Böcker i I Guess I Just Wasn't Thinking-serien

The summer of 64—the height of the Cold War! You will gain a new respect (or frightening concern) for the military component of our foreign policy. Marine captain Roger Yahnke is assigned as a nuclear weapons delivery pilot aboard a US supercarrier.  He is assigned his own aircraft, his own bomb, and his own target—an Eastern Bloc city that he will vaporize should the Russians launch one ballistic missile westward (or someone somewhere think they did). Standby for compelling (some mirthful, some tragicΓÇòall engaging) shipboard events. But that’s nothing compared to what happens when he’s ashore!  In each exciting port of call—though certainly not God-gifted with the flair it should take, he somehow cobbles the élan to meet newer, grander, and more exciting people; is invited to their secret haunts and becomes involved in scenarios he never dreamt existed. From the bronzed and oiled hedonism of the Cote d’Azur beaches, to bargaining with the KGB in an abandoned house in Bulgaria; from a jail cell in Istanbul where he spends the night with an international film star, to a sunny veranda on the island of Rhodes where he lunches with an exiled king, The French Riviera, Leo, June, and Big Trouble recounts Roger’s baptism to another world and his desperate struggle with his own crippling dilemma. The cruise ends, but not soon enough. Roger has gotten the scent and is forever altered.Although the value of the series could well rest on the merits of the unnerving escapades, exciting venues, and intriguing characters, above all and throughout it is a compelling tale of one man’s battle with an embarrassing shortcoming; an honest (and ultimately shocking) account of a uniquely driven life. 

Based on their daring, dubious and disjointed nature, one could easily conclude a complete lack of forethought was responsible for Roger's head-shaking array of adult activities. These included a proud beginning as a USMC carrier-based pilot, being hired by the CIA, flying missions for foreign governments, and other improvident (but apparently gallant) deeds that resulted in him appearing in TV documentaries and having his photo show up in weekly news magazines. His increasingly questionable ventures provided brief residences worldwide, including everything from a bougainvillea-draped cottage on the French Riviera to a bamboo cage in Laos.Instead of Skipping Stones is the unlikely prelude to his future duplicitous global adventures. It is a collection of innocent and endearing admissions; a fresh and confidentially narrated pre-teen to adult memoir. The reader will be caught up in a succession of delicate, weighty, and progressively more thought-provoking scenarios. He or she will find themselves smiling or wincing at Roger's adolescent doubts, conclusions, and best guess responses; up to and including his almost happenstance choice of a life's work.But there's an imperfect motive; one he might have divulged earlier, except as a younger man its humbling admission would have been much too effacing. It was not until his mid-fifties that he realized one lone flaw was the genesis of all his life choices. Only in the final chapters does the reader get a glimpse of the shortcoming that will unknowingly be the reason for Roger's repeated overly zealous and risky, future undertakings. Wives and girlfriends will discover the explanations for their husband's or boyfriend's misdeeds may have been diametrically misunderstood.In sharing with you his youthful aspirations, efforts and misgivings, Roger's earnest hope is to gain some credibility and maybe even a bit of affection, before later disappointing you with a surprising string of selfish, inconsiderate, and unfortunately-occasionally illegal activities.