The Reluctant Sailor is a collection of delightfully funny and thoroughly entertaining remembrances of coming of age in the Navy during WWII. And it's all true!

• Bud's notice to report for active duty was delivered to the wrong house so he was AWOL almost immediately. Were it not for his grandmother parking herself between two burly shore patrolmen and the front door, they would have taken Bud away in his pajamas — covered in measles!
• During Bud's mess hall duty, Bud accidentally sent 40 pounds of golden fried chicken airborne after colliding with a "directionally-challenged"  server, coming "in" the "out" door. Naturally, the chicken (and sailors) landed in the mud.            To avoid eternal KP duty, Bud learned the "Navy Way", to return fried chicken,     to the serving line ....         10 minutes under a garden hose !                           (Please don't try that at home  and invite me to dinner ! )
• Grabbing a chocolate bar, while waiting in line to see the dentist,  wasn't the best idea. The dentist mistook an errant morsel of chocolate on Bud's pristine pearly whites for a cavity and filled it. True, he apologized for his error, BUT THEN, THE DENTIST, DID IT AGAIN !
• Arriving 10 minutes late from liberty, Bud was AWOL again. His punishment? Guard duty all night long. Having run out of things to guard (and guns to guard them with) he "guarded" a dumpster—with a broomstick!
• Trying to escape scrape-and-paint detail, Bud hid in the paint locker—a great idea until the door slammed shut. With no handle on the inside he was there for quite a while—more than enough time for the captain to think he had fallen overboard. They turned the ship around to look for him!

  
    You'll smile all the way through this book ! 
 ~ I can almost guarantee, you may even wind up, 
                           LAUGHING OUT LOUD !  
Bud's book is NOT only historical; 
It is hysterical ! 

"My name is Dick Walsh. I am a retired MMCS-USN and I have just finished your book…
I am going to be forthright and come to the report of my findings on your book, hold on to your socks, shipmate. “It is too damned short!” 
I have laughed at every chapter in it. 
Your chapter on seasickness was wonderful. 
I worked for a MMCS on the USS Mississinewa during my first tour and old SCPO Pickard was just about equal to your Chief Reale. I had to go up and scrub the longitudinals in the engine room with two buckets also and the reason was the same as your Chief Reale had.  I was so angry and hated that man so much, I forgot just how bad I felt. 
Your book is now in my cabinate alongside of ones autographed by Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading of your oddesy. I did 24 years and have a few tales locked in the old thought locker. Well done, shipmate, and thank you for your service to America."

Richard J. Walsh
Virginia Beach, VA

"Just wanted to let you know that I finished your book and found it to be excellent! A funny, moving account of a naive young man thrust into the military and soon relieved of his naiveté. Truly an enjoyable read. (And, unlike most such memoirs, well organized and edited, too.) "

-Rod Scher, Editor

Every once in awhile Bud will send you an update about any news he has.