Welcome to SixthFleet.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author David E. Meadows. "When Meadows' men set sail, it's sure to be a mission like no other." --W.E.B. Griffin "Rip-snorting, realistic action-adventure from a man who has been there. David Meadows is the real thing," --Stephen Coonts author of numerous bestsellers, including Flight of the Intruder, Saucer, America, and Liberty. "An absorbing, compelling look at America's future place in the world. It's visionary, and scary. Great battle scenes, believable heroes, plus villains you'll love to hate!" -Joe Buff, bestselling author of Straits of Power, Tidal Rip, and Crush Depth. "David E. Meadows is simply the best writer of naval thriller/adventure fiction out there today." --Tom Wilson, acclaimed author of Black Canyon, Desert Fury, Tango Uniform and other best selling military thrillers.

THE SIXTH FLEET NEWSLETTER – APR-MAY-JUN 2005 Edition
© 2005 David E. Meadows
BY David E. Meadows

1st - I have finished the draft for DEEP PACIFIC, due for release March 2006. It was exciting to leave the Atlantic-Mediterranean Theater and take the action to the Pacific.

Two additional books in the Pacific series will follow DEEP PACIFIC. On June 24th, I completed the first chapter of PACIFIC VORTEX in this second book of the series. I hope readers will follow me into the Pacific for an exciting action-adventure on the high seas.

2nd - Many of you realize the future of America is more and more being tied to events in the Asian theater. As our government continues to overspend and build up America’s deficit, major buyers of that debt have become China, South Korea, and Japan.

We are familiar with conventional war-a bomb here; a dogfight there; and, soldiers & Marines battling across the land. We are familiar with asymmetric warfare in the form of terrorism. We’ve seen the dead and experienced the horror of terrorism. But, there is more to asymmetric warfare than terrorism. Economic warfare is a form of asymmetric warfare and we are fighting one now and the enemy is us.

If China, South Korea, or Japan, which are holding significant amounts of our treasurer bonds, unloaded them en mass onto the world market we would have a major economic collapse here at home. The dollar would slide. The price of oil would skyrocket. Not only would America’s economic might nosedive, but Europe and most of the world would follow us spiraling down. If such an event happened, for the first few months we could afford American made products. Then, the manufacturing costs would escalate because to our businesses need raw materials from overseas. With a low dollar, costs of non-American products would double or triple.

The world economy is shifting as businesses move manufacturing and service industries (ever try to talk to an American help desk?) to foreign nations lured by lower wages and overhead. This shift increases income for the country that benefits from this shift—think India and China. Along with economic growth comes a rising middle class benefiting from increased income. They can afford to buy things they never could in an earlier economy such as cars.

These two countries, with great populations, are achieving a modicum of wealth. As wealth rises in an industrial and modern age economy, more petroleum is needed to sustain production and support future growth. The price of gasoline we are paying at the pump is going up for primarily one reason: It is because we are competing on a global scale with countries such as these two for a finite supply of oil against a growing global economy.

A rising number of industries. A rising modern infrastructure. A rising educated population. All combining to bring wealth to these countries. This increases the demand for oil. I’ll make a prediction. You can come back next year and tell me if I’m wrong:

PREDICTION: Gasoline will reach the $3/gallon mark by August 2006. Second Prediction: My first is wrong and we reach it sooner than expected—think of it as the law of surprise economics.

The Bush administration is correct in that we need an energy plan. Unfortunately, they are wrong we need an energy plan focused primarily focused on producing more oil. It only forestalls the inevitable collapse of our economy. We need an energy plan that encourages more efficient use of oil with the production of this valuable resource being seen as a temporary measure while America develops an independent energy policy. To be truly energy independent, it means a focus on funding, finding, and producing alternate fuels. Renewable energy. As long as we have energy policies that increase our dependence on oil, we will discover ourselves chasing increased fuel costs and demands. Hence, the $3/gallon for gasoline by August 2006; I could be wrong-it could be nearer $4/gallon.

3rd - JOINT TASK FORCE AFRICA did really well after release. I was very pleased with its success. I was pleasantly surprised with the range of comments that I received. Seemed to be no middle of the road on this book. Readers either enjoyed it or the African National Army method of resolving terrorism upset some radically inclined readers. Saw a lot of searches from the Middle East on this book.

You will never stop terrorism by going after only those who are actively engaged in trying to kill innocent civilians, many of them young children. Every military strategist knows to stop a massive army, you destroy the logistics chain. The logistic chain for suicide murderers start with training the children to expect to give their lives when they grow up. What a waste of talent for the Moslem countries. The center of gravity for stopping terrorism is in the Mosques. It is the Mullahs who condone and encourage martyrdom who are the suppliers of radical Islamic suicide murderers. As long as Islamic Mullahs condone martyrdom, the Moslem world will see schools (Madrasahs) pounding onto the blank slates of young children’s minds the belief they must die doing an act designed to take as many ‘infidels’ as possible with them. This is where the shock troops of radical Islam are being trained.

Religious leaders who embrace the idea of suicide martyrdom should be convinced to condemn this terrorist-building ethos. Otherwise, they should be treated as we would terrorists.

4th - I had a great book signing the day before Father’s Day at Waldenbooks, Francis Scott Key Mall, Frederick, MD. I also discovered that Scott, the manager of this Waldenbooks store, has the remaining Sixth Fleet books at this location. Entire Sets. Many readers have complained about being unable to find this first series of mine. So while I was there at Waldenbooks, I signed every book he had.

