Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Navy

Adapting Skills for Writers, Veterans And Rhinos

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

When I left the Army I joked I could work for Barnum & Bailey Circus or Mayflower Moving and Storage; supply and logistics training comes in very handy after the military. While we writers are constantly adapting to changes in the publishing world and upgrades in technology, basic skills and training help us to shift our careers and stay relevant in the marketplace.

The same could be said for the military skills of many veterans today. On Thursday night the Animal Planet will start a three-part mini-series about former military members called in to help stop poachers from decimating the White Rhinos in Africa. Once again, adapting.

Watch the video preview here: http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/battleground-rhino-wars/videos/rhino-wars-taking-down-the-bad-guys.htm

I’ve always thought military veterans would make the perfect animal rescue teams specially trained by Humane Societies to work here in the United States and around the world during disasters and wartime situations. The challenges the troops faced fighting in Iraq and coming across the Baghdad Zoo, with some animals caged and some loose, comes to mind.

I wanted to spread the word about this program which I support on many levels; our veterans working after their service working to help save the world’s Rhinos. As animal guardians of the planet, not only must we protect, witness and record animal’s stories, we must make sure the Rhino’s story does not end forever.

If you have time, check out the show Thursday night at 9 p.m. on Animal Planet. For more information about the series go to  http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/battleground-rhino-wars

When Have Women Not Been In Combat?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

About damn time. The final lifting of restrictions on women in combat last week is about 237 years late. Women have fought and died for America since before it was a country. Women even dressed up as men to serve in the Revolutionary War. Better late than never, I guess.

Me and my M16 in the waiting area before heading out to the rifle range at Fort McClellan, Alabama, Fall 1975. (For safety, no ammo until we got to the firing range)
Me and my M16 in the waiting area before heading out to the rifle range at Fort McClellan, Alabama, Fall 1975. (For safety, no ammo until we got to the firing range)

The combat exclusion has always been a discrimination and generational issue to me. We have made strides since I entered the Army in 1975 as part of the new “all volunteer force” after Vietnam. The Army NEEDED women to fill out its ranks. Now, 38 years after I received “voluntary” M16 rifle training, military women will be able to achieve rank and advance alongside their warrior brothers without the handcuffs of unequal opportunity holding them back from combat duty.

These exclusions were never about women being capable to handle the jobs; it’s been about sexist male top brass and America being able to handle women coming home in body bags. Women have two choices when it comes to war, we can be warriors or victims.

One of my World War II veteran students asked me what I thought about women in combat many years ago. He thought women were “too pretty” to get shot.

“You have to look at it from my perspective,” I told him. “Who said it was okay to shoot our men? Bummer of a birthright. Besides, I am no less a citizen of this country because I have different plumbing.”

Is military service for everyone? No, less than one percent of our USA population serves in the military. So if a woman or man can pass the tests for a job, they should be allowed to do the job. When I served with the Fourth Infantry Division, we had Army cowgirls who could breakdown five-ton truck tires with a sledge-hammer and men in the same outfit who couldn’t pick up the sledge. Test for the job and not the person’s plumbing and it will all work out.

Combat should always be a last resort for our nation, but there are times when the bullies of this world will not back down and action must be taken. When that happens, all our citizens are needed to share the burden of national security.

While we welcome home all our returning veterans and take on the large job of veteran reintegration after two long wars, we need to listen and help them heal with love and understanding. We must let all our veterans, Reserve, Guard and active duty know that they and their stories are important. It’s the least we can do as we benefit from their sacrifices.

I especially encourage my fellow women warriors to write their stories because so often our female history is lost. I salute my warrior sisters past, present and future. Hoo-ah!

How Can We Organize Ourselves And Our Writing For 2013?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Today we say hello to 2013 and start with clean calendars to plan our writing goals. My friend Carol and I say every year,  “This year we’re going to get organized!” We’ve been saying and doing that for more than 25 years and we’re still not done. It’s a process.

Spec Ops Cat does his part to get the office paperwork ready for 2013.
Spec Ops Cat does his part to get the office paperwork ready for 2013.

This past holiday season I took some time to think outside the box and the basket. (See Spec Ops Cat at left) With four manuscripts in various stages from final editing to first draft, I wanted to figure out a way to combine my business needs with my writing time.

