NBtM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway - Black Flag Journals: One Soldier's Experience in America's Longest War by Dennis John Woods

Welcome to my stop on the NBtM virtual book tour for Black Flag Journals: One Soldier's Experience in America's Longest War by Dennis John Woods. This tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as some interesting facts in a top 12 list by the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: Black Flag Journals: One Soldier's Experience in America's Longest War

Author: Dennis John Woods

Publisher: Koehler Books

Publication Date: September 11th 2016

Print Length: 343 pages

Genre: Memoir

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The story of America’s longest war is complicated and difficult to convey, unless you were there. Dennis Woods was there. By following his stories in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can sense the enormity of his combat experiences. Originally written for his daughter, Black Flag Journals is taken from the author’s nine battle book journals. It covers his time from the fall of the Twin Towers through his last combat tour.

Black Flag Journals contains not just stories from the first war of the new century, but a day-by-day record of events that other veterans may use to relate their own experiences. All who enjoy real life stories, and followers of history will connect with this first person account of America’s longest war.

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EXCERPT:

At higher echelons of command, the rules of engagement were used as a rheostat. That rheostat could be dialed up or down to adjust the level of violence. The level of violence was often adjusted to achieve military and political goals. At the soldier level, the rules allowed one to “kill with a conscience, if necessary.” I mention this now as, over time, the rules of engagement and what constituted a legal engagement would change from time to time based on conditions.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

CSM Woods combat tours include;

Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada, 82d Airborne Division.

Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia – Iraq, 82d Airborne Division.

Operation Desert Fox 1998, Qatar, 5th Group Special Forces.

OEF 2 Afghanistan, 82d Airborne Division.

OIF 1 Iraq, First Armored Division.

OIF 6 Iraq, First Armored Division.

OEF X Afghanistan, 173D Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

OEF XIII Afghanistan, 191st Infantry Brigade

CSM Woods civilian education includes a Master of Education, (training & leadership) from North Central University, Prescott AZ, and a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior, Albany, New York.

Military education includes the United States Sergeants Majors Academy class # 58, Army force management course, Jump Master, Drill Sergeant, US Army Recruiter, Infantry Small Arms Master Gunner, Artillery Master Gunner, Amphibious Warfare leaders’ course (USMC), Anti-Armor Leaders course, Machine Gun Leaders course, Artillery Mechanics repair course, Small Arms repair course, Nuclear Biological Chemical defense, and all levels of air load planning and hazmat certification USAF.

CSM Woods awards include; one Distinguished Service medal, one Legion Of Merit,( 5) Bronze Star Medals, 5 Meritorious Service Medals, 4 ARCOM, 4 AAM, 1 Humanitarian service medal, 2 Armed Forces Expeditionary medals, Afghanistan and Iraq service medals. German Jump Master Wings, Qatar Jump wings as part of 5th Group, Netherlands Jumpmaster wings. Other awards include; Department of Defense “Inventor of the year” (2003) with 45 separate inventions. CSM Woods saved the United States Government over one Billion Dollars through cost avoidance. He is also the first recipient of the GRUBER award for an outstanding field artillery professional.

CSM Woods is credited by the US Army Smart Ideas program as the inventor of;

• The 105mm Howitzer night direct fire sight system M913 GELON.

• The 155mm towed Howitzer night sight system.

• The dual use day/ night direct fire sight reticule.

• The Dual optic MILES Laser trainer.

• The Urban Assault kit (PALADIN) improved crew protection, 155mm system.

On his most recent tour to Afghanistan, CSM Woods pioneered the first use of artillery training rounds in combat as a form of scalable fire support designed to limit civilian death and collateral damage. He is the author of, ‘Black Flag Journals One Soldiers Experience in America’s Longest War’, and numerous magazine, newspaper articles, including training pamphlets concerning Artillery, night vision, and combat operations.

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GUEST POST:

Ten things’ people do not know me as a first-time author are ten things that also helped me write.

1. Following the attacks of 9/11, I volunteered as a front-line soldier, during the great pandemic I volunteered again as an original vaccine test subject looking for a cure. In years to come when both events conclude, should I be asked by my grandchildren: what did you do in America’s longest war, what did you do in the Great Pandemic? I won’t have to say, well… I caught up on my TV shows. For in those times, I put myself in harm’s way in pursuit of the greater good. Therefore, participation in those events provided me with a unique story.

2. One aspect that made me an ideal subject to test vaccines was my low-level exposure and survival of nerve agent poisoning during the first Gulf War. And the following ingestion of nerve agent antidotes. The combination of which altered my DNA make up. The thought being that if my genetic makeup could metabolize that poison what else might it adopt to? While some listeners may reflectively reject this information, I ask that they hold for a few years. Historians typically wait 15-25 years post event to delve into a subject to bypass political spin of the era. Many of today’s blog participants will not be around when new data is released that may or may not confirm the presence of such substances. But one does have to ask: if the U.N. actively took part in, but never finished recovering chemical warfare agents following the first Gulf War. What happened to the remainder?

3. Depending on which Covid 19 vaccine one received if any, I may have been part of creating what resides in you now.

4. As a long serving soldier, 34 years of active duty, I deployed to war under every administration from President Reagan to Obama.

5. I managed to invent products that were adopted for use by the U.S. Government. Some of those products and devices are discussed in Black Flag Journals.

6. I am the originator of limited destruction for limited war as a means of reducing civilian death and collateral damage with artillery. In particular, the use of less lethal artillery training munitions in combat.

7. I did not suddenly gain acceptance of my first manuscript. I built an ever-escalating body of work by first publishing newspaper and magazine articles. Those articles facilitated the creation of instruction pamphlets. Together these things facilitated a publisher accepting my work. So, for future authors fear not. The process of publication does not have to be taken in one giant leap.

8. While much attention is given to stories of close-range fights, (I have 57 months in combat). I have just as much time practicing marriage counseling techniques with Afghan forces as a form of conflict resolution.

9. I once spoke 3 Middle Eastern languages and German with a Bavarian accent. After one particular night battle, upon hearing the words of dying men, I lost all but English. However, put a beer in my hand and German comes back when it is time to order.

10. I met and asked my wife of 33 years to marry me within 3 days of our initial contact. When I first laid eyes on her it was as if she had a yellow green light around her. More amazingly, she said yes.

11. As an inventor one of the strongest business lessons learned is having the right product name. A device that could have been adopted in the 90’s never came to light until its name was changed a decade later. When applied to publishing it highlights how important having the right book title is.

12. When developing the title for Black Flag Journals, I had to consider the stories origin and how it might place in search results. In Islam black is the designated color for Jihad and the reason so many of their execution videos featured a black flag in the background. As a consistent icon of extremist, the term black flag will remain popular for some time. The word Journals in the title denotes that the manuscript was derived from 9 journals kept for my daughter. It also didn’t hurt that when the first edition was published a popular video game titled Black Flag, Black Beards Revenge was also published.

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GIVEAWAY:

Dennis John Woods will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

  

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions assumes all responsibility pertaining to this giveaway.)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway