Last Christmas I sponsored a young sailor who was forward deployed to Iraq on my web site. The web master, Bill Parker, was the catalyst that got a bunch of us authors/writers together to identify someone in our Armed Forces who we could encourage readers and visitors to the web site to mail letters and reading material. Bill’s patriotic initiative is something that made a positive impact on the morale of the fighting men and women forward deployed in harm’s way.

By the way, the Sailor from last year has returned safely to Fort Meade and appears well on his way to making the Navy a career.

This year, I have three soldiers who have forward deployed recently to Iraq and Afghanistan that I would like invite readers to provide their support through mail and sending reading materials such as magazines and paperback books. I never list a name without the permission of the service member, so rest assured that Lieutenant Summers, Sergeant Irving, and Lieutenant Irving are aware and have consented to allowing me to publish their addresses. The three have also agreed to share among their troops any reading material that is mailed to them. I recommend reading material not be sent in huge boxes, but mailed in padded envelopes and small boxes. It takes a couple of weeks for mail to reach our troop and the threat of attack can delay delivery.

2LT Summers is from Maryland. He is like most of our newly minted members of the Armed Forces; young, a college graduate, single (Hear that, you Bachorettes!) and now on his first combat deployment to Iraq. I have had the honor of working with his mother, Mary, for many years when I was active duty Navy and she was a career government servant on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Mary and I were both at the Pentagon on 9/11 so that incident helped seal a close friendship between us.

The Irvings (Byron and Calley) are a husband-wife team assigned to Afghanistan who will be there for a year, having to leave their children behind while they serve their country in the Global War on Terrorism. This holiday season will see this family split apart with the parents on one side of the world and their children on the other. It will be a hard year for them and as most of veterans know, children change almost overnight, so a year is a long time out of the lives of parents when deployed.

And, to answer a question many asked about the Sailor last year; Yes, I do have their emails, but I will leave it to them to provide it to you. So you have to write them to get it.

http://hqdainet.army.mil/mpsa/ is the link to the military mail system and will give guidance on mailing packages, etc. It also gives mailing instructions along with nominal time for a letter or package to reach its destination. One item on the site that catches the eye is that delivery of mail may be disrupted due threat of attacks. Vietnam veterans know it well.

DARK PACIFIC & Older releases

The last in the DARK PACIFIC series was released June 5th. It will be a while before the next book comes out. I want to thank each of you for being loyal readers.

Some have asked about how to get out of print editions, so I will try to answer that. When you are in a bookstore, you can always look up my name and their listing will tell you when the next one is due for release along with information on whether they have any of my books available. Most book stores will order them for you, if they are still in print.

Amazon dot com offers out of print editions that you can purchase from private vendors is one way to get out of print copies of my books. Another way is to download copies into a reader or into your computer.

Has anyone ever tried one of these portable readers? I’m curious about it and wonder if buying an electronic reader is worth the expense and if there is sufficient reading material out there to download into them. I think of them as something they might be easier to carry on board airplanes, trains, and into church to keep the mind occupied.

We are living in a trying time of terrorism, but when we put it in context with the Cold War we can understand that terrorists such as Ben Laden can never destroy our nation regardless of whatever horrific acts they do in the name of a religion that worships death. In the Cold War, the Soviet Union could have destroyed our nation as quickly as we could have destroyed theirs. Mutual Assured Destruction Doctrine (MADD) worked because Western civilizations worship family, life, and the right to live. Islamic terrorists follow a skewed religion that worships death, the destruction of the family, and has no concept of the right to live.

That’s it for the newsletter. Drop an email.

With respects,
David E. Meadows
http://www.sixthfleet.com

David E. Meadows / SixthFleet.Com David E. Meadows Washington D.C. E-Mail readermail@SixthFleet.Com