This 12-minute video offers hope to those Gold Star Families, in the photo-video story of military families receiving the KNOCK when a loved one has died while in service to our United States Military. It shares the importance of Gold Star family connections in the wake of THE KNOCK, as well as education for those outside the circle of Gold Star family grief.

Gold Star Mom, Deborah Tainsh, knows the pain, and offers guidance…

She is the author of Heart Of A Hawk: One Family’s Sacrifice and Journey Toward Healing and a contributor to Heart of a Military Woman, speaker, grief mentor to other Gold Star parents, journaling coach.

An excerpt from Heart of a Hawk:
There was only one reason for two men in Army dress greens to be standing at the door in the still dark morning. They were bringing a horrid message not worthy of sunlight. But this couldn’t be possible. Just yesterday Dave had called Allstate to reinstate Patrick’s car insurance. He had mailed a check to Fort Polk to the captain’s wife to help buy soap and shaving cream to put in the barracks for the guys when they arrived home next month. But at that moment, Deborah knew death had truly appeared at their door like a thief in the night. It was 6:00 a.m., February 12th, 2004.

Heart of a Military Woman is co-authored by Sheryl Roush (a former Navy wife) and Eldonna Lewis Fernandez (retired MstSgt USAF).

We need to HAVE those conversations!  Thank YOU to ALL who serve(d).

-Sheryl Roush, Author of Heart of a Military Woman

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. 

‘Ms.. Cothren, where are our desks?’ 

She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.’ 

They thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s our grades.’ 

‘No,’ she said. 

‘Maybe it’s our behavior.’ 

She told them, ‘No, it’s not even your behavior.’ 

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. 

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room. 

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, ‘Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.’ 

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. 

Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall… By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.. 

Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.’ 

By the way, this is a true story. 

Pass this along so others won’t forget that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by War Veterans.

Submitted by Florence McSween <mcsweenflorence@hotmail.com>

The awards honored two local San Diego authors, both in the Best Published Nonfiction category.

Peter J. Munson, author of Iraq in Transition: The Legacy of Dictatorship and the Prospects for Democracy, on active service in Afghanistan, charged his wife, Wendi, to receive his award for Best General Nonfiction.

Sheryl Roush, native San Diegan and co-author of Heart of a Military Woman, received the award for Best Spiritual & Inspirational book for 2009. In her acceptance speech, she shared her pride in San Diego being a military town, a former Navy wife, her father designed military aircraft, mother was a Rosie the Riveter, uncle died as a test pilot at Miramar Air Station. She thanked all those who serve, for preserving our freedom of speech, expression and writing.

Click here for more information or to order copies of the Heart of a Military Woman.

Published Book Contest

This contest is open to San Diego County residents whose books were first published in 2009 and/or bear a 2009 copyright. Published book categories include fiction, nonfiction, young adult fiction, young adult nonfiction, children’s fiction, and children’s nonfiction.

Submissions for Published Books–Nonfiction being honored as finalists this year include:

Biography

Nancy Burnett, Journeys Home
Sarita Eastman, A Trail of Light: The Very Full Life of Dr. Anita Figueredo
Gayle Slate, Dana’s Legacy: From Heartbreak to Healing

Business

Ken Blanchard, Helping People Win at Work
Scott G. Kyle, The Power Curve
Bob Nelson, Keeping Up in a Down Economy
Lee Silber, Andrew Chapman, and Linda Krall, The Wild Idea Club

Children’s/Young Adult

Edward Hujsak, All About Rocket Engines
Judith Pinkerton Josephson, Nelson Mandela

Cooking and Crafts

Gaetano Cicciotti, Cicciotti’s Kitchen
Bernard Guillen, Flying Pans
Leslie Perlis, Dimensional Mosaics

Education

Beth Wagner Brust and Cynthia La Brie Norall, Quirky, Yes—Hopeless, No
Michael Linsin, Dream Class

General

Michael Hemmingson, Star Trek: A Post-Structural Critique of the Original Series
Peter J. Munson, Iraq in Transition
Michael Oldstone, Viruses, Plagues, & History: Past, Present, and Future

