Special Soldier profile picture

Special Soldier

I am here for Friends

About Me

My dad was a career 20 year man in the USAF. Spent entire childhood on or near military bases. Started reading WW2 stories while in Jr. High. Developed fondness for American History at same time. After high school, spent 3 years in US NAVY. One year on a tug boat,YTB-808,in Sand Diego, and two years aboard crusier USS OKLAHOMA CITY, CLG-5, homeport Yokosuka, Japan. The ship happened to be the flagship for Seventh Fleet. We had a Rear Admiral on board. As a result, we did a lot of sailing. Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, and Guam, just to name a few. After 3 year hitch, went to college on GI BILL, got married, and settled down (into wild life as civil war reenactor).

My Interests

If you look at my pics. you'll notice that I have an interest in Civil War Reenacting. More than a passion-closer to an obsession. I have been wearing the wool, eating poorly cooked food, sleeping outdoors, and shooting black powder for over 25 years. I am the author of CHIN MUSIC FROM A GREYHOUND, Vol. One, 1978-1987 (available on Amazon) and CHIN MUSIC FROM A GREYHOUND, VOL.Two, 1988-1997 (available at civilwarbooklady.com) . Both books are a behind the scenes look at Civil War Reenacting (as I saw it).

I'd like to meet:

Joe Kubert, DC comic book artist of ENEMY ACE and OUR ARMY AT WAR featuring SGT.Rock. Dee Snyder.THE RAT PACK. John Wayne. W.C. Fields. Adventures in Civil War Land
.. Add to My Profile | More Videos

Movies:

I'm a sucker for war movies. Put John Wayne in fatigues and I'm there. Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys were two I recently viewed. I'm also a fan of Hong Kong Cinema. Hard Boiled, Full Contact, Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head are a few of the best and most feature Chow Yun Fat. I'm a fan of the Transporter, I and II. I like Hellboy, Hudson Hawk, and the Punisher (John Travolta, Tom Jane movie). I ADORE 300!

Television:

I grew up in the sixties, so I watched a lot of television. I don't care for today's sitcom's. In the 21st Century, I watch LOST, PRISON BREAK, JERICHO, CSI, and CSI, MIAMI.

Books:

I enjoy a good Civil War History, but mostly look for material that covers the war in the West, Tennesse,Mississippi, and Kentucky, as well as topics on the war in the Trans-Mississippi (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas). The Battle of Athens, Missouri, August 5, 1861 By Jonathan K. Cooper-Wiele It had it all: Cemetery Hill, the Cornfield, a cannonade, ignominious skedaddles, valorous stands, backs to a river, a numerically inferior force triumphing, neighbors firing upon neighbors, refugees, a bayonet charge, an arms differential, entrenching, casualties, death, bloated corpses, and the wonder and terror of volunteers “seeing the elephant.” Evoking such epic engagements as Shiloh, Antietam, or Gettysburg, these characteristics belong to the nearly unknown Trans-Mississippi Civil War Battle of Athens (pronounced “Aythens”), Missouri. Commencing around 5:30 a.m. on the sultry morning of August 5, 1861, in Clark County, in the far northeast corner of Missouri near the Iowa border, it was over in a couple of hours. Speaking of detective novels, I do enjoy dabling in the hard-boiled genre as well as thrilling adventure stories that were popular in the 30's and 40's. Known as PULP FICTION, many of these thrilling tales of yesteryear can be found on a website called the Vintage Library or you might try Hard Case Crime.A favorite old pulp is G-8 and his Battle Aces. These action/adventure yarns take place during WWI and pits the flying squadron against fiendish devices and evil schemes of mad doctors who create weapons in an attempt to defeat the allies and turn the war in favor of the Germans. Many of these fiendish weapons that the mad doctors create in their laboratories include death rays, zombies, giant bats, werewolves, robots, ghosts, etc. It's all nonsense of course, but great escapist reading. I've also read the LOST REGIMENT series. This is the series about the civil war regiment that gets lost at sea, during a trip aboard gunboats from Virginia to South Carolina. Once storm is over, the regiment finds itself on another planet. Despite the fantastic premise, it is good reading. I have all 8 paperbacks of this series. I also enjoy historical fiction. I've read Newt Gingrich's stuff and some Harry Turtledove. I've found Jeff Shaara's work well worth reading. I like the SHARPE series, as well as Horatio Hornblower. My fav is Harry Flashman. He is a creation of George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman is a soldier during the Victorian Age. Much like Jack Crabb, of Little Big Man fame, Flashman finds himself in the middle of many historical episodes, mostly as a reluctant participant. You see, Harry Flashman is a cad,a womanizer,a cheat, and dispite his manly appearence, claims to be a coward. The books are written as if they were a memoir written by the old soldier himself in his twilight years; as if to get the record straight as it were. Flashman claims to have been in India during the Sepoy Rebellion, at the Crimea during the Charge of the Light Brigade, at Harper's Ferry with John Brown, served with both the Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War, and was with Custer on the Little Big Horn. And that is merely a sample of deeds he claims to. As you can see, I have a variety of reading interests. It helps me with my own creative writing.

