Some selected photos of Nick speaking over the summer of 2009.

January 14, 2009: Nick speaking to the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Team in Rancho Cucamonga!

October 15, 2008: Nick speaking to students and faculty at Folsom Lake College in Folsom, CA, including Veteran’s Affairs office staff and students.

October 14, 2008: Nick Popaditch at the Borders bookstore signing in Folsom, CA, near the editorial offices of publisher Savas Beatie.

Nick Popaditch, with Sarah Keeney and Veronica Kane at the Savas Beatie office, signing copies of Once a Marine.

October 11, 2008: Nick at the Hipp Marine discussion and book signing for Once a Marine.

October 16: Nick speaking to students and faculty, including members of the Veteran’s Club, at American River College in Sacramento, CA.

September 2008: Southlake Texas Independence Weekend

A Sampling of Nick Popaditch’s Past Speaking Engagements and Guest Appearances [listed by date below]

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

January 8 at 6:00 p.m.
Chula Vista American Legion Post
47 5th Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91910

December 13 at 6:00 p.m.
Terre Haute Marine Corps League
Terre Haute, IN

December 13 at 2:00 p.m.
Honey Creek Mall
3401 US Hwy 41
Terre Haute, IN
- Discussion at the kiosk at the top of the food court. Book signing to follow in Waldenbooks.

December 12 at 6:00 p.m.
American Legion Hammond Victory Post 168
721 State Street
Hammond, IN

December 10 at 7:00 p.m.
American Legion Highland Post 180
2703 Jewett
Highland, IN

November 22 at 12:00 p.m.
Inklings Bookshop
5629 Summitview Ave.
Yakima, WA
- Discussion and book signing.

November 12 from 12 to 4 p.m.
Marine Corps League Leatherneck Club
360 W. Spring Mountain Rd.
Las Vegas, NV
- Discussion and book signing. Talk at 12:30 p.m.

November 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
567 North Stephanie
Henderson, NV
- Discussion and book signing.

November 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Bay Books
1029 Orange Avenue
Coronado, CA
- Discussion and book signing.

October 25 at 1:00 p.m.
Borders Bookstore
10990 Sunset Hills Plaza
Sunset Hills, MO
- Discussion and book signing.

October 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Borders Bookstore
6601 Edwardsville Crossing Drive
Edwardsville, IL
- Discussion and book signing.

October 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Clairemont Branch Library
2920 Burgener Blvd.
San Diego, CA
- Book signing at library anniversary event.

October 17
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Morning White Cane Awareness Walk and discussion and book signing at 2:00 p.m.
Palo Alto, CA

October 16 at 3:00 p.m.
American River College
4700 College Oak Drive, Raef Hall, Room 162
Sacramento, CA

October 15 at 1:00 p.m.
Folsom Lake College
10 College Parkway, Room FL1-203
Folsom, CA

October 14 at  7:00pm
Borders Bookstore
2765 E Bidwell St.
Folsom, CA
- Discussion and book signing.

October 11
Hipp Marine
4070 Kearney Mesa Road
San Diego, CA
- Discussion at 1:00 p.m. and book signing from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

October 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
Mira Mesa MarketCenter
10775 Westview Parkway
San Diego, CA
- Discussion and book signing.

October 1 at 6:00 p.m.
Marines Memorial Club
609 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA
- Discussion and book signing.

September 13
Independence Weekend
Southlake, TX
- Nick Popaditch will participate in the Independence Weekend festivities.

September 12 at 5:30 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
Southlake Town Square
1430 Plaza Place
Southlake, TX
- Discussion.

Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1
Book Expo America
Los Angeles, CA

Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, Annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser
Guest Speaker
St. Louis, MO
August 27, 2006 

A Sampling of Nick Popaditch’s Past Media Articles and Segments

San Diego Union Tribune
Published November 9, 2007
Marine Tank Sergeants Innovation in Combat Saved the Day in Fallujah
By Steve Liewer

KSDK St. Louis Channel 5 News
Aired August 26, 2006
Marine Honored at Bush Stadium
By Rebecca Wu

San Diego Union Tribune Multimedia Story
San Diego at War
Aired May 26, 2006

Inside Edition
A Marines Story aired July 20, 2004
Holiday Surprise aired December 16, 2005 

The Hammond Times
Published April 11, 2003
Hammond Native has firsthand view of Saddam Statue’s fall

