The Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) is the nation’s premier non-profit for connecting veterans with their fellow Americans through inspiring stories of service. We’re the place where veterans can share what they’ve seen and done—and where everyone can listen and learn.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Is China already a great power—or still becoming one? And if it is, what does that mean for the United States, the Navy, and the balance of power at sea?
Dr. Bernard “Bud” Cole is a 30-year U.S. Navy veteran, former warship commander, and one of America’s leading experts on China’s military and maritime strategy.
Bud Cole has spent a lifetime in the Pacific—at sea, in uniform, and in the classroom—studying the very questions now dominating headlines:
- Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) – Surface Warfare Officer with 30 years of service
- Commanded USS Rathburne (FF-1057) and a destroyer squadron
- Served in Vietnam as a naval gunfire liaison officer with Marines
- Former Professor of International History, National War College
- Author of landmark works on China and naval power, including The Great Wall at Sea
He has watched China’s rise not from afar, but up close—over decades—as its navy evolved into a global force challenging U.S. influence across the Indo-Pacific.
- What “great power” actually means—and whether China meets the test
- The rapid expansion of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
- Why the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait matter so much
- How maritime power shapes global trade, energy, and security
- Where U.S.–China competition is heading—and what could go wrong
- Lessons from history about rising powers and established ones
This is not a cable news argument or a policy lecture. It’s a conversation with someone who has served, commanded, studied, and taught the realities of naval power and great-power competition.
About VBC LIVE:
The Veterans Breakfast Club brings veterans, families, and the public together in communities of listening—where stories, experience, and history help us better understand today’s world.
#China #USNavy #IndoPacific #Taiwan #SouthChinaSea #Geopolitics #MilitaryHistory #NavalStrategy #Veterans #GreatPower #VBC
Join the Veterans Breakfast Club, the Military Writers Society of America, and Blue Ear Books for a five-part Zoom-only workshop designed to help veterans, family members, military supporters, and aspiring writers tell their stories.
Whether you’re writing a memoir, family history, article, short story, or novel, experienced authors and workshop facilitators will guide you through character, setting, dialogue, plot, and the craft of storytelling. No prior writing experience is required.
The workshop meets on September 8, September 22, October 6, and October 20, with a special concluding session on October 27 led by publisher Ethan Casey of Blue Ear Books and editor Lisa Carrington Firmin. The final session will focus on editing, publishing, and next steps for writers who wish to share their work with a wider audience.
Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions, as the workshop is designed to build toward a completed story. Through writing exercises, discussion, examples, and feedback, attendees will develop the skills and confidence to tell meaningful stories drawn from military service, family history, community experiences, or imagination.
We hope that by the end of the series, participants will have developed a story they may wish to publish with the Veterans Breakfast Club or elsewhere.
SESSION SCHEDULE
Session 1 – Finding Your Story
Tuesday, September 8 • 7:00–8:30 pm ET
Instructor: Bob Doerr
The opening session introduces the fundamentals of storytelling and helps participants identify the stories they want to tell. Discussion will focus on point of view, narrative choices, and the challenges of transforming memories and ideas into compelling stories. Participants will complete writing exercises and examine examples of effective and ineffective storytelling.
Session 2 – Creating Memorable Characters and Settings
Tuesday, September 22 • 7:00–8:30 pm ET
Instructor: Ruth Crocker
Every story needs people and places readers can believe in. This session explores how writers develop characters, establish setting, and create vivid worlds that support their stories. Participants will complete guided exercises and discuss examples from published works.
Session 3 – Dialogue, Narration, and Story Structure
Tuesday, October 6 • 7:00–8:30 pm ET
Instructor: Valerie Ormond
This session examines the mechanics of storytelling: narration, dialogue, plot, and story arc. Participants will learn techniques for moving stories forward, creating tension, and engaging readers. Writing exercises and discussion will help participants apply these concepts to their own projects.
Session 4 – Participant Readings and Workshop Discussion
Tuesday, October 20 • 7:00–8:30 pm ET
Moderated by Shaun Hall with Valerie Ormond, Bob Doerr, Ethan Casey, and Lisa Carrington Firmin
Participants will have the opportunity to share excerpts from their work (up to five minutes each), receive encouragement and feedback, and discuss next steps in their writing journeys. This session serves as both a workshop and celebration of the stories developed during the series.
Session 5 – Editing, Publishing, and Next Steps
Tuesday, October 27 • 7:00–8:30 pm ET
Instructors: Ethan Casey and Lisa Carrington Firmin
What happens after you’ve written your story? This concluding session explores editing, revision, publishing options, and practical advice for writers seeking to share their work with readers. Participants will learn about traditional publishing, independent publishing, collaborative projects, and opportunities to contribute stories to future Veterans Breakfast Club publications.
