shocked by the brutal murder of a stranger who claims a familial connection to a former resident. However, there is a dilemma: all fingers point to Tessa’s best friend, a local police deputy, as the killer. Tessa is convinced Freddie is innocent and is determined to track down the identity of the actual assassin.

But where to start? Help arrives with a gaggle of colorful characters from Speilman’s first yarn, Welcome Home to Murder. These include fellow “She-canic” Aunt Edna; niece Summer; bench-sitting-all-seeing Hollis and Hank; the eccentric Prunn sisters; and Nick, Tessa’s fellow veteran and love interest. But to solve the case, Tessa and her allies may have to put themselves squarely in harm’s way.

In the small hometown, everyday life offers ups and downs with a sprinkling of unknown secrets. Spielman artfully intertwines her fictional narrative with the real-life challenges of our warriors adjusting to civilian life and how they cope with the physical and mental trauma of conflict and loss. The result is well worth the read, thanks to this author’s gifted storytelling.

Review by Sandi Cathcart (January 2025)

Author's Synopsis

Retired US Army officer Tessa Treslow has settled in with her Aunt Edna in her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho. After the disasters of the previous fall, Tessa and her family are back on their feet as they start a new dream venture: a vehicle restoration business, "BOSS—Band of Sisters Services, call the She-canics."

Tessa and the enticing local math teacher, Nick Hunt, are also working together to organize a charity run during the New Oslo Pioneer Days festival. All seems to be going well... until Tessa finds a dead body in the town park!

The murder victim is a stranger to their small town, who claimed that she was the illegitimate cousin of Tessa's best friend, Deputy Petunia "Freddie" Frederickson. The victim's bloody finger is pointing to a mark on the veterans' honor roll sign, circling the names of Freddie and her grandfather. Complicating matters, Freddie was witnessed in an altercation with the woman just before her death, and it was Freddie's knife found at the scene.

In order to help her best friend, Tessa and Aunt Edna search for the real identity of the victim. Was she actually a long-lost family member? Who would want her dead? And what was she doing in New Oslo? Tessa is determined to find out... even if the answers lead her straight into the crosshairs of a killer!

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller/Crime

Number of Pages: 257

Word Count: 73,500

Running Towards Gunfire: Courage and Brotherhood in Ramadi by Jason Angell

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MWSA Review

“Ar Ramadi is the restive and violent capital of Al Anbar Province, Iraq. It is a place that I hate. It is a place I have feared. It is a place where I have killed. At the same time, it represents a period of my life that I cherish.” - Jason Angell

I did not expect to be mesmerized by Jason Angel’s Running Towards Gunfire like I was. Coming from a family where most of the men served in the military, I’ve always had an interest in learning what they went through during their service. Mr. Angell had me on the edge of my seat during the entire read. It was as if he and I were having a drink while he was telling me the minute details of his deployments.

Angell writes, “In Al Assad, I had been worried about my men. I stressed about their safety day in and day out. Additionally, being with my team lowered my anxiety. They increased my combat effectiveness. Without them, I was only a Marine officer, about as useful as a steering wheel without a car. Our comradery and instincts, our ability to work together in this environment, drove me. This is what it’s like to be a member of a real team We supported and trusted each other. We watched each other’s six.”

I felt his emotions and the flood of adrenaline he experienced when his senses and responses were at their peak levels. I felt his anguish in seeing injuries and loss of life of fellow combatants. I felt his anger at the shadowy figures who sought to kill and maim others. Jason Angell is a skilled writer who paints a vivid picture of the reality of war.

General Robert Neller, USMC (Ret.), thirty-seventh commandant of the Marine Corps wrote: "If you want to read about combat in Iraq at the boots-on-the-ground level, this book is for you." I can’t say it any better than that.

Review by Nancy Panko (February 2025)
 

Author's Synopsis

In August 2005, a four-man team from the United States Marine Corps’ 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) found themselves smack in the middle of the deadliest city on earth, Ramadi, Iraq. For the next seven months, they fought street by street against an insurgency that only grew more deadly.

They would eventually join up with snipers from the US Army’s famed 1-506th to form Task Force Dark Eagle. Casting aside interservice rivalries, road bound gun trucks, and conventional operations, these marines and soldiers became the ones hiding in the shadows, hunting insurgents from their own homes.

Running Towards Gunfire is a gritty, no-holds-barred first-person account of the realities of modern urban combat, bringing the reader onto the streets of Ramadi and into the minds of combat marines as they fight for each other and their brothers-in-arms during some of the most savage fighting of the Iraq War.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 260

Word Count: 80,000

Playing Army by Nancy Stroer

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MWSA Review

Author Nancy Stroer’s debut novel portrays the time period of the mid-nineties for women in the military through her main character, Lieutenant Min Mills. Stroer’s own military background led her to develop realistic characters, settings, and situations that place readers right into the story. Female Lieutenant Min’s humor, self-deprecation, and conflicting emotions create an interesting ride for readers, not knowing what turn would come next, nor knowing if Min would race to the finish line or crash along the way.

