MWSA Interview with Steve Banko

While philosophers have long written about the might of the pen and the sword. Steve Banko has wielded both in service to country and community.

After 16 months in combat in Vietnam. Steve returned to home where he continued his legacy of service in the trenches and command posts of government at every level. He has served state assemblymen and state senators. a presidential candidate, and a mayor before retiring in 2010.

His first person accounts of Vietnam combat have been published across a broad spectrum of national publications from the Wall Street Journal to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Steve is included in the Marlo Thomas compilation. Right Words at the Right Time. Vol. II. He was a contributor to the National Public Radio feature series “This I Believe.” His writing has been recognized by Writer’s Digest Magazine, the Nelson Algren Short Fiction Competition at the Chicago Tribune, and by Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge.

However. Steve is most proud of the 1994 Terry Anderson Award for his courage to comeback from alcoholism and post-combat depression.

Serving in the United States Army in Vietnam. Steve was wounded six times, including four gunshot wounds. He was decorated for combat heroism seven times and his awards include two Silver Stars, the nation’s 3rd highest combat decoration, four Bronze Stars for Valor and four Purple Hearts.

MWSA: Why did you become an author, Steve?

SB: When I returned home from Vietnam. I was one of a few guys in my crowd who actually fought in Vietnam. Most of the rest stayed in school and were never drafted. As a result, most guys didn’t want to listen to my ravings about the war and shut such conversations down almost as soon as they began. I turned to writing about my feelings, my anger, my pride and my frustration. So for almost fifty years. I’ve been writing essays, memoirs, accounts, and opinions about my war and our warriors. I have spoken to scores of audiences across the country about Vietnam and its veterans. That I should write a novel about the war seemed a natural progression from such writings.

MWSA: Why did you choose to join us?

SB: In seeking new ways to discuss my novel earlier this year (2017). I encountered MWSA in an email. I recognized a group of similarly-minded authors as a natural place to talk about my book and to learn about the motives and the research and the work produced by other military authors.

MWSA: Perhaps it’s obvious to many of our members, but we always like to ask, why did you choose this genre?

SB: I have always been counseled and taught to write about what you know. During sixteen months as a combat soldier and a combat leader. I saw firsthand the good, the bad and the ugly of war. As fewer and fewer Americans entertain thoughts of national service and fewer still ever service in the armed forces. I felt it important to get my thoughts about my war into the hands of as many people as possible.

Other books …

Memories of War. Dreams of Peace; Echoes of the Vietnam War. (1998) and For No Good Reason (2016). “Memories…” is a short collection of essays and speech excerpts. But in addition to my books. I would like to mention a speech that I did in 2009 earned the Cicero Foundation’s Grand Award as speech of the year. The speech was about PTSD among combat veterans.

This book …

In the Sixties, simple mistakes could have grave consequences. The central character. Josh Duffy, makes one such mistake and pays an incredible price. One unfortunate encounter with the nuances of higher education realities of the time and he is thrust into an alien world of blood, death, and fire. It is an upside down world where the usual mores don’t function. It is a world where killing is celebrated and compassion scorned. It is a world to which Duffy must adapt if he is to survive.

The book follows him as he struggles with the enemy, with his leaders, and with his conscience as he evolves from reluctant soldier to committed leader.
If you ever wonder why soldiers come back from combat forever changed and irreversibly damaged … if you wonder what causes this post-traumatic stress disorder we hear so much about … if you lived through the Sixties and walked the razor’s edge of conscription, this book might provide some clarity. It is the journey for sanity to the depths of madness and on to a path toward redemption.

So many of the nuances of the military are unknown to the civilian population. One such nuance the rotation of senior officers into and out of combat commands. The purpose of such rotation was to get the coveted combat command on to an officer’s resume as a prerequisite for promotion and career advancement. Duffy sees the affects of this “ticket punching” up close and personal when his unit is led by an officer with his eyes focused beyond battlefield realities. In his haste to secure a reputation for himself, the commander sets in motion events that lead to the needless destruction of Duffy’s unit. Outnumbered and outgunned. Duffy and his men fight a furious battle of survival in the book’s climactic chapter. The valor and the sorrow of men in life-and-death struggles are seen in this chapter. Far removed from the traditional norms of patriotism and nationalism. Duffy and his men fight on for what soldiers have always fought. They fought for each other.

This time Duffy’s wounds earn him his way out of Vietnam but he find he’s not finished with combat just yet. He’s confronted with the anti-war attitudes that permeated the times and the campuses when he uses his real life experience as the subject for his first venture into a creative writing course. He thought he would leave the fools behind but realizes there is no escape.