It dawned on me I can finish all four manuscripts first and THEN publish them when I choose. Just because I finish a book doesn’t mean I have to rush it out the door to publication. Getting the four books completed first will also help me to budget my finances this year. Duh!

We get so used to striving and straining in a certain direction, we forget to consider if we’re on the right road in the first place; or the correct writing project or the right location. Downtime and thinking time are required parts of being a writer. I’ve set some simple but big goals this year and I’m looking forward to hitting them. It’s also reducing my stress level.

Two of my goals are to spend more time on my photography and having fun. I’ve started having fun by adding this “Authors Are My Rock Stars” calendar to my office. Yeah! http://www.amazon.com/2013-Authors-Rock-Stars-calendar/dp/1402270992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357006123&sr=8-1&keywords=authors+are+my+rock+stars (And maybe in 2013 I’ll figure out how to shorten and rename these links on WordPress!)

To refill my photography cup, I decided to get a subscription to “Outdoor Photographer” this year. Stumbled upon photographer Ian Plant’s blog and his fabulous top twelve photos of 2012. These are gorgeous. http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/blog/ian-plant/2012/12/twelve-significant-photographs-a-year-2012.html

Make a small change and explore a new area of interest or one you’ve neglected for years. A new calendar or even one magazine can send you off on a new journey in 2013. Maybe being a little more unorganized is what we need to do this year and let our muses wander. Who knows what fun we can have by taking a mosey into the new year instead of trying to speed through life.

Happy New Year everybody! Keep writing!

Happy Holidays To Our Troops Around The World

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

This Friday we head into the holiday weekend and my thoughts and prayers are with our military troops around the world keeping us safe. When we’re away from our families in the military, we make the best of it, but there is a special little place in our heart that wishes we were with our loved ones.

For all our troops around the world, here is a favorite video to let you know we care about you and to thank you for your service. We appreciate the sacrifice and hardships you and your families deal with on a daily basis and especially during the holidays. We wish you all return home safe and sound very soon.

Always on duty, we know the men and women at NORAD are getting ready to clear the airspace for Santa and his reindeer. Thanks again for yet another job well done!

Keeping Pearl Harbor Memories and Sacrifices Alive

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The first war story I recorded for a 1976 school project belonged to John Watson, my brother-in-law’s great-uncle. He worked as a shipyard worker in Pearl Harbor for the U.S. Navy. He was laying in bed on his first day off in thirteen weeks. He and his roommate, Lonnie, heard a lot of firing. They thought it might be practice firing, but it didn’t sound right. They turned on the radio.

The Battleship Missouri Memorial watches over the USS Arizona Memorial on election day, Nov. 6. Copyright 2012 Kimberly A. Cook
The Battleship Missouri Memorial watches over the USS Arizona Memorial on election day, Nov. 6. Copyright 2012 Kimberly A. Cook

“All workmen return to Pearl Harbor immediately, Japs are firing on us,” came across the radio waves. The two men made it to Pearl Harbor thirty minutes later and went through the main gate just as the second wave of Japanese fighters were coming over. “I don’t think they ever caught up with me though,” Johnny joked.

An electrician, Johnny got “juice” on the heavy cruiser San Francisco so she could fire her guns. Her anti-aircraft “one point pom poms” were on the dock so the rigger swung them aboard and they welded them to the deck. She was firing in 20  minutes. “By manual, manual firing them,” he said.

“I’ll admit there were no stops on them and she practically cut one stack off following them planes around. We were firing right towards Honolulu. I had a lot up in the valley I was ready to build a new house on and a 16-inch shell took that lot off the hillside; we found fragments of it,” he said.

“They were firing at anything going away, coming or anything else with anything that would fire. Like I told ya, we fired 16-inch guns at airplanes.”

Last year on the 70th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association voted to disband their corporate association on Dec. 31, 2011. The travel is challenging for those in their late 80s and early 90s. The memories are still strong and painful. The challenge for the National Park Service now is how to transition their mission to keep the memories and the sacrifice alive and relevant to future generations.

Education and stories are the key for me. Uncle Johnny’s story became my first official war story to record. That one encounter started me on a lifelong journey as a writer, veteran and military storyteller.  For those of us left behind, we must now step up and tell the stories to new generations for those who have gone before. This Friday, December 7th, remember Uncle Johnny and all the men, women, children and civilians we lost on that day in Honolulu and since.

Freedom isn’t free.