Thursday, December 27, 2012

Pre-order "Reign of the Night Creatures" NOW!

Great news! You can now pre-order my new novel, "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night Creatures!" 

By pre-ordering, you are guaranteed to receive an autographed copy of my book AT LEAST one month before the official release date! You will also be helping to fund my book tour.

Please pre-order today, and spread the word! Thanks, guys!!!

Click banner for more details and to pre-order. Link will direct you to my Kickstarter page.




Sunday, December 23, 2012

Enjoy the Holidays with these Christmas Classics!

'Tis the season to be jolly! What better way to get into the holiday spirit than to gather around the television (or computer) with friends and family to watch your favorite Christmas movies?




Here's a few classics to get you started. Enjoy!


It's A Wonderful Life



A Christmas Carol (1984)



 

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas




ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS

 

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

 

The Berenstain Bears Christmas Tree

 


 A Muppet Family Christmas

 

Merry Christmas!
Casey Sean Harmon
www.caseyseanharmon.com


Monday, December 17, 2012

"Floating Sphere" nominated IBD Award Winner!

 
 
I just received this e-mail from Joshua from Indie Book of the Day: 
 
"I am contacting you on behalf of the IBD Awards. We had recently received
a nomination for your book, The Earth is a Floating Sphere and have
selected it as the Indie Book of the Day Award winner for 17th of
December, 2012."
 
Wow...this has been an exciting week! I am so honored!
 

You can purchase The Earth is a Floating Sphere for your Amazon Kindle via this link:

Happy Readings,
Casey Sean Harmon
 

"Everafter" makes Reader's Favorite 5 star review!

I would like to thank Mina Rivera from Reader's Favorite for reviewing my upcoming book, "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night Creatures." This is her review:

Casey Sean Harmon's "The Everafter Chronicles: Reign of the Night Creatures" has the feel of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia with the story revolving around three siblings and their dog who were pulled to another world and immersed in a magical adventure. It is a world where the fight between good and evil is ever present; a world called 'Everafter' where evil can be defeated by the pres
ence of light. But how can evil be fought when, at night, the moon is nowhere to be found? Can these children save 'Everafter'?

I love Harmon's writing style. It is simple, concise, and organized. The way he develops his story and his characters is seamless. I know that if I have kids, this book will be one of those that I'd read over and over again, simply because Casey Sean Harmon has been able to effectively teach courage, compassion, generosity, trust, and most especially love. The way Harmon ended 'Reign of the Night Creatures' reminds the reader to value not just friends, but also family. Casey Sean Harmon is also able to teach the reader the value of community and teamwork; that we are not alone in solving the problems of the world and that the people we meet are instrumental in our success.
-Mina Rivera, Reader's Favorite (5 star rating)


Happy Readings,
Casey Sean Harmon

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Everafter Chronicles - Official Cover Release!

The talented folks at Tate Publishing really did a good job illustrating the cover to my upcoming young adult novel, available Spring 2013!

Visit www.caseyseanharmon.com for more information.

Happy Readings,
Casey Sean Harmon

Sunday, December 9, 2012

U.S. Army Civil Affairs - Are You Ready?

The purpose of this post is to help prepare interested Soldiers/Officers to take that first step toward becoming a Civil Affairs Specialist/Officer. All of the information put out here is public information and their sources can be found at the bottom of this post. I hope that you will find this information both informative and inspiring.



First off, who am I?

My name is SGT Harmon, and I am an active duty Soldier currently serving as a 56M (Chaplain Assistant). About nine months ago I decided that I wanted to try something different with my Army career, and so I started researching the Special Operations side of the house. (You can find information on the different Army SP OPS branches HERE.)

The branch that immediately caught my attention was 38B (Civil Affairs). I submitted my packet, and within weeks I received a letter saying that my packet had been accepted and that I was good to move on to the next phase: CAAS (Civil Affairs Assessment and Selection.)

