The Back Story for Not On MY Watch by Jeff Bailey

 

Much of Not On My Watch is fictionalized from my recollection of my Army posting to the Ft. Sill, OK. Special Weapons Depot when I was 20, just a kid. I was a small player on a large crew that maintained and repaired our nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Lake Lawtonka is real and was a recreational hot spot for the G.I.s.  When I started writing Not On My Watch, I knew the story thread and what I wanted to write but didn’t want to use myself as the lead character as I had in previous books. As would happen, my oldest granddaughter was in the middle of her training to be an Aviation Rescue Firefighter in the Marine Corp., perfect.  Now, to be honest, most of her training took place in Texas rather than Oklahoma, so I exercised a little literary license.  Once I opted to use her for the inspiration of the female protagonist, everything fell into place, the book just sort of wrote itself. All I had to do was ask myself, ‘what would my granddaughter do in this situation?’ By the time I finished Not On My Watch, LCpl Bailey, my muse, was serving in Japan as an Aviation Rescue Firefighter.

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