History

Tom Basinski, Cross Country Evil
David Klauber, The Sounding
Amy Goodpaster Strebe, Flying For Her Country

Local Interest

Leland Fetzer, The Cuyamacas
Karla Ogilvie, Encinitas Insight
Linda H. Pequegnat, This Day in San Diego History

Memoir

Ella DeCastro Baron, Itchy Brown Girl Seeks Employment
Lew Decker, Fingerprints…A Coffeehouse Reader
Phyllis Pilgrim, The Hidden Passport: My Childhood Journey Through Japanese Concentration Camps in Java
Carol Poe Straubinger, My Chunk of a Century
Lac Su, I Love Yous Are for White People

Pets

Richard Lederer, A Treasury for Cat Lovers
Richard Lederer, A Treasury for Dog Lovers
Liz Palika, Puppy Love
Cindy Traisi, Because They Matter, Too

Self-Help & Medicine

Marylin S. Beidler, Everyday Wellness
Kathi Burns, How to Master Your Muck
Giovanna Pang Garcia, Why Chinese Women Are Not Broke

Spirit/Inspiration

Pamela MacPhee, Delivering Hope
Dean Nelson, God Hides in Plain Sight
Sheryl L. Roush, Heart of a Military Woman

Travel

Diane Asitimbay, What’s Up America?
Nelson Copp, Cycling the Palm Springs Region
Bette Blaydes Pegas, Chasing a Dream in the Galápagos

The San Diego Book Awards Association is a volunteer organization dedicated to enriching the large, diverse, and vibrant literary community of the nation’s third largest county. Founded in 1994, the SDBAA honors the best published books and unpublished manuscripts by San Diego County residents each year. Winning authors report that receiving a San Diego Book Award boosts sales of their books, and several winners of their unpublished novel, memoir, and poetry chapbook competitions have said that receiving a San Diego Book Award played an instrumental role in their later securing a publisher for their work.

A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the SDBAA promotes literacy in San Diego County schools through the Read-4-Fun program. Specially designed for fifth graders—the grade in which reading for pleasure dramatically declines—Read-4-Fun gives away approximately 2,500 books a year to student readers. For many of these children, the books they receive through Read-4-Fun are the first books they have ever owned.

Military Story: "Dead Air"
by Shirley Sisko Harkins

When I enlisted in 1976, the Women’s Army Corp (WAC) was in the process of being disestablished as a separate branch of the Army. I’m very proud to have been one of the last WAC’s, serving during this exciting era in military history. Women were being admitted to West Point. Maternity leaves replaced compulsory discharges, and the umbrella, a traditional military taboo was approved for issue in the name of promoting a positive feminine image. The powers that be even retained a designer to fashion a sporty new mint green, wash and wear uniform. The times they were a changin’.

There were those, of course, who weren’t enthusiastic about the trend. I encountered several male soldiers who appeared to be threatened by the growing presence of women in the motor pool, the mess hall, and even in co-ed barracks. Some men attempted to deflate our influence with casual flirtation. Others insisted we carry our weight—equal pay for equal work, by golly. None, however, stood out so predominantly in my memories as a certain surly NCO at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

Even though I’d have to change it here to protect the innocent, I wish I recalled his name. He was a gristly, Old Army type—a field instructor attached to the signal school where I was trained. I was offered only three occupational options; food service, clerkship, or communications. I’d opted be a radio teletype operator—a dinosaur Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), like the WACS that no longer exists. Quaint historical reference makes for great story telling. Ask any veteran, young or old. When two or more gather together, the war stories commence in earnest.

The Old Army NCO taught in the field, training the students to apply classroom academics to the actual equipment we’d use to perform our duties. We knew the basics of setting up and maintaining a radio network, but hadn’t learned a great deal about trouble-shooting. His job was to station himself with one network station each day and teach us how to deal with real life obstacles as they cropped up.

His approach was stoic—stand back and let us flounder, making one frantic mistake after another, until the entire network crashed. Afterwards, he’d explain what went wrong and help us to figure out how we could have responded more effectively. In theory, his methods seemed valid enough, but his criticism was often sarcastic and condescending. Locking us in a poker face look, he’d observe every move without offering the slightest hint as to whether we were right or wrong. We never knew what was coming; reward or reprimand. It was excruciating.

