Every so often, I will end up in a dream situation and not be quite sure how it came about. More than once, the tipping point putting me in that situation has been that I am a military spouse.
Tomorrow night, at 9 pm on SpouseBUZZ Radio, I will have one of those dream situations. I will be interviewing one of my favorite political thriller authors about his latest book and about the current state of the Global War on Terror.
Let's give it up for Brad Thor! Seriously, follow me after the jump. I'll give you some info on this amazing guy and his books, what a military wife with a deployed husband was doing reading political thrillers, and I'll throw in a picture of him for good measure. For no other reason, you should click over and check out his picture. Seriously.
I discovered Brad Thor's books just over a year ago, as my husband was preparing for his second deployment. I made it a practice to stop at the shoppette for coffee before mass every week, and also to pick up something to read while I waited for my kids to be finished with CCD.
It was then that I noticed a book with a very intriguing title... Blowback. It's a term I've heard from time to time coming from my husband and having to do with the unintended consequences of a certain action.
Not only did I begin to devour Blowback during CCD time, but I was hard pressed not to reach for it during those, errr, rather slow parts of mass. I was hooked.
The main character of Thor's books, Scot Harvath, is a former Navy SEAL. Did I say former? Yes, he has moved on to the great government service in the sky - some other agency. But he has retained all those characteristics that we military spouses love and the ones that drive us nuts. He had mannerisms, phrases, and thought processes that my husband uses.
Okay, there's a lot more shooting and excitement in the book series than our spouses deal with in their career - a LOT more, but there was something about reading those books that made me feel just a little closer to my deployed husband.
Although I couldn't put a finger on it immediately, I did eventually figure it out. As the spouse of a military guy who deploys into a war zone I am on the fringes of "The Brotherhood" (meant in the most gender generic way possible). I understand the lingo, I am used to knowing while not knowing, I have an idea of the things that are happening and the causes of the gallows humor. But I am not THERE. I am still separated from hubby in that part of his life, whether he is home or away.
Reading Brad Thor's books helped me to bridge that gap a little in my mind, made me feel like even if I couldn't be where my hubby was and doing what my hubby was doing with him, at least I could read a highly engaging and exciting fictional version where the main character may get beat up but he always comes home alive and a hero. While encountering news of Iraq and Afghanistan were unavoidable on a daily basis, I could at least choose the version of the behind the scene story that I immersed myself in.
So that is how a military wife came to voraciously devour every Brad Thor GWoT thriller in the course of about a month and a half. And then re-read them several times during hubby's deployment.
Now, about his background... He truly does know of what he speaks. Brad Thor previously served in the Department of Homeland Security's Analytic Red Cell Program. To put it bluntly - they are some of the guys who point out where we are vulnerable to terrorist attack. I'll certainly be taking this radio opportunity to discuss where he thinks our current GWoT situation is going, since as military families we will be right in the middle of whatever happens.
Oh, and about that picture...
I know that interviewing a GWoT thriller author is a bit out of the usual for SpouseBUZZ. As a site and a radio show by and for military spouses, we have a lot of military spouse specific books to showcase! I knew that this interview would be a great one to do, though, when I hesitantly contacted Brad Thor's publicist at 8 pm Eastern by email after seeing him on Glenn Beck's CNN show, asking if an interview would be possible and by 9 pm I had received a reply that read, "Brad would be thrilled to be on SpouseBUZZ radio."
Thrilled.
I haven't felt that special since our trip to Busch Gardens.
Tune in tomorrow night, at 9 pm Eastern, and we'll talk about Brad's books, including his new release, The First Commandment, and talk about what our families and our nation might be facing as we head into year 7 of the Global War on Terror. As always, you can call into the show at 646-478-5665, or IM us, yahoo id spousebuzz. You can also email me any questions you would like to have asked ahead of showtime, if you won't be able to catch the program live, but would still like to hear something specific discussed, or put them in the comments section of this post.
I'm VERY excited! Hope to see you there!
