2013 Tour Events

I will be visiting the Main Exchange on each of these military installations along with some other venues.   Hope to see you there!  

28 January - 03 February 2013, Randolph AFB, San Antonio,Texas

05-10 February 2013, Lackland AFB, San Antonio,Texas

12-16 February 2013, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas

22 February - 02 March 2013, Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana

05-10 March 2013, Little Rock AFB, Little Rock, Arkansas

12-17 March 2013, Fort Leonard Wood, Rolla, Missouri

21-23 March 2013, Rock Island Arsenal, Davenport, Iowa

28-31 March 2013, Offut AFB, Omaha, Nebraska

02-07 April 2013, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas City, Kansas

10-14 April 2013, Fort Riley, Manhattan, Kansas

17-21 April 2013, McConnel AFB, Wichita, Kansas

25-28 April 2013, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

03-05 May 2013, Fort Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma

08-12 May 2013, Fort Worth NAS, Fort Worth, Texas 

16-22 May 2013, Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas

25-26 May 2013, Lone Star Gun Show, Fort Worth, Texas

28 May - 02 June 2013, Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, Texas

04-09 June 2013, Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, Texas

12-13 June 2013, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas

15-16 June 2013, Saxet Gun Show, McAllen, Texas

18-21 June 2013, Corpus Christi NAS, Corpus Christi, Texas 

26-30 June 2013, San Antonio, TX  for the SFA Convention...

08-13 July 2013, Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas

16-18 July 2013, Holloman AFB, Alamagordo, New Mexico

03-04 August 2013, Tanner Gun Show, Denver, Colorado

05-11 August 2013, Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado

13-18 August 2013, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado

20-25 August 2013, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado

27-30 August 2013, Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado

03-10 September 2013, Cannon AFB, Clovis, New Mexico

12-16 September 2013, White Sands Missile Range, White Sands, New Mexico

18-22 September 2013, Holloman AFB, Alamagordo, New Mexico

Soldier's Heart

http://embed.videodigm.com//1d02f9b77cacc8d461f06b8ac81225fb

A God Wink?

While at Keesler AFB, I met two WWII Veterans.

One was a tail gunner in a B-24. He said he was fifteen when he joined the Army Air Corp in 1942. Then they put him in as a gunner because he was only 5'3" tall, and 95lbs. That meant he could wear the bail out rig and actually fit through the bail out hatch. William Allen, was an instant friend and I nicked named him Wild Bill, after he bragged about having the Hooters girls visit him and his buddies at the Armed Forces Retirement Home there in Gulfport, Mississippi.

The Second was a beautiful 86 year old Japanese lady who stood at least 3"9" tall. She explained how before the war the Japanese Marines would train in the fields behind her house. Then during the war, she was wounded very badly when the Americans bombed her village. She was wounded despite having taken shelter in a hole in her back yard. She had scares on her face; on her left eye, and on the right side of hear face from the eye all the way back around the side of her head over the top of her ear. The years and her hair covered them well.

Then she explained how she had lived through the occupation, and at 18 years old was still shamefully unmarried. That is when an American GI with the most incredibly handsome pink skin and round blue eyes asked her out. She asked him, "Why do you want to take me out, I am all burned and scared?" He told her, "Beauty is only skin deep!" Long story short, with her parents permissiion, they married and had two wonderful children and are still together, living in Biloxi. She was adement about making sure I understood that she had her parents permission to marry. She understoond and lived by the honor of her family.

I met the two of them perhaps within a thirty minute window on Saturday. Bill 87 and Kazue 86 were both wonderful and happy people, complete strangers, yet their lives still remain inextricably intertwined by fate; although, they may never, ever meet. It was an incredible honor when they shared their stories with me, as if they had known me all their lives.

God bless our World War II Veterans! All of them.

Steve

Review from "Joker 4"

I met you  and your wife at the Exchange while I was on vacation in Jacksonville, Florida.   I purchased both of your novels on Amazon and I congratulate you on two top notch novels that should become movies. As one Infantry Grunt to another, I thoroughly identified with the combat aspects and really shed a few tears by the memories from Vietnam in 1965 and 1966 which were stirred up by your descriptive writing.  These past few years I have read all the Clancy, Vince Flynn, Cussler, Perry, Lee Child, etc novels and enjoyed them all.  I have put you on that list and hope you have another novel in the works.  I kept wondering if you were the “Mike” character?  

As for myself, I retired in 1983 and had become an Army JAGC in 1969.  I retired in 1983 and worked as an Assistant General Counsel for L-3 communications Corporation since 1987 (after starting with  Ford Aeronautic in Newport Beach in 1983 and Motorola in 1984 to 1987, followed by Loral and Lockheed Martin which spun off into L-3 .   I got my Infantry “Grunt” status through ROTC at  the University of Illinois at Fort Benning where I attended the Basic Officers course followed by Airborne and Ranger School and then Helicopter School  at Fort Wolters; followed by three years in Munich in the 2/9^th Cavalry before going to Vietnam.  I came back to the University of Illinois on Active Duty to finish a law degree in 1967 after finishing a year at Fort Campbell as a  101st Company Commander.  After law school I was assigned to the University of Virginia for the Advanced JAGC one year Course and had tours in the early 70’s at Fort Carson and the Pentagon in the litigation division and a LLM course in Government Contracting at George Washington University, graduating in 1976.  I also got to be the SJA at Fort Rucker in 1978 before returning to DC to eventually become the Chief Trial Attorney (Contracts) for the Army.

The reason for my long resume is so that you understand that I am more than just an English major and Speech major who likes to read..   I figure between my flying Huey B model gunships and commanding troops seasoned by a JD and Masters degrees, I am not just an ordinary “Grunt” with an ordinary compliment.  I recognize talent and you really deserve recognition.  I am very happy that  Linda and I ran into you at the Exchange.   I am living my 73^rd year  now and will be 74 in May.  I will be retiring this coming April and hope to put out my own fictional novel  which will center on my life to date i and will include my tour in Vietnam.  F.N . My call sign in Vietnam was “Joker 4” and I named the Jokers.  The Jokers are still on active duty and are stationed in Germany.  They had several tours in IRAQ.  

In short, you have been an inspiration for me and God bless you and your family.  Your service to the Country is greatly appreciate are your novels are great!

Sincerely,

James (Jim) Price

Colonel, Ret. USA

“Joker 4”