ship Archives - Doug Bolton

The rioting in Portland, Oregon is shameful! Last night a young man was shot to death, because he was a Trump supporter. That is called murder.

The Mayor, Ted Wheeler, ( a Democrat, ) had the nerve to blame it on our President. Meanwhile, he has allowed the rioting go on for over 90 days now. What’s wrong with this picture??

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it. You may be saving a life. Your comments will not be seen by other people, just me, and I will connect with you to see if you are OK to share it.

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I have had a wonderful thing happening on Facebook. In just this month only my followers have increased by over 2000. Who are they? Veterans, everyone of them . Such an honor. If you want to join them just go to Facebook and put my name in the search area.

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I read today that two Russian jets flew with 100 yards of one of our B-52’s. That was pure intimation. I wonder what kind of message they are trying to send?

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In some previous posts I have shared some interviews with veterans for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Here is another one. The reason I am featuring him today is that he was on the front page of my local newspaper this morning. The paper was featuring him because he just had his 100th birthday!

Bob Coury is a man I have known for over 65 years. He is local man from my home town of Salem, Oregon. The reason I have known him that long is that he opened a fast food restaurant in 1955 near where I live. It was called, Bob’s Hamburgers when it first started. I walked by it every day from school ans a Sophomore in high school. His hamburgers were only 19 cents each . My mom would give me a quarter and I would have a hamburger every time I went by each day. I still had six cents left which I save to build up for the next hamburger. We were poor back in those days, and my mother scrapped up that quarter every day for me.

Bob was also a veteran of WWII. He was a Captain, and the officer in charge of a unit of men who unloaded ships as they came into the Okinawa harbor. They were in great danger at all times. There were Kamikaze planes trying to crash into the ships they were unloading.

Here are parts of the interview I had with him:

I asked him how he felt as he unloaded each ship. “I worried about my men getting killed. I went on to ask how the Kamikaze plane affected his work “We had to watch at all times, and get off the ship if it looked like one of them was going to be successful in hitting the ship.”

I also asked him what was his scariest moment. “One day I fell off a ship and there was a barge right next to the ship. I fell in between the two ships. I had a hard time getting out of there before I drowned.”

There is much more to this interview. Keep looking here as to when the book is coming out.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Are there good days, but also some bad days?

Please know that you are not alone. There are 9.156 fellow veterans on this site. They all have your six. Reach out if you need help.

As a a matter of fact here is a toll free number to call if you are overwhelmed:

1-800-273-8255

There are highly trained counselors there to help you. Do not wait!

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Remember:

You are ever alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

I will be changing the format on my author site. I need to get back to sharing with you about my book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

In about two weeks the book will be officially in the marketplace.

It has been a hard, long road I have traveled to get to this point. I started writing, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, almost ten years ago. It will be ten years next March.

Why did I start writing the book? I am glad you asked.

I was at the end of my rope. I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt the ship sinking and I didn’t have a life jacket.

I was having weekly pity parties, and no one was showing up to help me celebrate. I was fighting self-doubt, anxiety, fear, failure, depression, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

I was ready to check out of the hotel called earth.

I was in a school parking lot on March 31st 2001 sitting in my Ford Explorer considering suicide. I didn’t want to face the trails of life any more.

I had retired from teacher, and was going from one job after another searching for something that I could feel good about after retirement. Nothing was working for me. I failed at each job I partook in. I even started my own business of find funds for businesses when they needed some while waiting for their invoices from costumers to come in. That failed because I couldn’t see taking money from them when they desperately needed cash at that time.

Every job I tried I needed to try to convince people of getting something they may not need. I worked at a department store in the housewares department. I sold pots and pans, coffeemakers, knifes, etc. I was pretty good at it. I even earned a seven day free trip to a health spa for me and my wife because of my efforts.

One Christmas Eve, I was working the late shift. I noticed that there weren’t any women shopping in my area. It was all guys desperately looking for something for their wives at the last minute. I had a field day. I came up to a guy and asked him if I could help him, and he said, Yes! please find something for my wife for christmas. I can’t think of anything! I saw dollar signs in my head, and directed him to the sets of pans. I convinced him his wife would love a $500.00 set of new pans.

There were several men just like him wandering around, lost in my section. I sold something to eveyone of them. I set a record for sales that night. They bought from me because I was a man and they trusted me.

I went home that night and wondered, What have I done? I sold a bunch of men something their wives probably didn’t need just so I could make another sale. I was very upset with myself, and quite the job a couple of weeks later.

( Men…never buy your wife something for the kitchen at Christmas. Go down to the jewelry department. You will be rewarded much more if you do that.)

So I went on like this, going from one job after another in sales. The last sales job I had was in leasing, and the same nightmare was forming while doing that. I was trying to have someone lease something when it may be better to buy it outright.

I hit rock bottom on March 31st. I drove to that parking lot I told you about. I was sobbing so much I could hardly see out the window of the rig. I stopped and parked, and was on verge of doing something very drastic.

I finally cried out to God, “I can’t take this anymore!” There was a sudden calmness inside my rig, and in me. The air even seemed different. It was as if God was saying, “It is about time you came back to me. Now let me carry you the rest of the way.”

The rest is history. I started writing Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, a couple of weeks later.

It took me almost ten years to get my thoughts down, and organized. There were doubts along they way. Satan did every he could to stop me, but I prevailed, and now you have to chance to read my story and learn for yourself how to survive in a not so friendly world.

I hope you will read it and let me know what you think of it. I have been blessed with some very impressive endorsements written in the book. I have had many authors and important people in the publishing world recommend the book.

You can preorder Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, and save 27% by going to www.winepresspublishing.com. Go to the top and click on “bookstore.” Write in the search area, “Signs of Hope.” That will take you right to my book page. The book will only cost $14.59 there for a short time, and then it will be $19.99 once it is public. Take advantage of that now.

God bless you nad NEVER give up. Fight back the attacks of Satan and turn to God to supply you with all the armor you need to survive.