Last week (11/10/11) I again had the honor of speaking at The US Air Force Academy to a class of cadets in the Behavioral Sciences department. The classes were taught by Professor Wilbur J. Scott, author of Vietnam Veterans Since the War.
Dr. Scott is a professor of sociology and hightly decorated Vietnam Veteran. The course was titled Military and Society, and my book, The Second Tour, was used in the final section called “Aftermath,” designed to demonstrate some of the effects of war on individuals and, by extension, society in general.
I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more, nor asked for a better response. As usual, the students, the professor, and other members of the faculty were all fabulous. They were respectful and courteous to a fault, and just downright fun to be around. Several asked questions that got to the heart of the book and, thus, to me.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier news reports, this opportunity has been an absolute honor and award for me personally. Our nation’s Top Gun cadets in the Air Force were exposed to the ground-war perspective of both myself and my book’s narrator, a low-level Marine. Dr. Scott’s is an unusual and perhaps unprecedented teaching approach for the educational benefit of our future Air Force leadership.
I am very hopeful I’ll be invited back for a fifth time, for the 2012 Fall semester.