For those of you who would like signed copies of the complete set of the SIXTH FLEET series you can get them by calling 301-663-6565 and having Scott and his helpers ship them to you. There are a limited number of sets, so if you are interested, please call soon.

I do not have another showing planned prior to the release of DARK PACIFIC. I hope to do one in Newnan, Georgia, later this year when I visit my hometown.

I missed our Western High School reunion this year. Wish my wife Felicity and I could have gone. Many of my classmates of the 1967 graduating class still live in Coweta County Georgia and it would have been nice to have seen them after all this time. Hopefully, next time. I heard it was a great reunion with classes spanning the years of when Western was a high school. My mother and two brothers are also graduates of Western High School.

5th - I am enjoying the life of a retired Sailor. I am growing my sparse hair longer in preparation for something most Sailors never do. My wife has talked me into going to her salon for a haircut. I’m sure once they see what 37-years of military barbershops have done, there will be throat-clenching screams. A few may collapse. Some of the customers will probably drag their children from the place, shielding their eyes, and chanting, “Don’t look. Don’t look.” If they think the hair is bad, Lord help if I ask for a pedicure. They may raise the white flag and go home. I am looking forward to it and intend to wear the name of this one shipmate who I have done so much for in foreign ports by sharing his name.

6th - Everyday in this new career I am discovering new ideas and new things I would never have known if I had stayed active duty. I have learned such things as ‘revenue stream’, ‘resource allocation’, and what a ‘time clock’ is. There are a few who don’t realize when it is time to go home from a military career. While I had a great career-a fun career-a career blessed with the joy of working with America’s finest, I knew it was time for me to go. I made it out of the Navy before some young Sailor complimented me on reminding him or her of his or her grandfather.

7th - You remember in the movie MIDWAY, Hal Holbrook sauntering up to Henry Fonda, jumping the back of the jeep, and telling him they had broken the Japanese code and this success indicated the Japanese were going to attack Midway? I do. It was a tear-jerking moment in cryptology.

The efforts of those sailors and Commander Joe Roquefort (Who Hal Holbrook played) were directly responsible for an outgunned and outnumbered American Navy defeating the Japanese Fleet. That band of cryptologists gave the World War II warfighter the information edge that turned the tide of the war. If we had lost that battle, there would have been nothing between the Japanese and the west coast of the United States.

After World War II, Admiral Chester D. Nimitz, who was Chief of Naval Operations, wrote a memo on April 3, 1947 to Admiral Harwood and Admiral Stove where he presented his directions on the future of this small group of cryptologists. It is a short memo and reads:

1. It’s my desire to conserve, to the max. practicable extent, the DNC organization and strength and if possible to get them more help.

2. The greater the contractions of the Navy-the more important our DNC and Comm. Intell. become

//signed// C.D. Nimitz

The original of that memo is framed and mounted on the wall outside the office of the Commander Naval Security Group Command. Why? Because the folks Admiral Nimitz referred eventually became Naval Security Group Command. 58-years since that memo by Admiral Nimitz, the Navy’s Cryptologic force has fallen.

On October 1, 2005, Naval Security Group Command will cease to exist. I feel grateful for having been allowed to serve alongside those who carried the mantle for Midway and many other battles through the years. Other armed forces did away with their cryptologists over a decade ago. Now, the Navy has eliminated its stand-alone cadre by combining them with the Information Warriors of Naval NETWAR Command in Norfolk, Virginia. We will truly miss the NSG Command. Let’s hope we don’t need them for a future MIDWAY.

8th - I will start a monthly national column in the near future. Some of the best books about war are written by those who have been through it and know how to capture and show the horror of it. Life at sea can only be captured by those of us who have lived it. I have no restrictions on what to write, so any suggestions are always welcomed-except for that shipmate whose name I used in foreign ports.

The military is one of the largest groups of readers in our nation. Many times I’ve been asked to review and critique writings from fellow veterans, retirees, and active duty members. The column will be to help budding writers of military thrillers, articles, and short stories. I intend to start the column off discussing writing. Authors love to talk about their books and about writing. May be I will have a captive audience.

I’ll let you know more about it as I get my arms around the project. I am excited over the prospect and hope you’ll do me the honor of reading it. Feedback is something I always appreciate.

9th - I’ll close out this newsletter with wishing everyone a nice summer. Drop me a line when you get a chance. Please keep the hot weather in the Caribbean, Maryland wasn’t expected to be this hot in June.

Cheers,

David E. Meadows

JOINT TASK FORCE AFRICA is Meadows' newest novel scheduled for release in March 2005.

Read More About JOINT TASK FORCE AFRICA

JOINT TASK FORCE AFRICA A Navy EP-3E is hit by a missile and before the pilot can recover control of the aircraft four aircrew bail out over West Africa, landing in the middle of an African civil war. It is a fast-pace story as Admiral Holman races to rescue the Sailors before they are killed or captured. "Meadows will keep you turning pages and thinking new thoughts." --Newt Gingrich "Rip-snorting, realistic action-adventure from a man who has been there." --Stephen Coonts "When Meadows' men set sail, it's sure to be a mission like no other." --W.E.B. Griffin "Fast-paced, roller-coaster ride with this exhilarating military thriller. Dynamic writer with a fresh voice in this technical-ridden, yet intriguing genre." --Midwest Book Review "An absorbing, compelling look at America's future. Visionary, scary. Great battle scenes, believable heroes, plus villains you'll love to hate!" --Joe Buff, author Tidal Rip.

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