Honoring U.S. Military Dead: Episode 5 of Season 2 of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES

Episode 5 of Season 2 of Lifetime Television’s ARMY WIVES dealt with a very serious topic – the commitment of the U.S. to find and bring home the remains of Americans missing in action of past conflicts.

And those of you who have read the non-fiction book on which the series is based – Tanya Biank’s ARMY WIVES – will understand the poignancy of Trevor’s radio talk remarks about the people who go to the far corners of the world looking for these remains. (No spoiler alert – you’ll have to read the non-fiction book yourself.)

In this episode there are a lot of mentions of JPAC – the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Below is JPAC’s mission as reported on the official U.S. military website www.jpac.pacom.mil

The mission of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation's past conflicts. The highest priority of the organization is the return of any living Americans that remain prisoners of war. To date, the U.S. government has not found any evidence that there are still American POWs in captivity from past U.S. conflicts.

JPAC is located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The command was activated on Oct. 1, 2003, created from the merger of the 30-year-old U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, and the 11-year-old Joint Task Force - Full Accounting. Commanded by a flag officer, JPAC is manned by approximately 400 handpicked Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Department of the Navy civilians. The laboratory portion of JPAC, referred to as the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL), is the largest forensic anthropology laboratory in the world.

JPAC also maintains three permanent overseas detachments, each commanded by a lieutenant colonel, to assist with command and control, logistics and in-country support during investigation and recovery operations. They are Detachment One located in Bangkok, Thailand, Detachment Two in Hanoi, Vietnam and Detachment Three in Vientiane, Laos. JPAC has a fourth detachment, Detachment Four, located at Camp Smith, Hawaii, responsible for recovery team personnel when they are not deployed.

In episode 5 of ARMY WIVES an enlisted woman (the mother of two young sons) has to decide whether she will attend the memorial service for the remains of the birth father she never knew. While she is unsure what to do, her father’s Vietnam army buddies are relieved that, after 35 years, they can finally honor their comrade.

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army wives, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, JPAC, Lifetime Television, Mrs. Lieutenant, Tanya Biank

Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES Season 2 Premiere – What Did You Think?

For two days I’ve been mulling over what I thought of the season 2 premiere of the popular Lifetime television series ARMY WIVES, which is based on Tanya Biank’s nonfiction book by the same name.

To be honest, the episode didn’t work for me. Yes, I understand that in order to create suspense throughout the entire hour of the show certain things were revealed in a specific sequence. (I’m not saying what in case you haven’t gotten to see the episode yet.)

What bothered me was the over-the-top commentary of Pamela on her radio show “Have At It.” Her commentary kept yanking me out of the story and into an annoying mood – “Get on with the show!” I wanted to shout each time Pamela began her long, drawn-out ramblings.

It will be interesting to see whether the next episode also depends on Pamela’s running commentary, or whether the show’s writers will decide to write action scenes instead of lines for an audio podcast.

Does anyone agree or disagree with me?

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army wives, Lifetime, season 2 premiere, Tanya Biank

Virtual Book Tour; Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES; Ft. Knox Reporter

Check out the backstory of MRS. LIEUTENANT at http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/backstory/2008/05/may-4-1970-oh-1.html/ and also my guest blog at www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com on this Day 3 of the MRS. LIEUTENANT virtual book tour.

Leave a comment at www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com to be entered into a drawing sponsored by Pump Up Your Book Promotion. For more stops on my blog trail, visit www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com.

Last night I watched – courtesy of Lifetime’s website – the first season finale of Lifetime’s wildly popular tv series ARMY WIVES, based on the non-fiction book by Tanya Biank. I wanted to be prepared for the second season premier this Sunday, June 8.

After the cliffhanger ending, vignettes of each of the main characters were featured. I particularly responded to the voice over that these women were from different classes and cultures and yet had one thing in common – THEY FELL IN LOVE WITH A SOLDIER.

And that’s exactly what MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL is about – four very different women whose one thing in common is falling in love with a soldier. (ARMY WIVES and MRS. LIEUTENANT are both set against the background of unpopular U.S. wars – Afghanistan/Iraq and Vietnam, respectively.)

And I was just interviewed by Josh Coffman of The News-Enterprise in Kentucky about MRS. LIEUTENANT, which takes place in 1970 at Ft. Knox. I’m looking forward to reading his article because his news beat is Ft. Knox. (The above-mentioned backstory guest post describes my time at Ft. Knox.)

Coffman asked me what relevance my novel had today for women whose husbands are being deployed now. My response: The novel’s underlying theme of sisterhood – of women bonding together to get through a difficult time – has as much relevance today as it did in 1970.

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army wives, officers wives, officers wife, virtual book tour, Vietnam War, Mrs. Lieutenant, Iraq War, Ft. Knox, The News-Enterprise, Lifetime, Tanya Biank, Pump Up Your Book Promotion,