Release of the Book

(I-Newswire) November 11, 2009 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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My Last War—A Vietnam Veteran’s Tour in Iraq

Author & veteran tells story of his C.O.B.R.A. Team during Operation Iraqi Freedom

Winter Springs, Florida – Central Florida police officer Charles M. Grist is one of the few Vietnam veterans to have served as an enlisted soldier in the Iraq war. In 2004, he volunteered to be the sergeant-in-charge of the Protective Service Detail for an Army Reserve general in Baghdad. Based on the detailed war journal he kept during his service in Iraq, and coupled with his experiences that began a generation ago in Vietnam, Grist completed his own war journey by writing the new book My Last War: A Vietnam Veteran’s Tour in Iraq (published by iUniverse).

“In My Last War, I am able to share my team’s story from the unique perspective of a Vietnam veteran still serving as a soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom,” explains Grist. “During my first war in Vietnam, I served with extraordinary warriors; in my last war in Iraq, I was proud to serve with their sons and daughters.”

Grist used his daily journal to tell the story of his C.O.B.R.A. team’s wartime experiences, documenting the events that shaped Iraq in 2004 and preserving the heroic deeds of some of the Army Reserve and National Guard warrior-citizens with whom he served. Based inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, Grist and his team’s mission with the general led them along the deadly roads of Baghdad, to the throne of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and through the picturesque hills of Kurdistan. It was a fast-paced life of high adventure, filled with convoys, mortar or rocket attacks, and the constant threat of ambushes or improvised explosive devices.

Grist's personal mission in Iraq could only succeed if the general and the men of the C.O.B.R.A. Team returned safely to their families. To survive their tour, these American warriors needed all of their skills, a lot of luck, and an unswerving dedication to each other.

My Last War is also a tribute to Vietnam veterans, as Grist hopes they will able to see that their service was indeed appreciated – even decades later. For the veterans of Iraq, Grist writes with the hope that Americans will understand what wonderful differences American troops have made in the lives of innocent Iraqi citizens. Grist concludes with the hope that American leaders will always exhaust every other option before committing American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines to war. He also believes that the only acceptable end to any war involving our troops is victory.

About the Author — Charles M. (Chuck) Grist is a master police officer in Central Florida who retired from the Army Reserve in 2009. Enlisting for the first time in 1968, Grist was commissioned a year later as a second lieutenant at the age of twenty. He graduated from the Army's Airborne and Ranger Courses and served in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division. After a long break in service, Grist reenlisted in the Army Reserve as a sergeant and volunteered for service in Iraq in 2004. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida and has been married to his wife, Debbie, for over thirty-five years. They are the parents of four children and the grandparents of three little girls and one little Ranger.


My Last War: A Vietnam Veteran’s Tour in Iraq
Available from: www.iUniverse.com, www.bn.com, and www.amazon.com
October 2009 · 6 x 9 · 308 pages
Paperback · ISBN: 9781440152689 · $21.95
Dust Jacket Hardcover · ISBN: 9781440152702 · $31.95

About My Last War: A Vietnam Veteran's Tour in Iraq:
A veteran of both Vietnam and Operation Iraqi Freedom tells the story of his C.O.B.R.A. Team, documents the events that shaped Iraq in 2004, and describes the extraordinary deeds of America's citizen-soldiers of the Reserves and National Guard.

Company Contact Information
My Last War: A Vietnam Veteran's Tour in Iraq
Charles M. Grist
P.O. Box 197032
Winter Springs, Florida
32719
Phone : 407-956-0717