INSTRUCTORS
Bob Doerr
Award-winning author Bob Doerr grew up in a military family, graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and served in the Air Force specializing in criminal investigations and counterintelligence. A full-time author with more than twenty published books, he is a former Military Writers Society of America Author of the Year and recipient of numerous literary awards. His novels draw upon decades of experience in intelligence, security, and international affairs.
Ruth Crocker
Ruth W. Crocker is an author, editor, playwright, and former healthcare executive. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Gettysburg Review, The Saturday Evening Post, and O-Dark-Thirty. Her memoir, Those Who Remain: Remembrance and Reunion After War, received multiple national awards and was presented to President Barack Obama at the White House. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington College and a PhD from the University of Connecticut.
Valerie Ormond
Valerie Ormond retired after a twenty-five-year career as a naval intelligence officer and founded Veteran Writing Services, LLC. She is the author of the award-winning Believing in Horses series and has published fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and journalism in a wide variety of venues. She serves as Vice President of the Military Writers Society of America and is a frequent speaker on writing and publishing.
Ethan Casey
Ethan Casey is founder and publisher of Blue Ear Books. Through publishing, editing, and mentoring writers, he has helped authors bring stories of military service, international affairs, and personal experience to wider audiences. He will lead the workshop’s concluding session on editing, publishing, and next steps for writers.
Lisa Carrington Firmin
Lisa Carrington Firmin is co-editor of the Veterans Book Initiative at Blue Ear Books. An experienced editor and publishing professional, she works with writers to refine manuscripts and prepare them for publication. She will discuss editing, revision, and publication opportunities available to emerging writers.
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
Military Writers Society of America (MWSA)
The Military Writers Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military service members, veterans, their families, and supporters record history, explore the complexities of military life, and use writing as a form of education, reflection, and healing. Since 2015, MWSA has conducted writing workshops across the country and has supported hundreds of writers in sharing their stories.
Learn more: https://mwsadispatches.com
Blue Ear Books is an independent publishing organization dedicated to helping writers develop, refine, and publish meaningful work. Through editing, mentoring, and publishing initiatives, Blue Ear Books helps authors bring important stories to readers.
Learn more: https://blueearbooks.com
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VBC programs connect and heal,
educate and inspire.
Everyone is always welcome.
The Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) is the nation’s premier non-profit for connecting veterans with their fellow Americans through inspiring stories of service.
Our goal is to build a nation that understands and values the experiences of our military veterans so that every day is Veterans Day.
We do this by bringing together–in-person and online–men and women from all walks of life, all ages and eras, and every branch of service to talk about what they’ve seen and done. We want to hear how people’s military service has shaped them. “Every Veteran Has a Story” is our slogan. We want to hear every one.
We share the stories we hear in our weekly VBC Bulletin email newsletter and our quarterly VBC Magazine. We also record a weekly podcast, The Scuttlebutt, about military culture from the people who lived it.
We do all this because we believe the best way to thank a Veteran is to listen.
Listening is what the VBC has been doing for the past 15 years, when we held our first small event outside of Pittsburgh. Since then, we’ve held over 1,000 programs in-person and online and have welcomed over 20,000 different people at our events, Veterans and non-Veterans coming together to listen.
We value every veteran’s experience, no matter who they are or when or how they served. We’ve seen up close the power of storytelling, as the memories shared at VBC events connect, heal, educate, and inspire an ever-expanding circle of listeners.
THE VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT
Preserving veterans’ stories so that this living history is never forgotten.
We pair passionate VBC volunteers with military veterans for one-on-one oral history interviews over Zoom. If you are a veteran, or you know a veteran, who would be interested in sharing his or her story with us, let us know. If you are someone interested in conducting these interviews, please reach out!
At any given event, you might hear from the newest members of Space Force to a 101-year-old World War II veteran.
We’ve welcomed Tin Can Sailors and Montford Point Marines, Vietnam Sky Soldiers and Cold War intelligence officers. We’ve heard stories from the Horn of Africa to Antarctica, the Bering Sea to Diego Garcia, and all points in between.
LORAN Coast Guardsmen and Radar Station Airmen have told us about serving in some of the most remote places on earth.
Korean War veterans have borne witness to their “forgotten war.”
Other “forgotten warriors” shared their memories of Beirut, Grenada, and Mogadishu.
Some of the first women authorized for combat shared stories of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the Purple Hearts they received.