The term PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder – is bandied about often but understand much less. The journey Duffy takes from sanity to the depths of madness and on to a path toward redemption might make the concept of PTSD a little clearer. It is said that one who has seen war continues to see it. This book tells is why that’s true. The soldier returned from the fight is often told to “forget about it; it’s over.” But for him. it’s over … and over … and over

[Copied from the Fall 2017 issue of MWSA Dispatches magazine]

MWSA Interview with Tim Trainer

MWSA: Will you give us a short biography and please send us your photo?

TT: My early years were nomadic living in Japan and the U.S. on various army posts and civilian communities as an army brat, the son of a career soldier. I too served in the army (1972-75). Taking advantage of my education benefits, I obtained multiple degrees including studying in Japan in the late 1970s. I am an attorney and have lived in the Washington DC area for the past 30 years. I’ve worked in federal government agencies, a law firm, and a trade association. My work has allowed me to represent the U.S. at international organizations and to participate in government-to-government negotiations. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to approximately 60 countries.

MWSA: Why did you become an author in the first place?

TT: My legal work requires a lot of reading and writing. It provided the fuel to want to write for publication. I had the opportunity to write and publish a number of articles and books related to work. Legal and work related writing and publishing, however, was not fulfilling my desire to write more creatively or to write about other things. Generally. I like the personal challenge of writing.

MWSA: When and why did you join MWSA?

TT: I joined MWSA in 2013. I was not aware of the organization, but it was brought to my attention by a Vietnam veteran who was a member and was or had been reviewing books for

MWSA. After visiting the website and getting information from my veteran friend, it just seemed like a natural thing to do. MWSA: Why did you choose to work in this genre?

TT: I don’t know that I have a “genre” and I can admit that I was not thinking in terms of a genre as I worked on this latest project. My book, The Fortunate Son, which is in the memoir category is, in my view,not a true memoir as many might think. I tried to give voice to the 14 veterans who provided me with their recollections and along the way. I added my own experience from that period. Essentially, the reader learns something about these veterans and me, the army brat.

MWSA: Will you briefly list your other books for us?

TT: In 2013, I self-published a political intrigue novel entitled Pendulum Over the Pacific that takes the reader to both Washington DC and Tokyo. In 2015, a major publisher of legal books published my book, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff. I’ve co-authored a treatise for the past 12 years, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (Thomson Reuters).

MWSA: Tell us a little bit about your latest book.

TT: The Fortunate Son: Top Through the Eyes of Others is about 14 Vietnam veterans who were very young men at that time. Eventually, they end up serving with my father, the oldest man in their company and a seasoned combat veteran. The book relates the journey of these young men into the army and their unfortunate plight going to Vietnam, assigned to an infantry company and needing the kind of leadership that will help them believe that they will survive their tour of duty.

MWSA: What made you interested in writing a book on this particular topic?

TT: The book was not my idea. Several of the veterans who served with my father started prodding me to write a book about my father a number of years ago, but I kept refusing to do it. There were reasons for my reluctance: I didn’t have the content. I didn’t want to pry into the lives of these men. I knew my father disliked being publicly recognized and my resistance to taking myself back to that period of time. But, ultimately, I accepted the fact that there were a number of these guys who wanted to acknowledge the importance of my father in their lives and were willing to tell me things about their time in the army and in Vietnam. And the one other thing I realized is that I want my younger siblings, nephews, and nieces to read about their father, grandfather, and great grandfather from the perspective of these men—it’s a gift.

MWSA: What makes this particular book special to you?

