ABOUT THE BOOKFate and mysticism are woven throughout this fictional tale that begins and ends on Edisto Island, South Carolina but plays out in locations all over the world during the nineteen sixties as the characters encounter love and betrayal, physical and mental abuse, arrogance and deceit, patriotism and espionage. Despite parental abandonment, poverty, partner abuse, institutional exploitation, and the consequences of unfulfilled promises at the national level, the participants in the work triumph during their exploits. Similarities between two Secretaries of Defense, four decades apart, show how their arrogance and indifference affected the lives of the people they sent to do the grim work of killing for our country. In keeping with the title, some characters are artful dodgers while others show unparalleled patriotism despite the abuses they experience. Some of the players get deserved retribution while others escape with only a slap on the wrist as Fate makes them play out their destiny.
About the Author: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, the author grew up with pluff mud between his toes and Spanish moss in his hair. Swimming with bottlenose Atlantic Dolphin, shrimping with a four foot cast net, crabbing, and fishing with a seine for food in the tidal creeks near his home filled his childhood. After graduating from undergraduate school in three years then completing medical school in three and a half, he entered the Air Force to serve the country for over 20 years. During that time, he flew in the back seat of an F-4 with several Air Force Fighter Wings for seven years, three of which were in an F-4 Wild Weasel squadron. He has over 500 hours flying time in various aircraft with the majority in the F-4. During the last years of his military career, the author was the Consultant in Orthopaedics for the US Air Force Surgeon General and learned the inner workings of the Air Force Personnel Center. His duty locations included Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Germany, Italy, England, Southeast Asia, Turkey, Italy, Washington, DC, Florida, and Texas. This is a work of fiction. The stories many of the pilots related about their experiences in Vietnam and how they were treated after that service were used to create this book. Information reported in national publications such as the Air Force Times, the Overseas Weekly, the Stars and Stripes as well as national news media provided a number of resources to create the fictitious characters and events in the work. Names, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.