Silent Drums: Adapt, Improvise, Overcome! - Softcover

Daniels, Pam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1534843582 ISBN 13: 9781534843585

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

"Eye-opening, hard-hitting, and an excellent, compelling read; this book will prove hard to put down, cultivating an intense roller coaster of emotions designed to involve readers not just in social or military issues; but in the perspectives of individual lives. Four years before the Stonewall riots, one Bob LeBlanc informed Marine Corps investigators "you have no right to ask" when they asked if he was homosexual. He did so again a year before Stonewall. In 1975, for the first time in American history, a federal judge issued a restraining order against the U.S. Military to halt the court martial of Bob for allegedly being gay. Bob's final legal fights with the Marines in 1975 and 1976 would fuel the fledgling gay rights movement throughout the U.S., which has evolved into today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement - and yet until the publication of Silent Drums, these facts themselves were buried. It can be said that Bob LeBlanc is the Rosa Parks of today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement." - Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review - Winning marriage equality was barely the tip of the iceberg. "Silent Drums: Adapt, Improvise, Overcome!" reminds us of the sacrifices made in the past that we must build on well into the future because LGBTQ people still face often harsh discrimination in many states for employment, housing and medical care. Bob LeBlanc began fighting discrimination in 1965 as a Marine before, during and after 2 Combat tours in Vietnam... now he’s also battling terminal cancer caused by his exposure to Agent Orange. Bob's life spans the entire length of the LGBTQ civil rights movement and directly involves U. S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who in 1975, for the first time in U.S. history as a judge on the 9th circuit court of appeals issued a restraining order that stopped the Marine Corps from dishonorably discharging him for being Gay; but that didn’t come close to ending his personal struggle for full equality. Bob’s and husband Julio’s story will inspire you to fight ignorance and bigotry! Pam Daniels

About this title

About the Author

Pam Daniels (1955 -) was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. Her professional life spans four decades in broadcast journalism and multimedia. *** Pam donates part of her royalties to LGBTQ Civil Rights groups *** Pam hosts “RockTimeWarp” on her YouTube channel to promote her books and activism. She created, produced and nationally syndicated RTW on both FM and Internet radio with nearly 50 hours of programming in 2008 and ‘09. The global financial meltdown forced her to cease production and distribution so she’s repackaging the content. RockTimeWarp features 6 decades and counting of great rock, artist interviews, comedy bits and song lyrics. Prior to RTW Pam was an anchor and reporter for NBC radio news in New York City at both the network and local level. In television, she worked as a field producer and writer for WWOR-TV Channel 9 in New Jersey covering the New York metropolitan area. She also was the founding News Director at News Jersey’s largest radio station. Aside from journalism, Pam developed software and was a communications engineer. As a certified engineer, she built and managed a small market radio station in Arizona. Pam later went on to serve as the Director of Radio and Television for a New Jersey Governor. Inspired by the writings of John Steinbeck, Pam turned to writing as a medium for activism. She is a proud grandparent who happens to be transgender and an Eagle Scout. Pam is the first transgender woman to serve on the Board of Governors for the historic New Jersey Federation of Republican Women.

Review

"It can be said that Bob LeBlanc is the Rosa Parks of today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement... Eye-opening, hard-hitting, and an excellent, compelling read... this book will prove hard to put down... Very highly recommended, Silent Drums is a portrait of courage operating on more than one level, and deserves a medal for its in-depth research achievements!" - Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review -(Diane's Review Continues!)"Four years before the Stonewall riots, one Bob LeBlanc informed Marine Corps investigators "you have no right to ask" when they asked if he was homosexual. He did so again a year before Stonewall. In 1975, for the first time in American history, a federal judge issued a restraining order against the U.S. Military to halt the court martial of Bob for allegedly being gay. Bob's final legal fights with the Marines in 1975 and 1976 would fuel the fledgling gay rights movement throughout the U.S., which has evolved into today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement - and yet until the publication of Silent Drums, these facts themselves were buried. Silent Drums: Adapt, Improvise, Overcome! is thus a military saga like few others, tackling overcoming adversity at the most unexpected of places: among the Marine Corps ranks. It centers on LBGT rights, gay marriage, and the experiences of one military man who struggled not on the battlefield against enemies, but against his own peers and an establishment which discriminated against gays long before "don't ask/don't tell" policies were enacted. The biography of Robert Lyle LeBlanc is provided in the form of descriptions that read with the vividness of fiction and the immediacy of a social issues discussion, reaching beyond the usual nonfiction approach to immerse readers in a piece of military history that stems from one man's actions and an organization's changes. It remains true to its research roots, however. Pam Daniels spent three and a half years researching and confirming where Bob LeBlanc was during his two combat tours in Vietnam, before spending four and a half years writing, editing and publishing Silent Drums. The book incorporates scans from actual Marine Corp documents, and even adds some of the reports he dictated to HQ during the fierce battles he was part of. This is not to say that military action isn't a part of the story. Bob faced battles, struggles, life-changing brushes with death, and, forty years later, a witch-hunt affecting his service as a military policeman that seemed to belay everything he battled for and believed in, in his life. Bob put his life on the line in Vietnam, serving his country. Now, at home, he puts his heart on the line and faces an enemy even more deadly than the Viet Cong. Silent Drums exposes an aspect of military involvement that too commonly is hidden from the eye. Bob's story moves deftly between past and present experience as he faces various challenges in his life both within and outside the military, and as he fights the ban on gays in the military before the policy of "don't ask/don't tell" became established. Silent Drums is not a singular story in any respect. It's not straight biography, military history, fiction or social probe; but incorporates all these elements in a powerful, hard-hitting and solid work of journalism designed to give readers much food for thought and insights on a relatively little-known aspect of military history and processes. This story of how a Vietnam Marine fought anti-gay attitudes in the military should be on the reading lists of anyone concerned about gay rights history in general and military culture in particular. It's eye-opening, hard-hitting, and compelling reading that will prove hard to put down, cultivating an intense roller coaster of emotions designed to involve readers not just in social or military issues; but in the perspectives of individual lives."

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1534843582
• ISBN 13: 9781534843585
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 340