Rick DeStefanis

Rick’s Blog

  • A Memorial Day Comment

    I saw some recent posts on the internet saying veteran support was going out of style and honoring veterans was a dying trend, especially for the younger generations—never thought of myself as a “trend,” but they might be onto something. We are dying. The World War II vets are mostly gone, and the Korean and Vietnam War vets aren’t far behind.

    Yes, it would be easy to get angry, but it would be a waste of time and energy. After all, the internet is much like a septic tank where a lot of light-weight turds float to the top and spew their progressive observations before floating away. Sorry, my writer creativity got the better of me on that one. No vitriol here, just a little sadness.

    Anyway, I believe this all started long ago when the word “hero” began to be marginalized by using it to describe dudes who could hit baseballs or dunk basketballs—harmless enough. But now, every Sunday the eulogies of those passing away roll by on the television screen listing guitar players, Hollywood actors, broadcast industry talking heads, and just about anyone other than veterans who may not have won Grammys, Emmys, or Oscars, but things that came after a much higher degree of self-sacrifice—little purple ribbons and medals that aren’t displayed in a trophy cabinet or on the fireplace mantel.

    I say this so I can say the ones who deserve recognition most are those who never came home—those who died for their country or have been eternally listed as Missing in Action. Monday is the day set aside for that purpose. Many people will attend events where headstones will be marked with flags and taps will be played. Gold Star families will visit the graves of their lost members and leave flowers. And most Americans will spend time with family and friends, attend cookouts, and enjoy a holiday that most of us know was bought with the lives of real heroes.

    Enjoy your holiday. It’s meant to be enjoyed, but when you say that prayer over the food, remember those who gave their all.

    If you happen to live in the metropolitan area of Memphis, Tennessee, The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be visiting the community of Olive Branch, Mississippi just south of there from Friday, June 5th through Sunday, June 7th. It will be displayed at the soccer complex on Church Road. Here’s a schedule of events.

  • Why fiction Instead of Non-fiction?

    January 2026 Newsletter and Blog Post

    I’ve often been asked, “Why do I write fiction instead of non-fiction?” It’s an understandable question, especially since it most often comes from my most prolific readers: active military, military veterans, and those in military families. I believe their questions arise from reading novels that are little more than pulp fiction war stories. Romanticizing combat is no better than romanticizing pornography. That is to say readers expect more facts and less sensationalism, but there’s more to it than that alone. In order to provide a better answer, I will reference another author, one of the first Americans to write about the combat experience using the format of the novel.

    That author, Stephen Crane, was one of the first to write a novel about the combat experience, not in glorified terms of noble flag-waving charges, but from the common soldier’s perspective. In his novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Crane took his readers beyond casualty reports, tactics, and surface responses of soldiers in combat by probing the depths of the soldiers’ hearts and minds. He rejected the romanticization of American Civil War battles for a more realistic perspective as seen through the eyes of his character, a Union Soldier named Henry Fleming. He portrayed the fear and confusion that accompany combat by exploring the inner emotions and psychological reactions of men facing the moral ambiguity of battle. These aspects are lacking in most non-fiction books, AARs (After Action Reports), and even in personal journals.

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    As I have with many of my characters: Brady Nash, Buck Marino, Billy Coker, Sam Walker, and others, Crane used Henry Fleming to represent the real soldiers he met and interviewed. He did this so well, veterans later praised his novel for its realism, and some even refused to believe Crane hadn’t fought. Crane never served in the military, something that makes The Red Badge of Courage all the more remarkable. His ability to show common men in uncommon circumstances is what made veterans come to appreciate the power of the novel.

    This is why you learn about my characters, before the war and after. You will also find a love interest in the form of a strong woman in almost every story. Yes, some of the stories are somewhat fanciful, but never do they sensationalize the combat experience. They don’t depict grinning men with an arm in a sling, a rifle jauntily propped on a knee, or trading high-fives, but instead peel away the facades of glory by showing men quietly returning home to pick up the pieces of their lives.