My Blog

Stand of Colors After Action Report Part One

Because I don't know how to tell a short story, I'm telling my version of Stand of Colors in three sections.  I hope you enjoy.   One Billion Ticks and the Lady with the Purple Bush An afte...
Posted by Special Soldier on Tue, 27 May 2008 04:03:00 PST

Adventures of a Young Sailor In Dick Nixons Navy

I served aboard the USS Oklahoma City, CLG-5 from Sept 1973 to Sept 1975. The Okie City had a 5 inch gun turret, a 6 inch gun turret, and a TALOS missile system which was situated aft of the ship (for...
Posted by Special Soldier on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:22:00 PST

The Battle and Reenactment of Baxter Springs, KS

In the 1980's and most of the 90's, I was involved in a lot of Civil War events of the 'dog and pony show' variety.  At the time we didn't know any better.  We were performing before a local...
Posted by Special Soldier on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:23:00 PST

The Mexican War, Patrick Swayze, and Boiled Crawdads

Beginning in 1983, and only lasting a couple of years, a few of us brave souls ventured into unknown territory by getting involved with reenacting the Mexican War 1846-47.  Rather than do battle ...
Posted by Special Soldier on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:53:00 PST

The Ghost of Wilsons Creek?

April 23-24, 1983 Wilson's Creek NMP         &nb sp; Sometime after midnight, the coyotes started howling at each other. The moon seemed as huge as a dinner...
Posted by Special Soldier on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:42:00 PST

Ten Weird, But True Facts About Myself

"Here's how you play. Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their name...
Posted by Special Soldier on Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:35:00 PST

First Event as a Farb

If you've followed my blogs up to this point, first I discovered the Civil War, through a class in school, then I was a spectator at a local reenactment, finally I contacted a group in my area, and w...
Posted by Special Soldier on Sun, 20 May 2007 12:02:00 PST

I Discover My Civil War Ancestor and the Hobby

This is part two of story of how I discovered the Civil War, how I found my ancestor, and how I discovered the hobby of Civil War Reenacting.  This excerpt comes from CHIN MUSIC FROM A GREYHOUND,...
Posted by Special Soldier on Sat, 05 May 2007 02:56:00 PST

I Discover Civil War

This excerpt is from CHIN MUSIC FROM A GREYHOUND Vol. ONE, available in amazon or barnes and noble.com Part One of Two Part Story Prior to 1978, I didn't know squat about the Civil War. Growing up in ...
Posted by Special Soldier on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:21:00 PST

A Date with GLORY-the life and times of a Hollywood Extra

After serving as an extra in the KCPT/Wide Awake production of BAD BLOOD, I'm reminded of another time I worked as an extra in another film production. This was during the month of April 1989, a one d...
Posted by Special Soldier on Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:08:00 PST