ANDY ADKINS
US Navy Veteran... City Firefighter... Engineer... Consultant... Author
"Life is a journey, one step followed by another..."
NOW AVAILABLE!
I'm pleased to announce that my debut novel, NEVER FORGET, is published and available on Amazon. It's a story of a veteran's journey for redemption and forgiveness.
NEVER FORGET is a work of fiction and is a multi-generational father, son, and grandson novel about WWII and Vietnam. It is not about combat; it is about overcoming personal conflicts caused by a war. The story reflects upon our current society of an older generation (WWII), aging baby boomers (Vietnam), and the current generation (global terrorism). It brings together multiple facets of dementia & Alzheimer's and PTSD & Survivor's Guilt in a moving, character-driven story of personal struggles and growing relationships.
I'm offering this book for free (download PDF, eBook formats) for all veterans. Actually, for a limited time, anyone can download it. But if you wish to have a paperback, it's also available at Amazon.
For more information, click HERE.
Also available in audio
My latest blog post: 2/11/25 #186 - Westpac '75 Flight Ops
Our first destination was Hawaii, a trip that would take about six days from San Diego. We'd be in and out twice before departing for the Philippines.
When a carrier first leaves port, there are no aircraft onboard; at least not when we departed for Westpac '75. The air wing squadron maintenance personnel were aboard, but the aircraft and the pilots would fly out and land on the carrier.
Heading out to sea, we all had our routines-both those that "needed" to be done and those individual "personal" routines (wink, wink). We had maintenance on the Crash equipment, boring things like check the oil, kick the tires, and check that the MB-5 Oshkosh truck had water and was stocked with AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam) bright blue 5-gallon containers.
Not long after we sailed out of San Diego Bay, the Air Boss announced over the 5MM (flight deck PA system), "Stand by to recover aircraft."
Music to my ears. While I'd only been aboard for a few months, I'd been out to sea several times working on the flight deck. I knew my way around and where I needed to be and, more importantly, where not to be.
During flight operations, there are usually around 200 personnel on the flight deck. Most of us were between 18 and 20 years old-a lot of responsibility to place on us "kids," but we'd all received training and knew what we were doing.
Books written by Andy Adkins
80th Division (WWII) Books edited by Andy Adkins
