A Time For Patriots- Dale Brown

[Major Lord]

I went to Lake Tahoe this weekend and since it was snowing pretty hard, had plenty of time to read Dale Brown's new novel, "A Time for Patriots". I don't want to spoil anything, but lets just say that nearly anything that has started a fatal dual on this board is right in there. Cadet "Medics', law enforcement, carrying guns, drugs, shooting people, beating up FBI agents.....all by CAP and CAP members.  You are gonna love this book. Then you will go directly to hell for impure thoughts......

Major Lord

[cap235629]

reading it myself right now. So far unimpressed.

[Major Lord]

reading it myself right now. So far unimpressed.

I would say if you have expectations that CAP is going to be represented factually, you will find it disappointing, but as pure- CAP fantasy, I enjoyed it.

Major Lord

[cap235629]

I expected that but the whole McClanahan as the superhero gets old and the techno-babble that started with the Tin Men just irritates me.... I used to be a big fan but have been getting more and more disappointed as the years go on....

[DiNardo907]

Thanks for passing this along!  I'm not expecting much in the way of accuracy or reality, but how often does CAP really get mentioned in anything? lol

[tsrup]

Just checking out a few pages on Amazon:

weird, one of the news stories referenced from KDLT, is a mission that I was a part of...

[Ed Bos]

I read it. It was good, clean, silly, fun. 

[ol'fido]

I've read it and like the references to CAP in the first half of the book. Thought the latter half jumped the shark a bit, but this is a work of FICTION and not a PAO puff piece. How many times have you seen a movie that seems very realistic on the face of it and then proceeded to pick it apart when it departs from reality. "Thermo-nuclear" hand grenades, 400 rd magazines, and pistols continuing to fire with the slide locked back are the norm for movies and military fiction is the same way. It is fiction.

[EMT-83]

Does this mean that Hawaii Five-O isn't real either? I thought that's what cops did on the islands.

[Eclipse]

I've read it and like the references to CAP in the first half of the book. Thought the latter half jumped the shark a bit, but this is a work of FICTION and not a PAO puff piece. How many times have you seen a movie that seems very realistic on the face of it and then proceeded to pick it apart when it departs from reality. "Thermo-nuclear" hand grenades, 400 rd magazines, and pistols continuing to fire with the slide locked back are the norm for movies and military fiction is the same way. It is fiction.

A valid point, but seriously, on our best day our ops might be personally life changing (Challenger, 911, Katrina, etc.), but sure aren't all that "exciting"
in the Grande Scheme^®.  A wink and a nod in an otherwise realistic story is a nice acknowledgement of our efforts, but if we're talking about Die-Hard stuff like jumping motorcycles over Harriers, I'll pass.

[Major Lord]

One interesting thing I found was that they Government has all this super-cool technology of "transformers" like quality, but CAP is still flying elderly 172 and 182's! I guess even in the near science fiction future, we will still be in the dark ages; Spoiler Alert! The Butler did it!

Major Lord

[NIN]

Wait. Dale Brown writes FICTION? Son of a...

What next, you're gonna tell me the Easter Bunny ain't real?

This day is going downhill rapidly and its only 0530.

[AlphaSigOU]

Does this mean that Hawaii Five-O isn't real either? I thought that's what cops did on the islands.

Real as in the police procedures (jazzed up for Hollywood), but in reality, there is no state police organization in Hawaii, or any law enforcement organization called Five-O. 

[Cliff_Chambliss]

Years ago (I mean when dinosaurs still roamed the earth and before the USAF gave CAP all their old T-34's) I found a book in our high school library that was all Civil Air Patrol. 
  The basic story line was a major hurricane bearing down on Puerto Rico and a major evacuation was taking place.  At the end of it all there were a few CAP Cadets and some stay behinds that managed to find a derelict Constellation, get it started and then fly through the edges of the hurricane to Fl.
  Pure fantasy but for a young high schooler and CAP Cadet at the time it sure fueled many fantasies.
(Can't even remember if the CAP Cadet Aircraft Commander got the girl at the end of the story).

[RiverAux]

Other thoughts on this book:

http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=12928.msg240895#msg240895

[Eclipse]

Wait. Dale Brown writes FICTION? Son of a...

Give me a Tom Clancy any day - realistic fiction wrapped in current events (too bad he doesn't actually write much anymore)

What next, you're gonna tell me the Easter Bunny ain't real?

Let's not get crazy here, no one said anything about the EB...

[davidsinn]

Wait. Dale Brown writes FICTION? Son of a...

Give me a Tom Clancy any day - realistic fiction wrapped in current events (too bad he doesn't actually write much anymore)

I used to like Clancy's books but the last few I've read are just way to long with useless minutia thrown in. I do not need to know what a minor character had for breakfast. "Red Storm Rising" was one of his best. It took an over view approach to a late eighties war between NATO and the Soviets.

[Spaceman3750]

What next, you're gonna tell me the Easter Bunny ain't real?

I'm more concerned that they're going to say Punxsutawney Phil isn't real .

[Major Lord]

Any publicity about CAP is going to be good for us. ( We can always break their hearts and shred their souls after they have already signed up) How many Cadets joined CAP thinking they would get flight instruction? I would guess that at least half the Seniors in CAP ended up doing something other than what they thought they would be doing when recruited. Who would join the Coast Guard if they were told they would spend the first half of their career scraping and painting? Who would want to join the infantry if they were told in advance that they were not allowed to kill bad guys? Sure, Tom Clancy and Dale Brown write fiction, but if they wrote the story of the brave airman who unjammed the photocopy machine without even safety glasses, who would buy it? ( Okay, I would buy the Tom Clancy/Photocopier book on GP's anyway.....)

Major Lord

[a2capt]

What next, you're gonna tell me the Easter Bunny ain't real?

I'm more concerned that they're going to say Punxsutawney Phil isn't real .

Okay, I'll cave on Cleveland, Cincinnati and the Easter Bunny.. but...

I...I *still* ain't made up my mind yet about Toledo!