2:00 Video (2mb WMV file)

Nick Popaditch

Media inquiries

Parker Public Relations
Joel Parker
Phone: 818-990-2252
Email: jparkerpr@sbcglobal.net

Publisher

Savas Beatie LLC
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 4527
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
Voice: 916-941-6896 (9 a.m. - 5 p.m., M-F, PST)
Fax: 916-941-6895

Corporate Offices
521 Fifth Avenue
Suite 3400
New York, NY 10175

Sarah Keeney, Marketing Director

web site: http://www.savasbeatie.com

Voice: 916-941-6896 (9 a.m. - 5 p.m., M-F, PST)
Fax: 916-941-6895

Corporate Offices
521 Fifth Avenue
Suite 3400
New York, NY 10175

The book world changed significantly over the past decade, but our mission remains the same. We seek out and develop outstanding original military and general interest history manuscripts, and bring them to you in the form of quality books you will be proud to read, own, and keep for a lifetime.

We look forward to having you peruse our front and back list, get a feel for our books by reading excerpts. . .. . . and get comfortable with our authors by enjoying our in-depth interviews about their work, their lives, and their passion: great history!

Most of our titles are available signed by the author at regular retail price, and we offer exclusive group discounts for bulk orders.

We welcome your feedback and look forward to serving your needs.

Theodore P. Savas
Russel H. Beatie

Trade Sales

For sales into the North American book trade, please contact;

Casemate Publishing
1016 Warrior Road
Suite C
Drexel Hill, PA 19026
Phone: 610-853-9131 (phone)
Fax: 610-853-9146 (fax)
E-mail: casemate@casematepublishing.com
Web: www.casematepublishing.com (web site)

If somebody asks, though, I’m proud to say I’m a retired United States Marine. Though many people act like it’s rude or insensitive to ask, I don’t mind telling how I lost my right eye and practically all the vision in my left, as well as the hearing in one ear, a good deal of my sense of balance and equilibrium, and all of my sense of smell. I was wounded in battle, leading Marines, fighting for a cause that I believed in my heart and soul to be right. If you turned back the clock, I’d do it all again, even if I got wounded again—even if this time the enemy fighter made a better shot and killed me. I can’t think of a better way to die. I also can’t think of a better way to live, than as a fighting Marine.

But I wouldn’t say anything unless you asked. Proud as I am of my service in the Marine Corps, my pride is a private matter. And I am very reluctant to tell war stories in public because when other guys do it, it often comes off like bragging, which I do not like.

So why do this book? For one thing, my story is about all the people who helped me get going after I was wounded. I’m here, in the shape I’m in, because I have had heroes at my side every step of the way. I want, too, to honor all my fellow wounded warriors. There are thousands of us who fought with pride in Iraq and Afghanistan and now have to get on with our lives, facing challenges we never expected. Compared to many, I got off very, very light.

Americans should know more about us and be proud that we receive such wonderful care and support. We are the best-treated combat casualties in history. On the other hand, there are legitimate gripes. Not everybody gets a fair shake. This story lays out my own long and complicated fight to get complete recognition of my disabilities and all the benefits I rate. Sad to say, vets fight such battles to this day.

Finally, I especially want to honor the great branch of the military in which I spent fifteen years of my life and would, if I could, have spent more. I am what I am because I served as a United States Marine, and I want to tell of the great gifts the Corps gave to me and the important lessons it taught me, only a few of which came in combat. Most of a military career is spent far from the battlefield. Service is a professional, community, and family life that my wife and two boys and I loved. The Corps was our home, and I want people to appreciate what a wonderful home it was.

And this story of mine isn’t just for and about the military. Millions of people come to a point where all their plans and dreams and expectations go right out the window. Everything changes and they can’t be what they were, so they’ve got to be something else, and their past helps them go forward and succeed. In my own case, I can’t be a Marine tank commander and Gunnery Sergeant any more, and that’s all I ever wanted to be. Now I’m out of uniform and in college with kids half my age, looking forward to a future I didn’t dream of until very recently. Though I’ll always be a Marine, I can’t live looking back. And I believe, with all my heart, that life’s greatest challenges and accomplishments lie ahead. I sincerely hope this book helps you realize the same about your life.

