"I've got to get back to that sugar shack, whoa baby..."

It's early spring in Vermont.

Horses are in search of a green pasture sprout.

Oxen are taking an early peak from the barn.

The Red Sox are heading north.

And from every hollow and hill throughout the state there are plumes of steam evaporating above the treetops.

It's sugaring-off season.

The taps in the sugar maple trees bring a steady drip of fresh sap into the covered tin buckets.

The buckets are gathered and dumped into the vat

While workers feed the fire...all day and well into the night if the sap is running.

Oh, and lest I forget, mud season.

Thank you for visiting.

Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs 

"Satisfy my Soul..."

I am a regular listener of podcasts.  Like this picture of Knotts Island, they satisfy my soul.

For the uninitiated, podcasts can be downloaded from iTunes and synced to your iPod/Phone.  All of mine are free. I listen to them at my desk while writing, on my daily walks across the George Washington Bridge, and on long car trips.  Podcasts provide me with a delicious mix of news, opinion, ideas, and entertainment.

Following are highlights from my playlist.  Although I regularly listen to them all, I've put an asterisk next to my favorites: 

• Apple Quick Tips (video)
• Best of YouTube (video)
• Bill Moyers Journal*
• Front Page (a daily update of the NYT front page)*
• Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips*
• Money Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips
• The Moth Podcast (true stories told live without notes)*
• New Yorker: Comment
• 7AM News Summary (NPR)*
• Fresh Air (NPR)*
• Planet Money (NPR)*
• Pop Culture (NPR)
• Simon Says (NPR)
• Story of the Day (NPR)
• The Nutrition Diva's Quick and Dirty Tips
• On the Media (WNYC)*
• Onion News Network (video)
• The Onion Radio News*
• Only in New York (NYT)
• Suze Orman & Oprah Financial Podcast
• Pen on Fire (writers)
• The Best of Our Knowledge (PRI Wisconsin Public Radio)*
• Real Time With Bill Maher*
• Studio 360 with Kurt Anderson (WNYC)
• Stuff you Missed in History Class*
• This American Life (Chicago Public Radio)*
• This Week in Tech (Leo Laporte & the TWITers)
• Times Talks (NYT)
• Radio Lab (WNYC)
• 60 Minutes
• 60 Second Earth (Scientific American)*

Enjoy!

Thank you for visiting.

Satisfy My Soul by Bob Marley & the Whalers

"Sowing the seeds of Love..."

Random House recently asked that I write an exclusive piece for Amazon.com that would expand on some element of Loon: A Marine Story.

I decided to use the initial correspondence between Bill Negron and me from 1993. These letters were the original beginning of the book, but were left on the cutting-room floor.

Bill is shown in this photo with Dan Burton and me at our first meeting in the fall of 2000. The Amazon piece follows:

"The seeds for Loon: A Marine Story were planted in 1993.  I was working in Washington, DC.  Bill Negron, our company commander in Charlie Company, 1^st Battalion, 4^th Marines, 3^rd Division, was teaching English as a Second Language to Vietnamese children in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I’d had no contact with my marine buddies since I departed Vietnam in July 1968. I had been a corporal serving out the final weeks of my enlistment. Negron had been a captain beginning his second tour in Vietnam.

Over time, I was able to locate him and write the following letter:

Dear Skipper, 

There must be little in you that could recall me after twenty-five years back in the world, but your memory rekindles in me often in a most positive way.

I was visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial last night saying yet another fond good evening to our many friends. It’s been twenty-five years since those awful three days that we spent in June 1968 on LZ Loon. The Wall has a lot of black marble dedicated to the memory of our company mates.

I have lost touch with everyone that was with us.  I pushed the experience out of me for many years. Time has smoothed out the rough edges, however, and I am increasingly interested in trying to figure out what in the world was going on over there and how others of us have reacted over time.

What happened with you? Perhaps you were awarded a Navy Cross or a Silver Star. I can think of no one, Skipper, who upheld higher standards of character under fire than you did.  You were an exceptional leader and I owe you my life for getting us off that hill.

Bill’s reply arrived several weeks later.

Dear Jack,

There is still a part of my memory left that recalls you, not many of my troopers left Vietnam to go to Harvard.  I haven’t heard from more than two or three guys who survived “Loon”.

I’ve only been to the wall once; it was one of those snowy cold winter days that shuts DC down. My tears froze on my face.  Yes, Charlie Company is well represented in black marble.  It is up to us, the living to keep their memory alive. We must remember them as they were, laughing, talking, having a beer.

I returned to Vietnam in 1973, my third tour.  I guess I got pretty burnt out and became a real problem for my family and the Cops.  I did manage to eventually retire in 1981 as a Lieutenant Colonel.  My first wife divorced me because she thought I was a little “fucked up”, she was probably right.

P.S.  I was nominated for a Navy Cross, but it was downgraded to a Silver Star.  I’m very proud of my Silver Star.

Several days later, I was surprised to receive the following letter from Bill’s wife Myrna:

Dear Jack,

The letter you wrote my husband, Bill Negron, brought him to tears.  He believes very strongly that his kids from Vietnam may be suffering.  He feels responsible for every man that served with him that didn’t make it home.

Seeking Bill out was important to him.  He is proud of you, and I think that’s important for you to know.  I wish he could hear from other men that were with him.

I never fully understood the meaning of closure or PTSD until I met Bill and other Vets from Vietnam.  If you know of any other men that served with you, I’m sure Bill would like to know they made it home.

Bill Negron is probably the toughest, kindest, gentlest man on earth. This is the man I married and the man you fought next to in Vietnam.  He is a proud American, and very proud of you too.

