In Out Of Step, you share your experiences in the military during the Vietnam War, from the rigors of Basic Training to family pressures, shame, and the social physics of the Army. Why was it important for you to share your story?

The first question about that war for those of us who were there is “What the Hell happened?  And how did we end up on the wrong side of history, vilified as monsters and baby-killers? It is a little-known fact that ninety percent of us were not in the Hollywood version of Combat.  We were the clerks and jerks, the cooks, truck drivers, supply and logistics specialists who played defense.  I sat through about ninety mortar attacks but, aside from one time at the range, never fired my weapon.  I cleaned it everyday.  I arrived a month after the Tet Offensive and did my job…or rather jobs.  I had five of those simultanously.  I was part of the most effective intelligence collection system of the war but had to add contributions from John Wadje and John A, Reid to create a full picture of what happened at my unit and brief paragraphs from other ASA soldiers. That’s the other thing, I wasn’t really in the Army but a uniformed part of the NSA with compartmented access to protect “sources and methods”.  I had to wait fifty years for NSA to declassify most of it so I can provide a wider context.   I think it is important to correct the popular culture image and provide a narrative without the guts and glory meme.  That’s just for the other ninety percent who were not so-called “front line” soldiers.  I’m a novelist so this written as one without the fiction.

I appreciated the candid nature you use in writing about your darkest days. What was the most difficult thing for you to write about? 

The humiliations I suffered in training.  I think this is where most of my PTSD comes from. Vietnam was easier.  I was never really afraid and I never thought I would die there. I was seriously thinking about making the Army a career. The reasons I didn’t are  in Part Two.  The main reason was an invitation to attend the Iowa Writers Workshop.  Even the re-enlistment NCO thought I’d be a fool to turn that down.

Looking back on your writing process, is there anything else you now wish you had included in your memoir?

No.  It was already too long.  That’s why I split it into two parts.  In Part Two I go from the hot war to the Cold War as a General Staff NCO at the European headquarters of ASA.  It was a unique path.  The most surprising thing about it was the anti-Vietnam veteran prejudice even within the Army.  The resentment was palpable.  But I ended up in the Public Information Division.  That was my first paid job as a writer.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story? 

That Veterans of all the wars after World War Two, the so-called “Greatest Generation” also deserve respect.  And I do not mean that “thank you for your service” BS that most utter and do not mean.  That’s just patronizing and demeaning.