For almost my entire life I’ve been around the military. My dad was in the Air Force for twenty-three years, and my husband is coming up on his twenty-fourth year in the Navy—we’ve been married for seventeen of those years. In fact, in our first twelve years of marriage, we moved eight times. I’ve really enjoyed some of the places we’ve lived, and some, not so much. At the core of it all, though, was the knowledge that no matter which way I felt about a place, we definitely wouldn’t be there long!
Our time in the Navy has been good to us for the most part. My husband has risen to the rank of E-9, the highest enlisted rank, and he currently serves as a Command Master Chief, third in charge behind the commanding and executive officers. He’s been able to earn dual master’s degrees while in service, and I have no doubt there will be a wonderful civilian career waiting for him after his planned retirement next summer.
All of this life experience is why I’m driven to writing military romance. In fact, my debut novel, Everything Changes, is about a Marine and the Navy corpsman he loves, and my upcoming sixth book is a May/Dec about a man who loses his son in Afghanistan, only to eventually fall in love with his son’s Army teammate. It’s by far the most angsty, most emotional book I’ve written to date. I hope to have an exciting announcement about it in my next monthly column!
My current work in progress is the first in a new series about special operations, a series which will encompass SEALs, Air Force pararescue, Green Berets and the combat helicopter pilots known as the Night Stalkers. It’s all still in development, but I’m very excited about it, as I consider writing military romance to be getting back to my roots—it’s definitely my passion!
Because of my excitement over my new series, and because August is also my birthday month, I would love to give away an Everything Changes prize pack (which includes a signed print copy of Everything Changes, a coffee mug and other goodies) to a US commenter, and for my international friends, an ebook copy and $10 Amazon gift card! You can let me know if you or someone you’ve loved has ever served in the military and what your experiences were, or just simply wish me a Happy Birthday!
Thanks so much, Dani and Love Bytes, for hosting me today!
Happy Birthday!
My brother currently serves as a medic in the Australian Army
leetee2007(at)hotmail(dot)com
Happy birthday, Melanie! My cousin served in the Air Force up until the Puma that transported him and his fellow officers hit a cliff a few years back. No survivors. A low time for the family then.
I prefer to read tragedy unfolded in books than experiencing them ourselves, but such is life, eh.
Happy birthday, Melanie. My dad has served in the army, but that a very long time ago. He still has a hard time talking about it, though.
Happy Birthday Melanie 🙂
I’m thankfull to all the men and women who serve (or have served). Some family members and friends of me have served in the army and i’ve heard some stories good and bad. So to me they all are truly heroes.
Happy birthday, Mel!
My paternal granpa was in the army as well as my dad but we’ve only had shorter time together since he died early but he had given me this medallion who has already saved my life twice. ^_^
Happy birthday from a fellow August birthday girl. My brother was career Marine for 25 years. Thank your family for their service.
kathleenpower at comcast dot net
Happy Birthday! I come from a military family. My father, father-in-law and brother-in-law all retired from the military. I had many more who served for less time. I am proud of them all.
Happy birthday, Melanie. No military in my family, sorry.
Two of my great-uncles served in the military, but I only got to meet one. (Happy birthday, by the way!)
Happy, happy birthday to you! My dad was in the military but got out just after I was born so other than being born on a military base I don’t have any experiences myself. 🙂
Happy Birthday ! This is my Birthday month also. My father was in the military for a short time until they found out he lied about his age to get in. He was in for 9 months and a month before he turned legal age, they discharged him.
heath0043 at gmail dot com
Happy Birthday.
My father in law served in WWII as a pilot in the Army Air Force. He used to tell us stories of his some of his flights. He also was an amateur photographer and took a camera with him. He donated a picture album of pictures he took to the Hump Pilots Association. My daughter is currently an E4 in the Air Force.
Thanks to your family for their service. My dad was Navy. I was Air Force for 10 years and my brother retired from the National Guard.
Also Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! Thank you for sharing about your husband and your drive to write military romances. One of my distance relatives served in the army.
Happy Birthday! I love every book in the Resilient Love series. Thank you for the chance to win!
Happy Birthday! My Great Uncle enlisted in the Navy during WWII. He had never finished High School and was 37 years old. He stayed Stateside the entire war, but he and my Great Aunt wrote letters to each other during his entire time in service. We found all the letters after she died in 2005 at the age of 99! My aunt is hoping to make something of them for our family to have to memorialize their love and his service.
Happy Birthday!
My dad was an only child. When the Korean War started he wanted to join the air force and serve his country. All of his friends were enlisting and he was very patriotic. When his father, unbeknownst to him, went to the county seat and filled out paperwork to prevent him from leaving (since if he died there would be no one to carry on the family name or support his mother) he was devastated. (My mom always said he felt embarrassed and pulled back from the other men when they returned.)
As a result, I planned to join and fulfill his wish. When my sister found out, she enlisted in the navy. Then my two younger brothers joined the air force after me.
I feel so much pride when I go back home and see the memorial dedicated to all the members of the community who served in the military and see all 4 of our names listed. I think dad would have been proud to see it.
dfair1951@gmail.com
Thanks, everyone, for the lovely birthday wishes! They made my day <3
Happy birthday, Melanie!
My dad was in the compulsory military service during the Falklands War.