TT: The book is special in several ways. The fact that 15 men, including Barry McCaffrey who wrote the Foreword, trusted me with the things they related to me, the things they shared with me. It is special because, to some extent, I was permitted to be their way of communicating to their own families about perhaps the worst times in their lives. It’s humbling to know that I was able to do that for them. And, of course, for them to tell me things about my father that I would not otherwise know. They wanted me to know how important it was to them that he was there helping them through those trying times. The Fortunate Son recounts the parallel lives of an army brat and a group of Vietnam veterans who intersect decades after the war. The veterans open up to me, the army brat, perhaps in a way they never have with their own families. Why? Through my father, Top, their First Sergeant, we have a common link. Over the years, we’ve gotten to know each other. They begin to understand the sacrifices of an army family. But, more importantly, they want me to understand how our family’s sacrifice and my father’s tour of duty in Vietnam with them, in the jungles, gave them confidence to believe they would make it home alive. Fortunate Son is not about a single battle or a single soldier’s tour of duty. You will meet us, learn something about us, and get a glimpse of our lives during the war years. You’ll find out why half a century after that tour of duty ended, we remain bound together. If you’ve ever been in the military or part of a military family, you’ll know that we all are bound together. For those who find the military to be foreign and unknown, our story may help you to understand why it binds so many together. Fourteen of these soldiers have shared their stories. Their stories describe two life transitions—first from civilian teenagers or young men to combat grunts trying to stay alive in the jungle—and then back to stateside life. What happens between these transitions, as they slog through the jungle day-by-day paints their portrait of Top, my father. Now, I appreciate why they remain bound together half a century after their tour ended. Their stories are an unexpected gift that bestows new insight to me on my father. So, as you read and “listen” to these soldiers’ stories, both what they say and how they describe Top, you understand why I’ve learned that I am The Fortunate Son

[Copied from the Fall 2017 issue of MWSA Dispatches magazine]

MWSA Interview with Bob Doerr

Date of interview: 23 August 2017

Award winning author Bob Doerr grew up in a military family, graduated from the Air Force Academy, and had a career of his own in the Air Force.  Bob specialized in criminal investigations and counterintelligence gaining significant insight to the worlds of crime, espionage, and terrorism. His work brought him into close coordination with the security agencies of many countries and filled his mind with the fascinating plots and characters found in his books today. His education credits include a Masters in International Relations from Creighton University.  A full time author with twelve published books and a co-author in another, Bob was selected by the Military Writers Society of America as its Author of the Year for 2013. The Eric Hoffer Awards awarded No One Else to Kill its 2013 first runner up to the grand prize for commercial fiction. Two of his other books were finalists for the Eric Hoffer Award in earlier contests. Loose Ends Kill won the 2011 Silver medal for Fiction/mystery by the Military Writers Society of America. Another Colorado Kill received the same Silver medal in 2012 and the silver medal for general fiction at the Branson Stars and Flags national book contest in 2012. Bob released an international thriller titled The Attack in May 2014, and more recently, The Group, his second book in the Clint Smith thriller series.  Bob has also written three novellas for middle grade readers in the Enchanted Coin series: The Enchanted Coin, The Rescue of Vincent, and The Magic of Vex. Bob lives in Garden Ridge, Texas, with Leigh, his wife of 44 years, and Cinco, their ornery cat.

MWSA: How long have you been associated with MWSA?

Bob Doerr: I've been an active member since 2010

MWSA: What writing projects are you working on now?

Bob Doerr: I'm close to finishing my third novel in my Clint Smith international thriller series.

MWSA: Who is Clint Smith?

Bob Doerr: Clint Smith is a former Army Ranger with some Special Ops background who was recruited out of the army into a small, ultra secret government agency that identifies and neutralizes, if necessary, imminent threats to the United States.

MWSA: What makes this series different from the dozens of other similar series out there?

Bob Doerr: This small agency operates so deeply in the black that only a couple people in the government are aware of it's existence.  There's no paper trail to their activities, no briefings, and oversight is almost non-existent.

MWSA: How do you get your plots for this series?

Bob Doerr: Current events give me millions of ideas.  This book is based in South Korea and is about a handful of American government officials plotting with the North Koreans to assassinate the President of the United States during a state visit there.

MWSA: Do you see another book in your future?

Bob Doerr: Yes.  I love to write, and I imagine next year I'll either do another Jim West mystery or another book in my Enchanted Coin series.

MWSA: I hear your books have done well in a variety of book contests?

Bob Doerr: Yes, I've been lucky.  No One Else to Kill came in second in the commercial fiction category in the Eric Hoffer Awards for 2013 and several of my other books have won medals in smaller contests.