One morning, I was manning the network controlling station. By the time he stuck his head through the door of the rig where I was working, I’d already lost communication with one of my network stations. The others were apparently beginning to panic, thumbing through their ciphering and frequency manuals to determine if their settings were correct. Lack of confidence in their own training may have caused them to fiddle with the dials.

The gristly NCO watched while I performed a network check, hailing the other two stations and getting dead air in response. I feverishly typed in the abbreviated commands again and got nothing. Staring at the teletype for a few seconds, I prayed for inspiration. He was expecting me to do something, so I hopped out of the rig and headed toward a nearby jeep.

I slipped on the Morse code key leg strap and began tapping out the commands. The NCO followed. He rested an elbow on the crash pad, leaning in toward me. He didn’t say a word. When the keypad failed, I sat for awhile staring at the field phone, knowing that any transmission on it would be unsecured. I glanced at the NCO, but received no encouragement either way.

I decided to go for broke, snatching up the handset and cranking the generator. He was going to chew me up and spit me out no matter what I did, so I had nothing to lose. Via landline, I was able to contact each network station. Careful not to reveal any classified information over the airways, I instructed them to consult their manuals so we were all on the same page.

Afterwards, I jumped back in the rig and ran the network test again. Oh, to hear the glorious beeps, clicks, and whirs of life. We operated the rest of that day without incident. The NCO never uttered a word. Later that day, back in the barracks, I was summoned to the pay phone in the foyer. I greeted the caller, hearing tinny juke box music, tinkling glassware, and raucous voices in the background. Because he spoke so few times, I didn’t recognize the NCO’s gravelly voice until he introduced himself.

The hair rose on the back of my neck. I must have really messed up if he was calling from the NCO Club to tell me so. Judging by the way he slurred his words, the lecture probably wasn’t going to be polite.

When I didn’t respond, he continued. “I hate women,” he said. “I especially hate women in the Army, so it really hurts to have to tell you this.” He paused for what sounded like another slug from his cocktail.

“But you did one heck of a job out there this morning getting that network back up and running.” Of course, being Old School, he didn’t say “heck,” but I took the liberty to paraphrase.

When I caught my breath after the initial shock, I thanked him. He promised that if I ever told anyone about our conversation, one-sided as it was, that he would promptly deny it. With that, he hung up, and I was left listening to dead air again.

I would go on to receive promotions and other honors from the United States Army, but none gratified me as much as a phone call from a gristly Old School NCO with a chip on his shoulder for women.

~Shirley (Sisko) Harkins
www.dramadrash.org

©2009

"I am a believer of thirteen years and spent much of that time absorbed in scripture study and research. I also hold a Masters Degree in Biblical Study and Theology. My ministry extends to my homelife as a wife and mother. My children are grown and I’m very proud of the godly young adults they’ve become, despite being raised in the church only half of their lives. I am priviledged to serve the Father as Artistic Director of Drama Drash Ministries."
PHOTO: Shown here with husband Danny.

"Dead Air" is published in the Heart of a Military Woman book by Sheryl L. Roush and Eldonna Lewis Fernandez

Chapter: A Day in the Life
Book released Veterans Day 2009.
Posted here with permission from Authors.
Contact: Sheryl@HeartBookSeries.com for permission to reprint. It will be granted.


Shirley Harkins lost her battle with cancer on December 28, 2009. She did, however, get to see this story in print shortly prior to her passing. Upon receiving acknowledgement that Dead Air would be published, she write this note to the publisher:

Dear Ms. Roush,

I am so delighted to be included on this book. My time in the military was among my prouded.
 
Warm Regards,
Shirley Harkins

I discovered that peace doesn’t mean the end to conflict;
it simply demonstrates the love of God.
And we don’t have to wait for a major crisis in our lives;
we can allow the peace of Christ to rule our hearts each day.
Richard Parker, Upper Room Daily Devotional

-Major Mom
Angela Cody-Rouget

Editor’s note: Angela’s stories:
"Good Leaders Are Good Followers"
and
"Stenographer Sends Enemy Communication" a tribute to Loretta Cohn, Stenographer, 2 Lt. Women’s Army Air Corp (WAAC) are published in the Veterans Day release of Heart of a Military Woman, by co-authors Sheryl Roush and Eldonna Lewis Fernandez.

