Fleet Week New York 2009

Tanker War

at that point, was puckered up ..... and I was just reading it."All Hand Brace for Impact!"
...
new suggested phraseology under direction of the new commander in chief..
"sip some wine and chill, bro".
TANKER WAR
Nice book, Dallas! I recommend it to my friends on facebook and my email list. I cheated a little- reading the part with you and USS Gary first. I like the part where you charged at flank speed toward the silkworm to put yourself between the missile and the sea bases. Trying to stealth the directing bogey helo was cool too. You should have at least gotten the Navy Award for Audacity of Hope with palm leaves!
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For my CC friends: Dallas was Comm Officer in USS Bainbridge off Haiphong when I was comm officer in USS O'Callahan at the same time as we steamed in company for a week or so for the "Christmas Bombing" of 1972 - Hanoi. Later he became C.O. of USS Gary (featured in this book - duel with a silkworm). In 1993 he was CO of USS Cowpens and having read my book with some references to the Tonkin Gulf and Vietnam - ( a copy I had left aboard during a Cattlemen's Association tour of the ship in San Diego a couple years before) he invited me to ride his cruiser back from Hawaii to San Diego. Been a friend ever since. There is also a relationship between how USS Gary and USS O'Callahan got their names ( see www.ussocallahan.org ... see USS Franklin story of "the photo" on video pages).

If you or someone you know enjoys recent Naval History - this new book - TANKER WAR - is a good choice for yourself or as a gift.

Other GREAT NAVY READS I suggest:
A Blue Sea of Blood -- (the USS Edsall - relatiing to the Asiatic Fleet and WWII)
and Six Frigates (the epic founding of the US Navy).

Larry Cutrone - Entertainer - Screenplay writer

Woodwards book THE WAR WITHIN

"The toad in the road"
The "toad in the road" is the only memorable phrase in Bob Woodward’s latest book "The War Within."
I am not going to deprecate Mr. Woodward for this sleeper primarily because I don’t think he wrote it.
I take him at his word when he lauds junior writer Brady Dennis saying "…there would be no book without him." It appears that Mr. Dennis wrote everything but the Author’s Note.
Woodward also acclaims Evelyn Duffy, who graduated from college all the way back in 2007, for her "extensive understanding of the U.S. government." SEE COMMENT LINK BELOW THiS PoST for THE CONTIUED REVIEW.

If Not Now, When?

Jack Jacobs. I heard Jack speak at a Naval Order Luncheon a couple of years ago and I was kicking myself for weeks because I did not tape his talk. Well, now his book absolves me of the need for self mutilation. This is not "just another Vietnam story" - it is a life narrative that involves a whole lesson in European cultures assimilating into America in the 20th Century. The narrative comes off in print just as if Jack is talking to YOU! I hope this book becomes required reading for every high school kid in the country. Why? Because Jack gives a real-life story but life lessons are peppered through every page in a way that transposes dry humor - sometimes dark humor - on top of underlying principles. Plus - it far outclasses any of the dozens of "victim books" pushed on students these days as a means of inspiring a social consciousness.

Jacob's Vietnam experience came in two parts. One, in which his brain was nearly blown out of his head and yet he still managed to survive and perform heroically - the words of an old Jewish proverb ringing in his ears --- "If Not Now... When?". And the second - in the closing chapters of the Vietnam war, taking the fight to the enemy still. It was that second part of the war that I relate to from my own time there in a tin can providing naval gunfire support to the troops ashore. He relates one incident - calling for artillery - and having the USS Newport News respond with amazing effect. (Newport News - a few weeks after this event - had an explosion aboard - with 20 casualties. It was about a week before my ship arrived in those waters). My brother's - brother-in-law ... was part of the Newport News crew then.

Jacobs writes about his time after the war, as a teacher at West Point. One of our friends in Sparta, NJ was in his classes in the mid '70's. Nobody dozed in HIS classes! His life experience and his delivery of lessons beyond the scope of the course made for indelible impressions on the minds of young Army cadets.

Readers will find many connections to their own experiences in this book because Jacobs presents a wide body of knowledge and experience that is bound to touch all of us in some way, even if you are a teenager in 2008. I cannot say enough about the book. Get it. Read it.

Tragic Tale of USS EDSALL in WWII

After 66 years of Misinformation and Mystery, the actual story of the American destroyer USS Edsall (DD-219) is scheduled to be released this December. The book, four years in the making, and with original sources from the National Archives in Wash. DC to others in Holland, Australia, New Zealand, & Japan, as well as from family members & veterans, is entitled A Blue Sea of Blood and will be published by Zenith Press.

Despite the fact that the general contours of Edsall's fate have been recognized for some time, almost all accounts--particularly on the Internet--are erroneous to one degree or another. This new book will focus on the ship's lengthy career, and set the record straight at last. It will correct errors of both omission & commission in addition to illuminating areas of the ship's service not covered in any detail previously.

Connect HERE TO LEARN MORE

Although attempts have been made to preempt some of the rare information contained within the text, the old adage, "Accept no substitute" is a good policy when it comes to A Blue Sea of Blood and understanding Edsall's history. The book, which was written to honor the memory of those young men lost so many years ago and so needlessly, will be well worth the wait.

Bampage - Bam's Blog

http://bamcubz.multiply.com/journal
BAM is, it seems a natural writer with plenty of life experience to add
color and reason to her words. Someday - her blog will be a book - I think.