IS THERE A CHAIN OF COMMAND IN YOUR LIFE? ...

Hi, All,

Today I am spicing up my blog with a intriguing interview with Lt. Noah Hutchins: a Navy Seal. He tells us about his life as a Seal and about the reporter who companied him in his active duty. This will be something to really sink your teeth into on this mid winter Hump Day. I hope you enjoy this new feature.

MD: "Welcome Lieutenant. I appreciate your time. I know how busy life is in the Military. My father was a Sergeant in the army."

Lt. N: "Thank you, Michael. I didn't know you were a military brat."

MD: "Yes, Sir." I salute.  "Now, how did you first decide to go into the military?"

Lt. N: "It was all I’d ever wanted to do, really.  I grew up watching Top Gun, and I thought those guys were awesome.  Then, one day when I was about eight or nine, I saw a PBS special on the Navy SEALs.  I loved the water.  I think I swam before I ever walked.  From then on, the SEALs weren’t an option.  They were a destination."

MD: "Fascinating. I did do some digging, and I wondered what were your first thoughts upon reading McKenzie McClendon’s article about you and your former partner in the New York Herald?"

Lt. N: "I sincerely doubt you want me to use that sort of language on your blog, here, Michael."

MD: I raise a brow. "Right.  Well, let’s go with this then: what made you go to talk to McKenzie herself rather than going to a rival newspaper or suing her for libel?"

Lt. N: "I’m not really the suing type, man.  I didn’t want to look like some whiny pansy-boy who got his feelings hurt.  I wanted things done.  I could’ve gone to a rival paper, sure, but McKenzie was obviously bold enough to say what she did.  She made me mad enough that I wanted to see if she could hock it to my face.  I hate passive-aggressiveness, so nothing pleased me more than the idea of setting the record straight while at the same time forcing her to put a face with the name she was so willing to hide behind a computer and blast."

MD: "I admire your ethics. So few people have them in our SUE-happy country. So, what was travelling with McKenzie like?"  

Lt. N: "Exhausting at times.  She has this weird habit of wanting to know where we’re going, when we’re going there, and what our plan is when we arrive.  I kept trying to tell her the details of the trip were on a need to know basis, but that didn’t stop the incessant questions.  I guess that’s what I get for travelling with a reporter.  At other times, having her along for the ride was both exhilarating and practical at the same time.  When you get past the whole “I’m nosier than an anteater on steroids” thing, the girl’s got spunk and smarts, and she’s fun to be around.  She’s cute, too, if you like that petite, ankle-biter type.  I was glad she tagged along, because having an extra set of hands was useful a couple of times.  Literally."

MD: "Yes, I can well understand that. Plus she does have a certain charm. Doesn't she? 

Lt. N: He nodded. "Yes, in a way."

MD: "In the article, it says you hadn’t spoken to your former partner in the SEALs for years.  Why then were you so convinced he hadn’t changed since you knew him and that he couldn’t possibly be responsible for the vice president’s assassination?"

Lt. N: "Cody was always such a laid back guy, and he was like a brother to me. He sure as hell hadn't become an assassin for hire. And it wasn't who he was to me that made me think so. It was the kind of guy I knew he was.  You don’t sleep next to a guy on a cliff ledge in a mountain range in enemy territory without knowing his stripes.  Cody believed in ethics and morals, and he was the kind of guy you’d trust to throw himself in front of a train if it meant no one else would get hit.  He wouldn’t so readily take away a nation’s leader—someone’s husband, father—for money, even if it was millions.  Money wasn’t a thing to him at all.  Before we were in the SEALs together, he used to work flipping burgers at a fast food joint just because it was the only job he could get that allowed him enough time to get home to spend with his terminally ill father, and I think every dime he made went straight to his old man’s hospital bills.  When he came back, as far as I know, he made a living tending bar and bussing tables.

MD: "You certainly convinced me. So why didn’t you two talk after you got back from Afghanistan, if he was such a great dude?"

Lt. N: "Wow.  Tough question.  We didn’t—well, we didn’t talk because we were both just ready to close that chapter of our lives, you know?  We lived on opposite sides of the country, and in our line of work, doing what we did, it’s better to not draw attention to yourselves or what you used to do, which hanging out together might do.  We kept in touch occasionally over e-mails, caught up by phone a couple times a year, but mostly, we would rather not see each other both for our mutual protection and because when we talked, it made us remember."

MD: "An honest, heartfelt answer. Thank you, Lieutenant for stopping by my blog." I salute him again.

Lt. N: You're welcome, Michael. Anytime.

Had you going for a while, didn't I? LOL. Lieutenant Noah Hutchins is the main character in author,  Colby Marshall's debut international thriller novel, CHAIN OF COMMAND.

Here's the blurb: 

"The first chapter will shock you--and the shocks keep right on coming. Colby Marshall has written a book that deserves to be called THRILLER."--R.L. Stine, New York Times bestselling author of Red Rain, The Haunting Hour, and the Goosebumps series

I hope you will get a chance to drop by Colby's blog and wish her well. She plans to drop in and out all day if you have any questions for her. Here are all the links for everything. Have a great day everyone. 

Chain of command is currently available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/c36b6ja

Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/abynbjz

Directly from publisher: www.stairwaypress.com/bookstore

Also available on KoBo, iBooks, Sony, and other major e-readers.

Check out the official book trailer for CHAIN OF COMMAND: http://tinyurl.com/auye6bb

Colby's website: www.colbymarshall.com