Today on

What’s Your Bottom Line?






Co-Authors to the Veterans Day release of the Heart of a Military Woman book, Eldonna Lewis Fernandez and Sheryl Roush, are being interviewed today, Tuesday, December 22, 2009, on What’s Your Bottom Line?™ Talk Radio Show by radio host Angie Strader.






Topic: Bottom-Line Success in Business
In this program, listeners will discover the PINK Principles to activate your choices, plus seven Sparkle-Tude!® Boosters to invigorate your attitude and daily life.

The focus today is about having consistent success in life… both personally and professionally… and for both men and for women. Our workplace has certainly changed, with high unemployment, people making dramatic shifts in their careers, some staying unemployed, while others are creating their own businesses. Both of our guests have experience in corporate careers, military life and entrepreneurial success.

Listeners can call in their questions during the live program:
(724) 444-7444, Call ID #62616

Eldonna Lewis Fernandez is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant with 23 years of honorable military service. She deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Eldonna has 29 years of extensive leadership, management and supervisory experience. She is certified at Level III Contracts in the Acquisition Professional Development Program. She is also a certified coach, and consultant. Eldonna is affectionately known as the Pink Biker Chic™, a biker and empowerment coach for women she and her “military brat” kids were just featured last week on the premier of Lisa Nichols’ Breakthrough – Original Special on WE-TV.
www.PinkBikerChic.com

 
Sheryl Roush is the President/CEO of Sparkle Presentations, Inc., based in San Diego, California. An 8-time entrepreneur since the age of 16, her background is in marketing, graphics, publishing and communication. Sheryl is an internationally top-rated female speaker with 3,000 presentations under her designer belt, and was only the 3rd woman in the world to earn the elite Accredited Speaker designation from Toastmasters International out of 4 million members in 106 countries. She has spoken on programs alongside many highly-regarded celebrities including Suze Orman, Marcus Buckingham and Olivia Newton-John. Sheryl is a 13-time published author and was interviewed December 4th by Montel Williams on his Montel Across America radio show for the Heart of a Military Woman book, co-authored by Eldonna and Sheryl. She was twice crowned “Ms. Heart of San Diego” for her contributions to women and is the creator of the Heart Book Series.
www.SparklePresentations.com
www.HeartBookSeries.com

What’s Your Bottom Line?™  lives its mission of straightforward discussion about what it takes to be successful in your personal and professional life. Live talk radio show with Angie Strader in on Diva Toolbox Radio every Tuesday at 2:00-3:00pm CST.  Tune in from your computer at http://bit.ly/3rSPwx.

Heart of a Military Woman as

Book of the Month

December 21, 2009

Sheryl Roush added there are 100 original and true short stories and tributes, 21 poems and 194 inspirational quotations in the Heart of a Military Woman Veterans Day release.

Other books in the Heart Book Series include:
Heart of a Woman
Heart of a Woman in Business
Heart of a Mother
Heart of the Holidays
Corazon de Mujer (Heart of a Woman, Spanish)

The archive on the entire two-hour December 21, 2009 podcast is available for free to download from Army Wife Talk Radio.

December 20
BOOK SIGNING at
Borders-Victoria Gardens

Sheryl Roush, creator of the Heart Book Series, and contributors are autographing on Sunday, December 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. at BORDERS bookstore at 12370 S. Mainstreet, Victoria Gardens, Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Author and professional speaker, Sheryl Roush gives presentations around the globe, at conferences and for corporations, helping to rekindle the spirit, raise the bar, and create excitement. Her gift for inspiring touches hearts and offers a positive outlook on daily life. A native San Diegan–and born in Chula Vista–she was crowned “Ms. Heart of San Diego” (twice) for contributions to our community.

Sheryl Roush may be contacted at: Sheryl@HeartBookSeries.com, or 858-569-6555.