Broken Pieces

Jack Canon's American Destiny

Author Interview – Yvonne Jones @yvijones

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?

“Whatever you can do (or dream you can), begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

I just love this one. A) because it’s from the German poet Goethe, and B)because I absolutely agree with it. If you have a dream, you need to work toward it. If you don’t take that first step, you’ll never get there. No dream, no goal is ever too big. The key is to actually start walking toward its accomplishment. “Von nichts kommt nichts,” what we would say in Germany.

If you could leave your readers with one piece of wisdom, what would you want it to be?

Stay close to your military family, for they truly need you!

What is the purpose of your book “Closing the Gap: Understanding Your Service(wo)man?

The book’s title is “Closing The Gap: Understanding Your Serviceman” (woman). Its principal purpose is to reconnect military families with their non-military friends and family members. It is meant to help civilians learn more about the life within the military to better understand their own service member.

Fact is that there currently is a big divide between those who protect our freedoms and those who are being protected.

The book is meant to be part of a much bigger plan or picture: While I obviously do not have any high-profile impact on any decision makers, I do have access to everyday citizens. I believe that the key approach in closing this gap should be to utilize and strengthen the connections that ALREADY exist between the military and civilian worlds: the connections between military families and their OWN extended non-military families and non-military friends; which, in turn, might extend to a better understanding within the entire population.

Are there really differences between Military Families and Civilian Families?

I have seen and read through a L-O-T of forums that were trying to answer this very question. People get really passionate when it comes to defining themselves.

I personally believe that we, as military families, ARE different from non-military families, whether this difference is acknowledged or not. Different in many aspects, but mainly in the burdens we carry and the sacrifices we make as an entity, and we are simply different in the way we live.

What responses have you had from readers whose eyes were opened to the realities of military life?

I’ve had such wonderful responses so far. The book was published right after our last move here to Tampa, so I didn’t really know anybody here outside of the military. So, I met this wonderful civilian woman, who had just moved to Tampa herself. After she heard that I wrote a book about military life, she was very eager to read it and later stated that she was so glad she did, mainly because it addressed so many issues that she would have never thought to ask about. Through the reading she became aware of our differences as well as our similarities. I am really good friends with her now, and I truly believe it’s because of this book. It laid out our way of life in such a way, that she could better relate to me and my family.

Another example is this very beautiful email I received from an aunt of someone in the military. And she basically thanked me for opening her eyes to all the issues a military family goes through during a deployment. Most Americans DO realize to some extent how hard it is to be separated from your loved ones, but can’t truly comprehend the DAILY challenges a service member and his or her family has to go through for such prolonged periods of time.

Of course, I’ve also received some emails from readers that are either military spouses or in the military themselves. I’ve actually gotten a lot of responses from foreign-born military spouses and also military widows, thanking me for having included them in the book and drawing some attention to their specific issues they have to face in the military.

This book has been very well received so far. And I’m hoping I’m able to reach many more, because I truly believe that it can help in closing this gap that currently exists between our military and civilian worlds.

Closing The Gap

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Military Family

Rating – G

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Yvonne Jones on Facebook

Website http://www.understandingyourserviceman.com/

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