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2010 Book of the Year
Ride the Thunder: A Vietnam War Story of
Honor and Triumph authored by former Major Richard Botkin, USMC, is the Military-Writers.com
Book of the Year.
Former United States
Marine Corps Major Richard Botkin “graduated from the University of Michigan's School of Business. He served
from 1980 to 1995 on active and reserve duty as a Marine Corps infantry officer with units to include 2nd Battalion 7th Marines,
1st Reconnaissance Battalion, and 4th Force Reconnaissance Company. His understanding for Southeast Asia has been enhanced
by the nine medical/dental mission trips he helped to organize and lead to Cambodia between 1998 and 2007, and four trips
to Vietnam, including one with his main Vietnamese character Le Ba Binh, to specifically do research for Ride the Thunder.
Richard Botkin currently lives with his family in northern California, where he is an investment advisor
for a major brokerage firm.” Richard Botkin is the author of Ride the Thunder: A Vietnam War Story of Honor and
Triumph.
According to the book description of Ride the
Thunder: A Vietnam War Story of Honor and Triumph, “Richard Botkin breaks new ground in telling the heroic story of a few American and Vietnamese Marines
who fought brilliantly and turned the tide of the Vietnam War, only to have policymakers surrender the battlefield. Botkin recounts the exploits
of the American Marines and their Vietnamese allies who were largely responsible for thwarting the North Vietnamese invasion
of the northern portions of South Vietnam - known as the 'Easter Offensive of 1972' in the West that was intended to bring
the nation to its knees. These are the men who 'rode the thunder' and almost saved a nation. Botkin tells the story of Captain
John Ripley's daring raid to destroy the Dong Ha Bridge; Major Le Ba Binh and his seven hundred Marines bravely holding off
more than 20 thousand North Vietnamese troops; Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Turley's leadership and bravery that helped thwart the Easter Offensive - and much more.”
2009 Book of the Year
Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch, United States Marine Corps (ret.) was awarded
the Military-Writers.com 2009 Book of the Year for his book, Once a Marine.
On April 7, 2004, during the First Battle of Fallujah, Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch
“was wounded in action. During a firefight with enemy insurgents, he was struck in the head by an enemy Rocket Propelled
Grenade, fired from a rooftop into the commander’s hatch of his tank. He received numerous shrapnel wounds.” His
injuries necessitated the removal of his right eye; and, “his remaining eye was legally blind. His right ear and nose
sustained significant damage and an implant was placed in his skull.”
In his book, Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s
Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery, Nick Popaditch describes how at first he “fights to get back
to where he was in Iraq - in the cupola of an M1A1 main battle tank, leading Marines in combat at the point of the spear.
As the seriousness and permanence of his disabilities become more evident, Nick Popaditch fights to remain in the Corps in
any capacity, to help the brothers in arms he so aches to rejoin. Facing the inevitable following a medical retirement, he
battles for rightful recognition and compensation for his permanent disabilities. Throughout his harrowing ordeal, Nick Popaditch
fights to maintain his honor and loyalty, waging all these battles the same way - the Marine way.
2007 Book of the Year
Using poker as analogy for leadership, Captain
Andrew Harvey, CPD (ret.), Ed.D. and Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.),
MPA found the right mix of practical experience and academic credentials to
write a definitive book for leaders. Working together, Harvey and Foster have
written Leadership: Texas Hold em Style.
Most often leaders find they are given a set of resources people, equipment,
funds, experience and a mission. As Foster noted, You are dealt a certain hand.
How you play that hand as a leader determines your success
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More than a
book:
A fun and entertaining journey
through leadership that includes an interactive website to supplement
knowledge gained from the book.
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Proven and
Tested:
Not an academic approach to
leadership, but rather a road-tested guide that has been developed through
50-years of author experience.
-
High Impact: Through
the use of perspective, reflection, and knowledge, provides information that
turns leadership potential into leadership practice.
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Ease of
Application: Theory
is reinforced with real-life experience, which results in accessible and
practical tools leaders can put to use
immediately.
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High Road
Approach:
Personal character and ethical
beliefs are woven into each leadership approach, so leaders do the
right thing for the
right reasons.
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Uses Game of
Poker:
Rather than a dry approach that is all fact and no flavor, the game of poker
is used as a lens through which to view leadership concepts.
Find out more about Annual Recognition
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