Home of the Brave!

For the last six months I have been traveling around the South Eastern United States with my books, visiting military installations and meeting a great many members of the military.   I’ve met veterans from every branch of service, from every war this country has ever fought.  Well, at least as far back as WWII.   Some of those wars are well known, others forgotten or just never known to the public.  What strikes me as amazing?  The names and faces change but the stories are always extraordinarily similar.  Heroic in nature, incredible to hear, consistently painful, yet told with such pride.

Yesterday, I grabbed two young troops and introduced them to a little ole lady I was talking to.  Her name is Joan and she was born in England.  When she was nine years of age she had survived the German onslaught of bombing raids that hit London, almost daily.  She told them, “I could see the pilot’s faces as they flew overhead, low, looking for us.” It dawned on me, this is why we serve, and this is why we all do what we do.

Everyday, while I am at the Exchange selling my books, people tell me their stories, and they almost always say, “Thanks for your service.”  I usually reply, “Ahhh don’t thank me, I was like a rock star with a machine gun; all I ever did was do what I loved doing, be what I loved being, a soldier.”  And the most common reply I get…  “Me too!”   

It isn’t Veterans Day, but if you love your life?  If you love the freedoms we have here in this great nation?  Thank a vet!  God bless the United States of America.  Land of the free, home of the brave! 

S. B. Newman, Author

The Night Eagles Soared and Burnt Yellow and Red

"The Night Eagles Soared" and "Burnt Yellow and Red"

Both of my books are fictional novels about a team of Green Berets jumping into Afghanistan just after 9-11.“The Night Eagles Soared” released on October 5^th 2010 and in it, the team is preparing to conduct a Military Free Fall Parachute Operation.  During the flight the Team Sergeant begins to reflect how he came to be in that position, at that incredible moment in history.  He tells the story as it goes back in time revealing the evolution of a Special Forces soldier through the night I compare to the Doolittle Raid of WWII.  That is, “The Night Eagles Soared” just after 9-11.

            In the first book the team is there, although; I never introduced them.   “Burnt Yellow and Red” takes the reader on the complete mission profile through the “Battle for Kabul”.   The team is introduced as the story unfolds from the perspective of the Air Force Tactical Air Controller who is attached.  He must earn the men’s respect as he struggles to find his place and in the end, he becomes a true member of the Special Forces Brotherhood.

            As a writer, it is my goal to capture the heart and soul of our warriors.  I do this by writing from the perspective of a soldier, gained through years of experience.  I do not write from a journalistic perspective, but rather from the heart and that is why my stories ring so powerfully true.  My work has been endorsed by the Green Beret Foundation, Professional Soldiers.com, the Special Forces Book Store.com and the SF Museum on Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  I have been traveling across the country for the last four months visiting the Exchange on each installation as I go.  It is my honor to bring these books to the military audience at the Exchange and I hope you will enjoy reading the stories as much as I did writing them. 

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” 

~ George Orwell

God bless you, our warriors, and their families!

S. B. Newman, Author

Review of "Burnt Yellow and Red."

My friend Richard Avery posted this review of "Burnt Yellow and Red" on my Facebook page.  It is short...still it is revealing.

Richard Avery A powerful book with a startling story. This book has to be chewed up and digested! 

Thank Richard for the review.

To order a copy of "Burnt Yellow and Red" just use the shopping cart drop down menu to the right hand side of this page.  You will find that Shipping is included in the price.

Steve

Coming Home

I am always amazed by the incredible stories I hear and people I meet during my book signings at the military installations I’ve visited recently.  Like the WWII, Korea and Vietnam Vet who was 96 years young and still handing out great advice on life. He had flown in all three wars and was still leading by example.  

The other day, while at Fort Gordon,  I looked up from the book I was signing to see a young, fresh faced 23 year old soldier.  I had no idea the experience I was about to have or the opportunity I was going to be given by God to take my new role as a writer a step further.

In those few minutes there was an exchange of viewpoints and belief systems that showed me just how much I need to share, not only the Steve Newman...the retired Sergeant, proud Special Forces soldier, and author,  but also the humanity that was fostered by my life experiences in the Army. I looked up into the eyes of a man whose desire was to join Special Forces, but instead, he was going back home, to my home state of Oklahoma, to battle the big "C" (cancer): in hospice.  Not just to Oklahoma, but to Lawton, Oklahoma which is near my home town. 

He asked me, “Do you believe there is a Heaven?”  I thought about it and a story came to mind.  I told him about how one late night I couldn't sleep, so I turned on the TV to see Billy Graham answer that very question.  I acknowledged that like Billy Graham, I believe in God and that Heaven is "Most assuredly real," and like in my book, going to Heaven is like, “Coming Home.” 

I expect that over the next several months as the book tour continues, I will meet many young soldiers, and old veterans, not to mention many young people who are interested in talking to an "Ole" Sergeant to see if he will "Tell it like it is;" I will!  Like the fresh faced 23 year old soldier, they will live in my memories, in my heart forever.  That is what we do, we few, we band of brothers. 

These days, many parents are encouraging their sons and daughters not to enlist because they are afraid, or perhaps closed minded about the positive aspects of service to our great nation.  When asked, to the man or women, “Would you choose to serve again?”  Over and over again I hear the same response, “Yes, absolutely yes, and I wouldn’t change a thing!” They always echo my exact sentiment.  

Folks need to realize that enlisting in the military is not a suicidal impulse.  Rather, enlisting to serve our great nations is a calling.  Those who do enlist, do it out of patriotism, out of a desire to serve.  A concept too few Americans have these days.

God bless our troops, those who have volunteered during a time of war knowing full well the hazards they may face.