Each character has his or her own story, and Min’s reactions and dealings with them revealed more about her own character. The following shows an example of who Min was and how the author portrayed her inner dialogue. “I couldn’t comprehend the kind of organization that produced both cowards and heroes, sometimes in the same person, but hell if I wasn’t going to figure it out.” Min grew throughout the book, but the growth was not a straight trajectory, making the read much more satisfying than a predictable outcome.

Stroer’s writing style did not disappoint, including visual and physical descriptions such as, “I slumped into the kitchen, started the coffee, and put my head straight under the tap, drinking like I’d just crossed the Sahara and not the beige carpeted expanse from my bedroom.”

I highly recommend Playing Army to those who would like to know more about those who lived during the Vietnam War era, and to those who are interested in military women’s stories from the not-too-distant past and understand some of their realities.

Review by Valerie Ormond (February 2025)

Author's Synopsis

Can you really fake it till you make it? Lieutenant Minerva Mills is about to find out. 

It’s 1995 and the Army units of Fort Stewart, Georgia, are gearing up to deploy to Bosnia. But Min has no intention of going to war-torn Eastern Europe. Her father disappeared in Vietnam and—longing for some connection to him—she’s determined to go on a long-promised tour to Asia. The colonel will only release her on two conditions: she ensures the rag-tag Headquarters Company is ready for the peacekeeping mission and she gets her weight within Army regs. 

Min only has one summer to kick everyone’s butts into shape, but the harder she plays Army, the more the soldiers—and her body—rebel. If she can’t even get the other women on her side, much less lose those eight lousy pounds, she’ll never have another chance to stand where her father once stood in Vietnam. The colonel may sweep her along to Bosnia or throw her out of the Army altogether. Or Min may be forced to conclude that no amount of faking it will ever be enough to make it, and as was true for her father, that the Army is an impossible space for her to occupy.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction

Number of Pages: 292

Word Count: 92,000

An Absence of Faith: A Tale of Afghanistan by Craig Trebilcock

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MWSA Review

An Absence of Faith effectively conveys the underlying causes of the twenty-year debacle in Afghanistan that followed the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. The author uses fictional characters to illustrate both the deep-seated intricacies of Afghan culture and the well-meaning efforts of a few principled individuals to infuse Western values and ethics into the equation.

Within weeks of the devastating terror attacks of September 11, 2001, The United States molded a coalition of more than fifty other nations to support the invasion of Afghanistan, considered to be the wellspring of global terror. At the time, Afghanistan had been under the rule of the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban, which had gained control of the country following the departure of Soviet forces.

The central narrative takes place between August of 2015 and October of 2016—a critical period following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and the declared official end of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The key protagonist is an American Army Reserve colonel, sent on a one-year tour of duty to stem the rampant corruption in the Afghan military and government. Perspective into the culture and plight of the Afghan people comes through the eyes of an Afghan army private who ultimately joins the Taliban. The narrative alternates between these two viewpoints, effectively describing the complex challenges on both sides of the conflict.

In addition to the engaging fictional story lines, the author takes great care to provide historic and contemporary backgrounds that help the reader to better understand the cultural environments confronting his characters.

The result is an absorbing and understandable explanation of the many misconceptions and failures of the latest attempt by Western nations to impose their values and ethics on the unruly country which has rightfully earned the epithet “graveyard of empires.”

An Absence of Faith is recommended reading for anyone looking for clearer understanding of at least some of the many reasons for the failure of America’s involvement in Afghanistan.

Review by Peter Young (March 2025)

 

Author's Synopsis

An Absence of Faith: A Tale of Afghanistan is the story of Daniyal, a Kabul University student kidnapped into the Afghan army where he is caught up in a vast criminal conspiracy to steal Western military aid. The story takes the reader into the heart of the Afghanistan war, where Afghan soldiers are daily brutalized and their food and medicine are sold by their generals for their personal profit.. While Daniyal struggles to survive, Colonel William Trevanathan, U.S. Army, is given the mission to stop Afghan corruption to convince NATO allies not to abandon an increasingly unpopular war. Both Daniyal and Trevanathan struggle to maintain their humanity and principles amidst a conflict where your ally is your enemy and the strong prey upon the weak. An insightful view into how Afghan corruption, Western bureaucratic infighting, and a lack of accountability over billions in Western aid money paved the way for the return of the Taliban.

Format(s) for review: Paper or Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 392

Word Count: 112374