MWSA Interview with Joe Epley

Date of interview: 4 August 2017

Joe Epley is a guy who has worn many hats over his life -- Green Beret, television journalist,  public relations executive, change agent and now, novelist. 
     Joe led Epley Associates, a successful public relations firm in Charlotte, N.C., and achieved international recognition for his leadership in the field. He was president of the Public Relations Society of America, and at various times, head of its prestigious College of Fellows, Counselors Academy, and the PRSA Foundation.
       In addition to his day job, he continued his military service in the Reserves, mostly in Special Forces units,  retiring as a Master Sergeant.
       He was a co-founder and global chair of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s largest consortium of independent public relations firms. In addition to lecturing at universities and before professional groups throughout the world, he helped introduce the PR profession to Russia in the waning days of the Soviet Union. During his career, Joe held leadership roles in many organizations. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of The Marketing Alliance, a publicly traded life insurance brokerage firm that serves independent agents nationwide, and the Military Writers Society of America.
     Among Joe’s honors is the Public Relations Society of America's Gold Anvil, the highest award in the public relations profession for lifetime achievement. In addition to his election to the University of North Carolina’s Journalism School Public Relations Hall of Fame and the alumni hall of fame for the Defense Information School, he has been awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest award for noteworthy citizens.
     After selling his business in Charlotte in 2005, Joe retired with his wife to the wooded hills near Tryon, N.C. where he continues public service work in addition to researching and writing about the American Revolutionary War. 

MWSA: How long have you been associated with MWSA?

Joe Epley: I joined the MWSA in 2011.

MWSA: Why Why do you write about the Revolutionary War?

Joe Epley: I've always had an interest in history.  I remember walking the Kings Mountain battlefield as a kid and later, taking my own children on hikes there.  In my Special Forces training, we studied the partisan war exploits of Francis Marion - (AKA The Swamp Fox) who was the most famous guerrilla fighter for the American independence movement.
As I began studying the revolution more closely, I learned that there were more battles in South Carolina than in any other colony, and most were Americans fighting Americans in a bloody civil war that eventually drove the British out of the Carolinas.  Most of the participants were in militia units using partisan tactics employed today. Neither adversary has control of their area and conventional forces were not near. Yet history books have virtually ignored the Revolutionary War in the south.

MWSA: Why historical fiction instead of factual history?

Joe Epley: Several reasons.
 1) I can provide readers with a better understanding of the big picture through a series of human stories that include intrigue, adventure, romance, and day-to-day life in the era.  
2) In much of American history books and articles about the revolution, there are many conflicting facts, misleading statements, and lack of understanding of the people involved who are below the rank of general.
3) I chose to write ""A Passel of Hate"" about the battle of Kings Mountain because it was, as Theodore Roosevelt said, a ""brilliant victory that marked the turning point of the American Revolution."" Yet when most historians wrote about Kings Mountain, they failed to tell the story of the overmountain men, some traveling more than 300 miles without orders from higher authority.  While the story culminated on the battlefield, the real story was in the determination and hardships endured by those 'Liberty Men' who furnished their own horses, weapons, and food and lived in harsh conditions rarely experienced by modern society.  
4) The motivation of the partisans in that war usually was not the simple, noble catch phrases found in most histories, but rather a wide variety of reasons ranging from family influence to personal experiences or for personal gain. It was not unusual for men to switch sides.  
5) Since most of these side stories have not been documented or only partially recorded in family histories and pension statements, I use my creative skills to humanize the events and principals with plausible situations and dialog to supplement the facts that we know about events, people, and situations.

MWSA: You write about brutality on both sides.  Was life that cruel back then?

Joe Epley: As the war progressed,  actions of partisan fighters were motivated more and more by vengeance than by patriotism.  There were no prisons in the Carolina backcountry. If an adversary was captured, he might be turned loose with a pardon and promise never to pick up arms again.  But if the captive were suspected of undue causing harm such as burning houses, killing a friend or relative or another mischief, they would be beaten or executed, usually without trial.  Both sides had their share of rogues. There was little training or discipline in the small units that operated only when they felt there was danger in their region.
     Also, life was harsh back then. Families eked out a living on what little they could grow or hunt. There were no grocery stores.  Clothing had to be made from scratch -- creating the fibers from wool, flax or cotton, spinning thread and using a loom to make the cloth.  Most backwoods families rarely had more than one change of clothing, if that. Rifles were hand made by a few gunsmiths using primitive tools.

MWSA: What new books are you working on?

Joe Epley: There are hundreds of great stories in the Revolution. All require research and attention to detail. Phrases we take for granted today may not have been used back then.  For instance, I can't use 1780 dialog about a 'guerrilla fighter' because the word guerrilla was not mentioned before being used by the Spanish fighting the French in the early 19th century.  
     So to write another book, I have to spend considerable time in research if the finished story is to be true to the era.  To me, research is as enjoyable as the writing; so I take more time that some writers, particularly when I can't find answers to questions that nag me.
     But if the good Lord sees fit to keep me around a few more years, there probably will be another book, probably in the Passel series.

MWSA: How has MWSA helped you?