About seven months ago I attended and passed the rigorous 10-day selection course at Camp McCall (Fort Bragg, NC). Please do not ask me what the selection course was like, I can not give out that information. However, I will say this: Do not show up unprepared! Ask your recruiter to send you a physical fitness schedule and stick to it! The course is designed to push you to the utmost both physically and mentally. After all, you are trying to enter a component of the U.S. Army Special Operations forces!



What is Civil Affairs?

According to the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion website, "Although Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations activities often complement each other, each battle system operates individually in support of field commanders. Civil Affairs Soldiers are the field commander's link to the civil authorities in his area of operations. With specialists in every area of the government, they can assist a host government meet its people's needs and maintain a stable and viable civil administration." You can read the full article HERE.

Each civil affairs team is made up of a captain; a team sergeant; a team NCO, who is usually the team engineer; and the team medic. Though each has their own specialties, the members of the team are able to fill everyone else’s roles, if necessary. Teams within the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) are rapidly deployable; advise the combatant commanders or ambassadors on regional, cultural and local issues; and act as liaisons to nongovernmental agencies, information operations and U.S. government agencies. (Read more HERE).



What are the qualification requirements?

Visit the US Army Civil Affairs Recruiting Facebook page for the latest.

As of now, these are the requirements:

ENLISTED:
  • Rank SPC-SFC. Reference packet for TIG and TIS requirements.
  • Must have WLC.
  • ASVAB TECH Score 100 or above.
  • PULHES 111221 or better.
  • Security Verification, Interim.
  • DLAB score of 65 or higher or current DLPT with results within 12 months if you are language qualified.

OFFICERS:
  • Eligible for a Top Secret security clearance under provisions of AR 380-67.
  • Possess a baccalaureate degree or enrolled in the degree completion program obtaining degree no later than the start date of qualification course.
  • Possess a Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) score of 65 or above or have foreign language ability as demonstrated by an acceptable Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) score of 1/1 or higher.
  • Be a YG 2010 Office.
  • Male and Female Officers may apply.

 ALL APPLICANTS MUST:
  • Pass and be selected from the Civil Affairs Assessment and Selection course (Camp McCall, NC).
  • Be Airborne qualified or willing to volunteer for airborne training.
  • Possess an APFT card within 6 months (at least 70% in each event) & DA From 5500R Body fat content worksheet if needed.
  • Pass a SERE-C physical. Current within one year.
  • Agree to the Civil Affairs volunteer statement.



If you pass Selection, your next step will be to go through the Q-course. The qualification course (or Q-course) is a pipeline that consists of:
  • Airborne school (if not already Airborne qualified) (3 weeks)
  • Introduction to CA (2 weeks)
  • Defense Language school (18-25 weeks)
  • Civil Affairs NCO Academy (11 Weeks)
  • CULEX (3 weeks)
  • Graduation (1 week)
 
For those of you who would like to know more about what Civil Affairs is all about (or if you have already passed Selection and are studying for the Q-course), these sources contain some really good information:

Civil Affairs NCO Journal -Great information!
SWCS Academic Handbook


Sources:
http://www.soc.mil/
http://www.sorbrecruiting.com/CA_what_is_CA.htm
 https://www.facebook.com/USArmySpecOpsRecruiting.Bragg.CA?ref=ts&fref=ts


Happy Readings,
Casey Sean Harmon
SGT, U.S. Army
www.caseyseanharmon.com

Friday, December 7, 2012

Day of Infamy - Pearl Harbor Raid on December 7, 1941

 
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941. The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. 

 
All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of these eight damaged, two were raised, and with four repaired, six battleships returned to service later in the war. 


  
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed.


 
In total, 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded.



 

We will never forget!


Casey Sean Harmon

Monday, December 3, 2012

He's growing up fast!

My son Liam Phillip is 4 weeks and 1 day old today. He's such a little stinker! :) He's starting to smile and make mouth noises. He's also starting to observe his surroundings more. I can't believe that he is already over a month old!


Liam w/ daddy

At least he's warm... :)

Liam in his Army greens ;)

 All dressed up

 Liam w/ mommy!

Snug as a bug in a rug :)


Happy Readings,
Casey Sean Harmon