As a tribute, here is a message from AJ Tata, which can be found starting off SUDDEN THREAT. I thought it only right:
In Memory of:
Command Sergeant Major Jerry Lee Wilson
Captain Bill Jacobsen
Major Doug Sloan
This book is dedicated to the memory of three soldiers killed in combat, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. These men are role models for all of us.
CSM Jerry Wilson was command sergeant major during my last six months of command of the Second Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Jerry, a tall, strong man from Thomson, Georgia, was killed in Mosul, Iraq, in 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jerry’s heart was as large as he was tall, and as I said at his funeral in Thomson, we must all endeavor to earn his sacrifice.
Bill, who also served with me in the 101st Airborne Division, was killed the next year during the devastating attack on the dining facility near Mosul, Iraq, while serving as a Stryker Brigade company commander. Bill was a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Mormon who loved his soldiers. In the streets of Mosul, he was an icon among both his troops and the Iraqi people. He was the best officer with whom I have served. Speaking with Bill’s wife and their four boys at his funeral near Charlotte, North Carolina, I again vowed to live up to the sacrifice of the many good men and women who were fighting both in combat and on the home front.
Doug served with me in the Eighty-second Airborne Division and Tenth Mountain Division and was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2006, three months after he was scheduled to leave company command, but his soldiers
had asked their commander to keep him in place. Kneeling in front of Doug’s rifle, helmet, smiling photo, and identification tags at his memorial service in Konar Province, Afghanistan, on a crystal clear day amidst the towering Hindu Kush, I wept, proud of Doug’s courage and the fact that he had achieved the highest praise a man can seek: subordinates who demanded his leadership.
Jerry, Bill, and Doug were the kinds of leaders soldiers loved to follow. They were selfless men who courageously and valiantly answered the call to duty. Men and women like them are not uncommon in our military. Indeed, they are a reflection of our society and the values of our nation.
The sacrifices of these men should galvanize all of us to recognize the reality that, indeed, freedom is not free, and we have enemies who seek to destroy our way of life.
And if you’ve read this far and don’t turn another page, that’s okay by me. Google Jerry, Bill, and Doug, and you will understand the sentiment that these men stirred in those around them. If you choose to read on, this work of fiction attempts to capture the grittiness of combat against a realistic geopolitical backdrop. Any thriller must have a stage on which to play out, and that stage must be based on current events. In addition to the disclaimer that this book is, in its entirety, fiction, including all of its characters, I want to add that Sudden Threat’s only purpose is to entertain. It is not a political statement and in no way, shape or form represents any official opinion of the government. Sudden Threat is the first in a series of books that follows the paths of two brothers, Matt and Zachary Garrett, CIA paramilitary operative and U.S. Army officer, respectively.
As for me, I am a soldier. I believe in and endeavor daily to accomplish the country’s strategic aims, I despise and have fought the enemies of our nation, and I know the threat we face.
Late at night, as thoughts of combat and training spin through my mind, I’m always left with the images of Jerry, Bill, and Doug. So, if I’ve been able to capture a little bit of the qualities of men such as these in the characters of the main protagonists, then I will have succeeded.
Thank you, and stay safe on this weekend of reflection. That is all.
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