From that moment, Bill Negron and I began to track down the lost boys of Charlie Company one by one. 

Tens years later, I was driven to write our story. It has been at once the most glorious and humbling experience of my life."

Thank you for visiting.

Author's note: Many readers have expressed interest in the, occasionally oblique, song references that I use for my titles. Heretofore I will endeavor, at the conclusion of each blog, to identify same for those few who may miss the link.

Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears

"Wanna see my picture on the cover, Wanna buy five copies for my mother..."

Earlier this week, the actual Loon dust jacket emerged from the uber-talents at Random House.

Here's a first look at the front/back cover and the inside flaps.

Very cool.

I'm beginning to get emails from other survivors of the Battle for LZ Loon. For many, this book is a validation of that which they endured 41 years ago.  

I am unable to describe the feeling. Loon began as a remembrance for my three daughters. It slowly morphed into a beacon for my fellow veterans of Charlie Company. It is now emerging as a validation for countless Vietnam veterans and their families.

Vietnam really did happen.  

We really did fight in a war.  

Lots of our brothers died.  

We are all safely home.

It's time to let go.

Thank you for visiting.

On the cover of the Rolling Stone - Dr. Hook

Take the "A" Train

Yesterday I took the A Train from the George Washington Bridge Bus Station (175th Street) to Columbus Circle (59th Street). I am an occasional rider on this route.

The direct shot from 125th Street to 59th is among the longest on the NY subway system. It, thereby, gives one time to reflect and observe.

I often reflect on Duke Ellington.

While being the author of the iconic jazz piece, the Duke also spent a lot of time in Harlem. He was, however, from Washington, DC. The school of the arts that bears his name is down the street from my former home. The District of Columbia is very proud of him.

Coincidentally, yesterday the US Mint released a DC state quarter stamped with his likeness. It is the first time that an African American has ever appeared on a US coin.

So much for the reflecting part. Now for my A Train observation.

When I was a kid growing up in Summit, NJ, our mothers bought us blue jeans that were way too long so that we would grow into them. Back then, it also took a year or so to get a pair of jeans faded and beat-up just the way you liked them.

To compensate for the added length, we would carefully roll up the leg bottoms. It became a "look." In the 50's, before bell bottoms, before stone washing, before Guess, EVERYBODY wore blue jeans with the bottoms rolled up, even James Dean.

I currently have several pairs of blue jeans that are too long. Perhaps I am now growing down instead of up. It never occurred to me that I might, 50 years later, again become a fashionista by rolling up the legs, but yesterday I saw the fashion future while riding the A Train and I am now sporting my new urban fashion statement.

A group of boisterous high school kids got on at the 165th Street Station (Washington Heights...home to my idol Manny Rameriz). They were mostly wearing black North Face jackets, sneakers, blue jeans, and Yankee caps with the store seal still on the brim.

One kid had the legs of his jeans rolled up. Poor guy, I thought, but it made me think fondly about my mother and times long gone by.

Then with my head bowed, lost in my iPod, I noticed that the kid next to him, and the kid next to him ALL had their pants rolled up...perfectly. So I figure I'm on to something.

I have since been keeping a close eye out. After my walk across the bridge this afternoon I ran into a pack of Ft. Lee HS kids. Most had on their North Face, sneakers, Yankee caps, and, yup, all donned carefully rolled-up jeans.

My stylish daughter Martha may tell me that this has been going on for years, but I don't think so.

New York is on the cusp of exporting this new urban look to America and the world.

By spring?

Rolled up blue jeans coast to coast!

You read it here first.

Thank you for visiting.

"Expecting to Fly"

Loon goes on sale May 19.

Three months from today! 

The paperback galley proofs are in.  But for the cover and soft binding, they are identical to the actual book.  I received my copy the other day and can't put it down. It is a paralyzingly powerful feeling to know that this story will be told.    

Random House has sent out the first batch of galleys to over 100 media outlets (NY Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, and everyone else you can imagine.)  

The marketing and publicity campaign will be focused on both print and electronic media with a heavy web presence as well. There will not be a formal book tour, but I will appear for signings at a number of venues after May 19 including the Army-Navy Club in Washington, DC. Watch this space for more information.

Product Description

A lyrical memoir of a prep school boy who creates his own path to higher learning: enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps, fighting in Vietnam, and then studying at Harvard

Reviews

"The battle at Loon erupts suddenly and sucks you in. Like Jack McLean, you ask: what am I doing here? The answer is: you joined the Marines and now it's time to fight for your life. A gripping story of violence and dedication to survival."
---- Bing West, author of The Strongest Tribe
"LOON is a saga of an infantry Marine - the decision to enlist, the intensity of the recruit, mortal combat, and finally transition back to civilian life. This beautifully written story is a must read for all combat warriors, their families, and those interested in the turbulent times surrounding the Vietnam War."
----Col H.C. "Barney" Barnum, USMC (Ret), Medal of Honor Recipient

“[This] unique tale . . . is skillfully written and will be among the classic books written about the Vietnam War.”
—Jan Scruggs, Esq., Founder and President, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Pre-order today.

Thank you for visiting.

A View From the Bridge

The downstream view from my daily walk across the George Washington Bridge evokes the horrific memory of 9/11.

That memory is now balanced by the wondrous hope created by Captain Sully Sullenberger.

I was on the bridge as Flight 1549 glided 500 feet above me last month on its way to water landing. 

The engines had shut down.  

There was no noise whatsoever.

I neither heard nor saw a thing. 

Thank goodness.