    As many of you already know, going home is a significant element in several of my novels, especially Raeford’s MVP, Valley of The Purple Hearts, and The Birdhouse Man. If you’ve read one, send me your comments. I’d like to know if you found them worthwhile. Your comments and written reviews are what keeps me writing.

     

    Click Here to See More on My Amazon Author Page

    Next month, I’ll send an update on Book #5 of the Rawlins Saga. I hope to have it published by this Spring.

    –Rick DeStefanis

     

  • Raeford’s MVP, The Rest of The Story

    Blog Post November 2025

    This is my November blog for the faithful readers who find my books worthy of your time. Actually, many of you who send me your comments and post your reviews on Amazon have revealed your recognition of the deeper messages these stories carry. God knows I spent many a night sitting around campfires with buddies, listening to gut-wrenching stories about their experiences in Vietnam, and I’ve done my very best to imbed these in my books. These were my brothers, and I listened to them reveal experiences they later refused to let me write as non-fiction. Thus came the novels—fiction in which their stories play a vital part—which takes me to Raeford’s MVP and a British reviewer’s uncanny insight into the very heart of that story.

     

    The review is posted on Amazon’s Great Britain website by a reader who recognized the true revelations buried beneath the somewhat fanciful story called Raeford’s MVP. Yes, the book is racy and entertaining, but this man saw the surface story as the ’emperor’s clothes’ and merely a way of telling a much deeper story about the human condition, the reality of war, brotherhood, and the true angst of Vietnam War Veterans. At the very heart of it though, as this man clearly wrote in his review, it is a story about love.

     

    Billy Coker, a kid from rural Mississippi, is my banner bearer for this story that probes deeply into the experiences of combat veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. And if you are suddenly thinking “No PTSD for me! It isn’t something I want to read about.” Think Again.

     

    Read the reviews. I don’t think the subject of PTSD could have been better exhibited without showing it through both the uproarious humor and the agony of my character, Billy Coker. Reader comments about crying and laughing out loud on the same page are real. Raeford’s MVP  is Book #1 of the series: Rising from the Ashes — Battles Beyond Vietnam,  and has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 Stars.

     

    This book tells the story of PTSD in a way that draws in readers and shows them the heart-wrenching truth in an entertaining manner that holds their interests. Billy was a loyal soldier who took care of his men, only to be left searching for meaning in his experiences after he left Vietnam. And unlike where failure is all too often the case, in the end Billy finds redemption through love.

     

    Because I know you must be asking how you can see it, here’s the review from my reader in the UK: Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2024 and Posted on Amazon.com.

     

    “5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, meaningful, funny, painful

     

    This is a story of physical and emotional trauma, both of which are cured by love. The main character is just cool enough to be tolerated at the fringe of the coolest beings in his high school year. He’s also sensitive enough to despise them and empathize with those who definitely don’t fit the model. He’s friendly with one plain, overweight, girl but limits his friendliness to ensure that it doesn’t wreck his “cool enough” status. This cynicism is offset by an awareness and self-disapproval of his behavior and a complete ignorance that what he offers is more than enough and even highly valued.


    His strength of character and empathy for those close around him are further challenged and developed in Vietnam. He’s brave to the point of heroism, selfless and committed to his group and, ultimately, these qualities lead to self-isolation in the aftermath of his service.
    There are periods in the book when it seems unrelievedly dark and hopeless, and I found I had to read it slowly, in small bites. The sensitivity and empathy are choked by cynicism and an extreme sense of personal unworthiness that can be hard to take.
    A long time ago, I read a book called “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”. It left a mark on me and this book has, too. It has a similar narrative quality with a sense of personal agony that, perversely, illuminates the story rather than choking it. It’s so well written. It describes issues which we still struggle with today and probably always will. And through it all, there’s a love that is selfless, unrestrained in its quality yet restrained in its application – a most “loving” sort of love.
    It’s one of the very best books I’ve read, and I hope everyone who sees it on the shelf picks it up and also reads it.”

     

    Share this with a friend and send me your comments. Meanwhile, here’s a link to the book on Amazon:

    https://www.amazon.com/Raefords-MVP-Vietnam-War-Book-ebook/dp/B01ANXHX80