Joe Epley: I joined the organization initially to see what it was like to be with kindred spirits, and as many, to help promote my first book, ""A Passel of Hate.""  
     Having been in the leadership of the premier professional society for the public relations profession, I understand how a collective thinking of members can produce positive benefits.  MWSA is still in its infancy, but with more members volunteering their time and talents, we can be more than a book awards organization.  I think we can offer our members more regarding knowledge and skills in writing,  publishing, and marketing. 
     With dedicated leadership and motivated members, MWSA has the potential of bringing our kindred spirits closer together and being far greater value to its members.

MWSA Interview with Joyce Faulkner

Date of Interview:  4 August 2017

Joyce Faulkner is an author, publisher, graphic artist, and a retired chemical engineer. She is a past President of Military Writers Society of America and past Board member. She is also the past chairman of the Programming committee and with Betsy Beard cochaired the awards committee in 2016. Together with Pat McGrath Avery, she designs, writes feature articles for and produces the quarterly MWSA magazine, Dispatches. Through Red Engine Press, she also designs and produces the MWSA annual anthologies.

Joyce writes in several genres including historical fiction, mystery/thriller, Humor, and history. She has received awards from multiple organizations including MWSA. Her historical novels include "In the Shadow of Suribach,"(MWSA Gold, 2005, Bronze, Branson Stars and Flags, 2014), "Windshift," (Silver, Global ebook Award for Historical Fiction, 2014, Silver, Branson Stars and Flags, 2015, First Place for Historical Fiction, The Author Zone, 2015), and recently released "Vala's Bed." Her mystery/thriller is "Username," which received a Silver Medal for the audio version performed by MWSA member Michael D. Mullins.

She has several collections of short fiction including "Losing Patience," "Chance and other horrors," and "For Shrieking Out Loud," from her humor column on the CelebrityCafe.com, The Weekly Shriek.

Joyce's other works with writing partner Pat McGrath Avery include "Sunchon Tunnel Massacre Survivors," which received a Bronze for History from MWSA in 2008 and a Gold from Branson Stars and Flags, 2009. She has also designed and produced several children's books with Pat that include "Fun Days in South Padre Island, "Fun Days in Pittsburgh," (Third Place, The Author Zone, 2015), and "Fun Days in Kansas City." A children's adaptation of her novel, "Windshift," "Someday I'll Fly" by Rebecca Evans received First Place from The Author's Zone.

MWSA: How long have you been associated with MWSA?

Joyce Faulkner: 2005

MWSA: Tell us about your latest book.

Joyce Faulkner: Vala's Bed is historical fiction about the impact of the holicaust on a German war bride and her children. It was the result of a trip to Auschwitz in 2002. Shocked by own reaction to the events that took place there, I started a seventeen year journey to explore the various sides from the point of view of a child named Emo Johann Hess, who becomes EJ Logan and must come to terms that although he is now American and sees the world through mid-20th century American values, he is the product of Nazi Germany and the values it embraced. 

MWSA: What is your next project?

Joyce Faulkner: I am working on another historical fiction piece, this time set in my own hometown, Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the 1910s, called "Garrison Avenue." Fort Smith has a rich literary background as a frontier town with a "cowboys and indians" culture mixed with tales of the "hanging judge" Isaac Parker. However, "Garrison Avenue" focuses on a different era...when the townsfolk are transiting to a culture of business and theater and law and order. Now they worry about getting grants for their library and design proposals for paved roads and bridges and encouraging investments in electic parks and fancy hotels. And then, what might have been acceptable ten or twenty years before, a lynching, forces the town to look at itself in an entirely new way.

MWSA: What do you enjoy most about MWSA?

Joyce Faulkner: I love the stories. Regardless of genre, MWSA encourages authors to focus on veterans' stories and tales associated with our own history...as a country, and in our relationships with friends and enemies around the world. It also supports writing technique and growth over time. And most of all, the organization provides authors with activities that encourages growth...wherever members are in their writing careers. 

MWSA: What do you hope comes next for MWSA?

Joyce Faulkner: I am hoping we will be able to provide opportunities for our members ...things like learning how to use podcasting to further our storytelling. I love when our events provide us with a better understanding of history or when it gives us a deeper a deeper look into techniques like blogging or short video. 

MWSA: What do you recommend for MWSA writers interested in writing historical fiction and history?

Joyce Faulkner: Travel. One to one interviews. Spending time in newspaper archives. Working with libraries and museums. Creating detailed timelines that combine history and your plotlines.