Submitted by: Mike Curry

Category: Books

A significant portion of the book relates Curry's experience in Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and his tour in Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander, first with the 7th Marines and then with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion leading long-range recon teams.

Curry also writes about the 1965 Watts Riots as a member of the California National Guard and the six years he lived in Jamaica as a Peace Corps volunteer/teacher. He describes his 31-year career as a principal in an inner-city school dealing with gangs, guns, physical and sexual abuse among a host of other issues. There is a short detour in the book while mobilized for Desert Storm, describing his experience attending Airborne School as a 49-year-old member of the 20th Special Forces.

The story is filled with humor, idealism, adventure and poignancy. It is an entertaining, sometimes intense, story.

The book, In The Arena, by Mike Curry is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author:

Mike Curry grew up in San Diego, Calif. After five years in the National Guard, he joined the United States Marine Corps. He served as an infantry officer in Vietnam, mainly leading long-range reconnaissance teams. Following the Marine Corps, he volunteered for the Peace Corps and was assigned to Jamaica where he lived for six years. During that time he consistently was selected to represent Jamaica on their National Rugby Team. After returning to the United States, he earned a PhD at the University of Alabama and spent 31 years as a principal of an inner-city school in Birmingham, Ala. He joined the 20th Special Forces and went to Airborne School at the age of 49. Currently retired, he lives with his wife, Freda, in Hoover, Ala..