We made it to seventy-seven! Martha on the 19th of May, and I today, the 23th. (Yes, I married an older woman.) So far, 2018 has not been a great year. My mother passed away on April 15th at the age of 98. Double pneumonia sent me to the hospital in March, and it looks like I’ll be going back there soon for a knee replacement. I have tried everything I could to avoid surgery for the knee—injections of lubricants and, finally, a stem cell injection. Unfortunately, none have worked.

The good news is that I have started on a new book. I have not yet put "pen to paper" so to speak, but the idea is there, and research has begun. I can’t be sure that I will stick to this new idea, but I’m already having fun with it. It seems that the military is rethinking its concept of leadership. The old school method has been about “drilling” into the warrior’s DNA obedience to orders and the chain of command.

Now technology is driving warfare in a new direction—one that isn’t compatible with filling the ranks with graduates of old style boot camps. Military thinkers are beginning to envision a battlefield without boots on the ground—a time when then the top gun of the air force could be a paraplegic who has never left terra firma to win the wings he or she wears.

Only time will tell where this idea leads me.

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com.
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