Consider yourself warned: The G-rated writing ends here. I tell the story the way many of us Marines speak, using some rough, tough, and extremely salty language. The point is not to shock or offend, but to put you there with me and my brothers.

Acknowledgments

There are many people who made this book possible. If anyone does not find his or her name here, please know that its absence was an oversight, and your contribution is deeply appreciated.

There are many people who made this book possible. If anyone does not find his or her name here, please know that its absence was an oversight, and your contribution is deeply appreciated.

First, we owe deep gratitude and appreciation to Eric Weider, who conceived of this book, put us together as a collaborative team, and provided generous support. Without Eric, Once a Marine would never have some to be.

More of the same goes to our publisher, Savas Beatie LLC, and its managing director, Theodore P. “Ted’ Savas. Ted shared our vision, flew to Los Angeles to meet with Nick and Eric, and accepted this book for publication with whole-hearted enthusiasm and respect for the integrity of the story.

Word surgeon Dan Ferrara performed an exceptional line edit that made the book leaner, meaner, and harder hitting.

From the beginning of our work, April Popaditch provided moral support and opened her heart so the family side of our story could be told more fully and frankly. April also keeps the Popaditch archives, to which we often referred for facts. Mike’s wife Sue Cross recognized before he did the great potential of Nick’s story and encouraged him to get on board. Both our families lost serious husband- and dad-time, but with no complaints.

Jen Haskamp, Sgt. Haskamp in the book and now out of uniform but still a Marine through-and-through, was—and remains—our first, best reader. She provided crucial early encouragement and reassurance that the story does the Marine Corps proud.

Marketing Director Sarah Keeney has been our indispensable logistics chief at Savas Beatie LLC. Eric Weider’s Executive Assistant Sari Kahn provided able assistance and backup. Transcriptionist Barb Krultz put hours and hours of digitally recorded blah-blah down on paper, making it look clearer than it sounded. We got smiles, along with incredibly fast turnaround of sundry printed versions of the manuscript, from Jennifer and Michael at FedEx Kinko’s on Napa Street in San Diego.

Everyone who touched this book, at any stage of its progress, helped us, and we are mindful and thankful.

Most of the time we really were in each other’s faces, Nick reliving and retelling his tale, and me running it through my mental story processors and writing, and then reading it back to Nick. After our back-and-forth sessions we had our finished copy. Literary live fire, you might call it, because the words flying around hit the page right then and there. Now they’re hitting you, with very little change.

This is one weird way to produce a book. And it is not necessarily recommendable because very few collaborators could stand being stuck in a room for six or eight or even ten hours at a shot. But in our case—for me, anyway—prolonged proximity never got old. Nick’s a good guy to hang out with. To our sessions he always brought his A-game and moto-Marine discipline and energy. No time went to waste and, unless non-book life got in the way, we didn’t quit until our IQs tanked and we started putting out drivel we both new we would throw out and write anew.

Even if we had gotten on each other’s nerves, it wouldn’t have mattered, because we took our orders from this big, demanding, merciless SOB that didn’t care about anything but the mission. By that I mean Nick’s great story. Very early in our collaboration it started yelling to be told, and anything less than max effort, as Nick would say, was not acceptable. It’s strange and wonderful how creative projects take on lives of their own and put themselves in charge. This one you did not want to disappoint.

Our work consumed seven months, starting with just one or two sessions a week and building up to four- and five-day brain burners at the end. As the final days of work approached we pulled a few marathon phoners, putting out whole chapters before we hung up. By then, though, we were so hardwired into the project that physical presence no longer mattered. If we were working, we were there. And mostly we really were, in San Diego where Nick lives or at my place in Los Angeles.

Some days we made huge, easy gains; some were like MS Word root canal. But we always ended up with something worthwhile. Throughout we carried on in Nick’s Marine way—straight toward the objective. One session that probably should have been interrupted shows the sort of roll we were on, and just how dialed in we really were. Not long after Nick arrived on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from SD, I got a call from my four-year-old daughter’s preschool. Ellie, they told me, was sick and needed to be picked up. On the way home she was so weak she could barely lift her little head. Anyone in such shape needs watching, but the mission was calling—hard. Pages needed writing, deadlines loomed, and Gunny Pop was there with his A-game. I made Ellie a little warm blanket nest on the floor by Nick and me, and we went back to work as if she wasn’t there. Somehow she slept comfortably through all the back and forth and give and take. Thank God neither of our wives witnessed this. The next day Ellie bounced back, as four-year-olds do, and we turned out all the pages we would have if the preschool had not called.

