Great news! You can now pre-order my new novel, "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night Creatures!"
By pre-ordering, you are guaranteed to receive an autographed copy of my book AT LEAST one month before the official release date! You will also be helping to fund my book tour.
Please pre-order today, and spread the word! Thanks, guys!!!
Click banner for more details and to pre-order. Link will direct you to my Kickstarter page.
'Tis the season to be jolly! What better way to get into the holiday spirit than to gather around the television (or computer) with friends and family to watch your favorite Christmas movies?
I just received this e-mail from Joshua from Indie Book of the Day:
"I am contacting you on behalf of the IBD Awards. We had recently received
a nomination for your book, The Earth is a Floating Sphere and have
selected it as the Indie Book of the Day Award winner for 17th of
December, 2012."
Wow...this has been an exciting week! I am so honored!
You can purchase The Earth is a Floating Sphere for your Amazon Kindle via this link:
I would like to thank Mina Rivera from Reader's Favorite for reviewing my upcoming book, "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night Creatures." This is her review:
Casey Sean Harmon's "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night
Creatures" has the feel of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia with the
story revolving around three siblings and their dog who were pulled to
another world and immersed in a magical adventure. It is a world where
the fight between good and evil is ever present; a world called
'Everafter' where evil can be defeated by the presence of light. But how can evil be fought when, at night, the moon is nowhere to be found? Can these children save 'Everafter'?
I love Harmon's writing style. It is simple, concise, and organized.
The way he develops his story and his characters is seamless. I know
that if I have kids, this book will be one of those that I'd read over
and over again, simply because Casey Sean Harmon has been able to
effectively teach courage, compassion, generosity, trust, and most
especially love. The way Harmon ended 'Reign of the Night Creatures'
reminds the reader to value not just friends, but also family. Casey
Sean Harmon is also able to teach the reader the value of community and
teamwork; that we are not alone in solving the problems of the world and
that the people we meet are instrumental in our success.
The purpose of this post is to help prepare interested Soldiers/Officers to take that first step toward becoming a Civil Affairs Specialist/Officer. All of the information put out here is public information and their sources can be found at the bottom of this post. I hope that you will find this information both informative and inspiring.
First off, who am I?
My name is SGT Harmon, and I am an active duty Soldier currently serving as a 56M (Chaplain Assistant). About nine months ago I decided that I wanted to try something different with my Army career, and so I started researching the Special Operations side of the house. (You can find information on the different Army SP OPS branches HERE.)
The branch that immediately caught my attention was 38B (Civil Affairs). I submitted my packet, and within weeks I received a letter saying that my packet had been accepted and that I was good to move on to the next phase: CAAS (Civil Affairs Assessment and Selection.)
About seven months ago I attended and passed the rigorous 10-day selection course at Camp McCall (Fort Bragg, NC). Please do not ask me what the selection course was like, I can not give out that information. However, I will say this: Do not show up unprepared! Ask your recruiter to send you a physical fitness schedule and stick to it! The course is designed to push you to the utmost both physically and mentally. After all, you are trying to enter a component of the U.S. Army Special Operations forces!
What is Civil Affairs?
According to the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion website, "Although Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations activities
often complement each other, each battle system operates individually
in support of field commanders. Civil Affairs Soldiers are the field commander's link
to the civil authorities in his area of operations. With specialists
in every area of the government, they can assist a host government
meet its people's needs and maintain a stable and viable civil
administration." You can read the full article HERE.
Each civil affairs team is made up of a captain; a team sergeant; a team NCO, who is usually the team engineer; and the team medic. Though each has their own specialties, the members of the team are able to fill everyone else’s roles, if necessary. Teams within the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) are rapidly deployable; advise the combatant commanders or ambassadors on regional, cultural and local issues; and act as liaisons to nongovernmental agencies, information operations and U.S. government agencies. (Read more HERE).
Rank SPC-SFC. Reference packet for TIG and TIS requirements.
Must have WLC.
ASVAB TECH Score 100 or above.
PULHES 111221 or better.
Security Verification, Interim.
DLAB score of 65 or higher or current DLPT with results within 12 months if you are language qualified.
OFFICERS:
Eligible for a Top Secret security clearance under provisions of AR 380-67.
Possess a baccalaureate degree or
enrolled in the degree completion program obtaining degree no later than
the start date of qualification course.
Possess a Defense Language Aptitude
Battery (DLAB) score of 65 or above or have foreign language ability
as demonstrated by an acceptable Defense Language Proficiency Test
(DLPT) score of 1/1 or higher.
Be a YG 2010 Office.
Male and Female Officers may apply.
ALL APPLICANTS MUST:
Pass and be selected from the Civil Affairs Assessment and Selection course (Camp McCall, NC).
Be Airborne qualified or willing to volunteer for airborne training.
Possess an APFT card within 6 months (at least 70% in each event) & DA From 5500R Body fat content worksheet if needed.
If you pass Selection, your next step will be to go through the Q-course. The qualification course (or Q-course) is a pipeline that consists of:
Airborne school (if not already Airborne qualified) (3 weeks)
Introduction to CA (2 weeks)
Defense Language school (18-25 weeks)
Civil Affairs NCO Academy (11 Weeks)
CULEX (3 weeks)
Graduation (1 week)
For those of you who would like to know more about what Civil Affairs is all about (or if you have already passed Selection and are studying for the Q-course), these sources contain some really good information:
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor took
place on December 7, 1941. The base was attacked by 353 Japanese
fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six
aircraft carriers.
All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with
four being sunk. Of these eight damaged, two were raised, and with four
repaired, six battleships returned to service later in the war.
The
Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an
anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were
destroyed.
In total, 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded.
My son Liam Phillip is 4 weeks and 1 day old today. He's such a little stinker! :) He's starting to smile and make mouth noises. He's also starting to observe his surroundings more. I can't believe that he is already over a month old!
