I joined the Army as soon as I turned eighteen and was in combat in Viet Nam about seven months later. It was a very peculiar experience in many ways but one for which I am grateful. When I got out of the Army at age twenty-one I had no intention of looking back at all that, only forward. Well, the gods had other plans and quite unintentionally my career has been very closely connected to military subjects. As a combat veteran, one thing I bring to my books is an understanding of the difference between training and real-world operations…what fresh blood looks like and what bullets sound like as they pass closely by.