And then we were there. Nick was (and still is) surprised with how good his story is, but he will never say that out loud. It is simply not his way. For my part, I am astonished at how well we were able to tell it. Once a Marine is so true to Nick himself and the incredible events in his life that mark him as a father, a husband, a Marine, and damn good man.

Human truth is always bigger and better than the mortals privileged to work in its service.

Mike Steere
Los Angeles, California
Once a Marine

Book title : Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery

Author : Nick Popaditch with Mike Steere

Book specifications :

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-932714-47-0
Release date: September 15, 2008

6 X 9, black and white photo insert, dust jacket

Foreword by Colonel Bryan McCoy, as seen on The History Channel and Nick’s former commander

Where to Buy?:

This book is now available. Visit the website of the publisher to order your signed copy!

“Gunny Popaditch’s story is as inspiring as it is dramatic. This wounded warrior suffered grievous injuries — an RPG to the head! — but refused to give up on life, even when his wounds forced him out of the Corps. Once A Marine is a ‘must read’ story of one of today’s real heroes.”

– Jerry D. Morelock, PhD
Colonel , U. S. Army, ret.
Editor in Chief, Armchair General magazine

"Courage, fortitude, and the refusal to surrender permeate Once a Marine."

– ForeWord Magazine

“If you want an honest answer, ask a Marine. If you want an honest view of a war, ask a Marine gunnery sergeant. Nick Popaditch’s transcendent memoir of military service and its personal consequences should be read by every one of our nation’s political leaders–to help them understand the incomparable quality of those who fight on the front lines. Read this inspiring story, recommend it to friends–and send a copy to your member of Congress!”

– Ralph Peters, author of Looking For Trouble and Wars Of Blood And Faith

“Author Gunny Sergeant Nick Popaditch, a Silver Star recipient and the subject of the world-famous AP photo, has penned what must surely be classed as among the best personal memoirs of any combat soldier in recent memory. Once a Marine is an in-your-face blast of raw emotion and realism that will strike a raw nerve and keep you up at night. This autobiography of combat, courage, and recovery should be required reading for every American, young and old, who yearns to grasp the true cost of freedom.”

– Caspar Weinberger Jr., Military and Current Affairs Columnist

"Here is a story of one Marine who could truly inspire our entire country. Gunny Sergeant Popaditch tells a story that every American should read to understand and respect the military serving our country. It will bring tears to your eyes one minute and a hearty laugh the next. Your admiration for this Marine, our military heroes and their families, grows stronger with each turning of the page. My deepest gratitude to the brave men and women who serve to protect America."

– Congressman Brian P. Bilbray

"America has always been blessed by wonderful, patriotic, and often anonymous men and women who have sacrificed so much in defense of liberty and freedom. Once a Marine, Gunny Sergeant Nick Popaditch’s heart-wrenching and inspiring memoir, puts a name and a face on this sacrifice. Every American should read this book to remind them of what these brave warriors of freedom endure on our behalf."

– Congressman Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

“A riveting and inspirational story of the consummate professional warrior. It is impossible to read Once a Marine without being proud of our military and grateful that our Nation produces men like Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch.”

– Major Michael F. Nugent, US Army (Retired), co-author of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat From Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army July 4-14, 1863

“Gunny Popaditch’s story makes me incredibly proud to have worn the same uniform. Without intending to, "Once a Marine" articulates life in the modern Marine Corps more clearly than anything I’ve read. No blindly loyal fanatic, Popaditch candidly acknowledges the bullshit, yet artfully captures the inimitable spirit of camaraderie and commitment that makes the Marine Corps unique. An extraordinarily motivating and compellingly honest book, it made me pine for my own long-finished Marine Corps career.

– Jay A. Stout, LtCol USMC (Ret), author of Hammer from Above and Slaughter at Goliad

"’Gunny Pop’ Popaditch’s courageous memoir of his life in and out of the Marine Corps is intelligently written and imbued with a brazen honesty rarely found elsewhere. His personal courage-and that of his wife, April-gives the term "home of the brave" an entirely new meaning."

– Sgt. Michael Volkin, author of The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Surviving Boot Camp