Our featured member of NCWN-West this month is Don Long who was born and raised in Sebring, Florida even though his mother’s family hails from Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and North Georgia. After two years of college Don enlisted in the Army as a Private. He was later commissioned and earned his wings as a helicopter and airplane pilot. This earned him the chance to fly helicopters in Vietnam for two one-year tours. In 1980 he retired as Lieutenant Colonel.
After retiring he worked with the Federal Government as a Safety Professional specializing in Aviation Safety, Firing Range Safety, Office Safety, Explosive Safety, and Tactical Operations Safety in the United States and Germany with short forays into Bosnia, Croatia, and Macedonia.
After retiring a second time in 2000 he began splitting his time between Winter Park FL and Murphy, NC. The two professions allowed him to live in or visit over 20 countries.
Starting in his teen years and all throughout his entire adult life he wrote poetry, mostly for his consumption, but on request, he wrote poems for special occasions. For a short while after retiring from the Army he had a business called “People Poems” wherein he wrote poems for others for a fee after they provided him pertinent information. The business was doing well, Don says, but he obtained a time-consuming position with the government which necessitated closing the business.
Publishing poetry has never been one of his goals. Don’s poems have not been published because he does not submit them for publication, except for some local newspapers. He writes poems for personal reasons and he writes rhyming poetry which many people enjoy. Always quick with humor, Don says he must have missed the poetry “revolution” meaning the time when free-verse poetry became more accepted.
One of his poems, “I’m Glad It’s Mine” has been used during citizenship swearing-in ceremonies in central Florida and for central Florida Flag Day ceremonies. Also, one of his combat stories was published in a compilation called “The Harsh and the Heart” and “Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories, Volume 2”.
He has a BA in Psychology, MS in Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a Commercial Pilots license for airplanes and helicopters. He is a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, (ISASI), Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Helicopter Pilot Association (VHPA), Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) and others.
He and his wife, Marti, have been married for 31 years. Their 15 children and grandchildren live in central Florida, California and north Georgia.
Contact NCWN-West Representative, Glenda Beall, at 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com for more information. North Carolina Writers’ Network-West is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network
