Reflections of a Beret signed

Steven Bates, USAF, has put together a variety of his poems written through his career and deployments as well as his personal life and suicide attempts. It is his hope that somewhere in this book one of his poems will strike a chord in another person and help him or her through a very tough or precarious situation in their life and help them to also realize they are not alone in their struggle. His poems are merely about things seen and heard, by himself or others, throughout his life as he wore his beret, thus they are, simply, Reflections of a Beret.

Steven Bates' connection to the Air Force and the military has been life long. He is the son of a retired Chief Master Sergeant and a retired Federal civilian employee. He later went on to serve in the Air Force himself. Serving others has been predominant goal. He has the unique perspectives as a child of the military, a member of the military and civilian police forces, and now a veteran of those services. Steven Bates has been writing poetry for years. He has always wanted to leave something for his children, while at the same time wanting to help and inspire others. He desires to help others to not feel alone in their struggles with depression, PTSD, and others. Steven's sense of humor helps to lighten some of the difficult topics.