Son of the Heartland: On the Way to the Promised Land

The author traces his "checkered past" from his Iowa roots to West Point graduation and military service in Vietnam, then for almost ten years reporting on Asia from locations such as the China-Vietnam border; the "Killing Fields" inside Cambodia; the assassination in New Delhi of the late Indira Gandhi; and the last years of the Marcos regime in Manila, plus many others. His major life change occurred during a midlife crisis in 1988 when confronted like the prophet Isaiah of carrying on a lifestyle "among a people of unclean lips" and being challenged to answer the questions: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" Like Isaiah, Dave also responded, "Here am I. Send me." His memoir combines international work and diplomatic assignments with his faith witness as a lay preacher and taking part in related ministries. Readers will discover his formula for great relationships that mesh with personal growth from many dramatic encounters in his unique Christian walk. On the way to the Promised Land.

Dave began sharpening his writing craft with required essays at West Point; his military assignment in Thailand on communist insurgencies in Asia; and his work as a staff officer years later supporting principals in the Department of Defense-bookends to nearly a decade as a foreign reporter for CBS News, Newsweek magazine, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He likes the historical novels of the late James Michener and the exhaustive biography, American Caesar, by William Manchester. His favorite short novel is The Greatest Miracle in the World by the late Og Mandino, containing the priceless "God Memorandum". Dave lives in northern Virginia with his lovely wife Vasana, their two grown children, and their young and charming granddaughters, "(The Next) Queen Elizabeth" and "Princess Charlotte".