Allan Duffin - Writer/Producer

New article in Leatherneck Magazine about HBO's "The Pacific"

I had the privilege of writing the cover story for this month's issue of Leatherneck Magazine, the official publication of the Marine Corps Association. HBO's new 10-hour TV miniseries "The Pacific," which follows the wartime exploits of three World War II Marines, premieres this month.

Many thanks to the following folks who took time out of their busy schedules to do interviews for the article: Bruce McKenna, co-executive producer and writer; Captain Dale Dye, USMC (Ret.), senior military advisor; Penny Rose, costume designer; and actor Jon Seda, who portrays legendary Marine "Manila John" Basilone. HBO's media relations staff was equally giving of their time and assistance -- thank you so much!

You can take a look at this issue of Leatherneck by clicking here, but you'll need a subscription to read the entire article.

Thanks also to Colonel Walt Ford, USMC (Ret.), the editor of Leatherneck, who's a terrific boss. He loves his job, and it shows.

Women in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Celebrating the publication of my new book, History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers: Here's a clip from YouTube featuring women of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers is published by Kaplan Publishing (a division of the Washington Post Company) and distributed by Simon & Schuster. Visit your local bookstore, or order your copy from the Simon & Schuster website or from Amazon.com, Borders.com, or BarnesandNoble.com.

Police Magazine and women in law enforcement

As we count down to the release date (February 2) for my new book — History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers — I'll be cross-posting information from various sources so you can read more about the topic if you'd like to.

Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine has a section that focuses on women in law enforcement. (Click here to access.) Here's an excerpt from a current article:

Gone are the days when a woman police officer was acting as a social worker with a badge, and they now fill as many roles as male police officers do. Many companies are adjusting what they manufacture and sell to specifically meet the needs of women police officers. This is after years of providing only unisex products and using a one size fits most business model.

I'd like to thank David Griffith, editor of Police Magazine, for taking the time to read and review History in Blue. In part:

History in Blue is an excellent social history of women in law enforcement that's full of powerful stories of the creativity, determination, and courage of women on the job.

History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers arrives on bookshelves in February 2010 from Kaplan Publishing (a division of the Washington Post Company), distributed by Simon & Schuster. Pre-order your copy now from the Simon & Schuster website or from Amazon.com, Borders.com, or BarnesandNoble.com. Or you can place an order at your local bookstore.

Harlan Glenn's "Battle Rats" on the Military Channel

Catch Harlan Glenn's new TV show "Battle Rats: Iwo Jima," a one-hour pilot for a proposed series, this month on the Military Channel. I've been fortunate to work with Harlan on a number of TV programs over the years, and it's thrilling to see his new show come together. Congratulations Harlan! Here's a trailer for the show:

Paper periodicals take another hit

Time, Inc.  — publisher of Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, and of course the venerable Time magazine  — will be announcing $100 million in cuts. This means that even more magazine staffers will be pink-slipped in large numbers. From the New York Times:

At Time Inc., cuts have already been heavy. A year ago, it announced it was dismissing about 600 people, or 6 percent of its staff. Since 2007, it has shut magazines including Business 2.0, Cottage Living, Southern Accents and Life, which it had revived as a newspaper supplement. A stricter expense-account policy has been in place for some time, and some magazines have decreased the weight of the paper they use.

Though I write for a variety of media, it's particularly heartbreaking to watch the painful demise of the newspaper and magazine industries. I don't think that paper periodicals will ever disappear completely, but online access to the hottest and latest news has made obsolete one of the biggest selling points of magazines and newspapers. It's been a slow process over the last decade or so, but the poor state of the economy isn't helping.

Best wishes to the staff and writers who fall to the latest swing of the sword. Hopefully they'll find new homes and continue to do what they love.

History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers

Here's the first mention of my new book! It has a new title: History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers. The publisher is Kaplan, a division of the Washington Post Company. Simon & Schuster is the distributor. Publication date is February 2, 2010. Here's some of the marketing copy:

Spanning 160 years, History in Blue is the first book to tell the riveting story of the uphill struggle for respect and recognition sustained by women in the modern police force. Featuring rare photographs and original interviews with pioneering female officers, this fascinating book chronicles the ongoing fight for equality in the world of law enforcement. In this vivid and remarkable history, Allan T. Duffin tells of the extraordinary women who broke down the barriers of gender so that they—and many generations of successors—could do the work they loved most.

Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement through all of the steps in the process: pitching, researching, writing, editing, design, and now publication. More news as it happens.

Farewell, Rocco

It's been such a strange and tragic month. While Michele and I were out of town for the funeral of one of our family members, I received word that I'd lost a friend who was serving a combat tour in Afghanistan. Rocco Barnes was one hell of a guy. In addition to working on film and television projects, he was also a U.S. Army Reservist. Excerpting from his obituary in the Los Angeles Times:

Maj. Rocco M. Barnes was supposed to be back home in Los Angeles this summer at the end of his fourth overseas tour with the California Army National Guard. But the 51-year-old entertainment company executive was killed June 4 in Afghanistan, the victim of what officials described as a vehicle rollover.

An Ohio native selected for the elite Special Forces, he served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Friends say he was driven by his passion for both the military and the movie business.

As a young man, Barnes worked as a coal miner before getting into the security field. He  provided security for [Arnold] Schwarzenegger on the sets of "True Lies" and "Collateral Damage," and was head of West Coast operations for the security company Vance International before beginning his career in entertainment.

Although he was quiet about his military activities, friends said, Barnes was in the thick of combat. About two weeks before his death, he was part of a team that cleared the way for the landing of a helicopter that airlifted a severely burned, 22-month-old Afghan boy to emergency care.

I had the privilege of working with Rocco on several TV projects and always appreciated his quiet confidence, warmth and camaraderie. He was modest about all he had done and all he was doing, and my heart breaks to know that he's gone.

(Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, written by Steve Chawkins)
(Details on Rocco's last mission, from AfghanistanMyLastTour.com)

The Baseballs

I wonder what Brian Setzer thinks of this? A German trio called The Baseballs takes current pop hits and rearranges them as rockabilly tunes. It's a lot of fun. Even songs I don't like in their original form become really enjoyable when The Baseballs take a crack at them.

Click here for their YouTube page -- try their version of Katy Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold." Meantime here's the video for their version of Rihanna's "Umbrella." I dare you not to bop along!

On the deaths of two Air Force Academy graduates

Friday brought us the heartbreaking news that another member of the American military died in a combat zone. Roslyn L. Schulte, a 25-year-old first lieutenant in the Air Force, died from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack as she was traveling in a convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Schulte was a 2006 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

What hit me most about this event — aside from the tragedy of losing another military member to the ravages of war — is that it reminded me of another female Academy graduate who was lost during a deployment. The difference: that victim was a high school classmate of mine. We'd both entered the Air Force at about the same time, but her job very quickly took her overseas into a combat zone.

On April 14, 1994, First Lt. Laura Piper — who, like Roslyn Schulte, was also just 25 years old — was one of 26 people aboard a flight of two Army Black Hawk helicopters over Iraq. Two Air Force F-15 fighters mistakenly shot down the helicopters in a friendly-fire incident that is still vividly remembered today. 

The aftermath of the tragedy compelled Laura's mother to write a book, Chain of Events, which accused the military of pulling up short on its post-accident investigation and disciplinary actions against the personnel involved in the cascade of decisions that led to the shootdown. "[Laura] knew what she was doing," Laura's father told the New York Times. "She knew the danger. She was there to protect the Kurds. And I think she's a hero."

Regardless of how and why these deaths occurred, at the heart of the matter is the fact that we lost two young people who were just beginning their  careers. More than that, as they were barely three years out of college, Schulte and Piper were just beginning their lives as individuals, on their own, each with unique talents to contribute. We'll never know what they might have accomplished if they'd been able to live out their lives as intended. They certainly deserved to, and now never will.

(Click here for CNN report on Roslyn Schulte)
(CBS News report on Laura Piper)

"Tanker Down!" In Towing and Recovery Footnotes

My new article in the April 2009 issue of Towing & Recovery Footnotes talks about recovery techniques for tanker trucks that have been involved in an accident. The photo at the left shows towers practicing with air cushions to right an overturned tanker. Towing expert Wes Wilburn explains:

Wilburn notes that air cushions were placed starting at the rear and working forward. And once the job is done, towers should take extra care with their air cushions. “Having the air cushions stored away properly after the last job really dictates how the next job will go,” says Wilburn. “I am not only talking about having them cleaned up, which should be obvious to most. What I believe is critical is how they have the air removed and how they are ‘tucked,’ so to speak.” Wilburn recommends that towers tuck three sides of each cushion and let the side with the hose stay untucked. “From my experience, this works much better,” he says.