News-Info-Alerts

Re: Book Review

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 09, 2002

"The Ways We Choose: Lessons from a Pow's Experience
by Dave Carey
Paperback: 192 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.63 x 8.96 x 6.04
Publisher: Bookpartners Inc.; ISBN: 158151042X; (June 1, 2000)

Book Description
Retired Navy pilot Dave Carey tells the story of how he and his fellow POWs survived more than five years in the prisons of North Vietnam. He analyzes the strengths and strategies that made their survival possible and shows how these forms of faith--in self, others, country, and God--can carry everyone through personal and business crises. A moving epilogue tells of his wife&Mac226;s battle with breast cancer and her death, and how the same strengths helped her and those around her.

From the Author
Consider this story as an analogy for living life, for getting oneself into an uncertain future, for doing one's job, for meeting challenges, for dealing with tragedy, and for effectively handling life crises.

An analogy is merely a comparison. I am going to tell you a story. The inference is that a great many connections can be made between this story and your work and your lives.

My overriding intent in writing -- indeed, the mission in my work and life -- is that through all my efforts I may bring some amount of joy, hope, encouragement, and Christian witness to all with whom I have an opportunity to come in contact.

From the Inside Flap
"Dave Carey, a truly motivational individual, describes in heartbreaking detail his experience and, much more importantly, the lessons he learned from that experience and has applied in his life. His is a story of courage and honor and I commend it to anyone who seeks to find the positive that can come from the worst of times."

&Mac247;John McCain, US Senator

"Dave Carey presents simple, yet profound lessons in perseverance and victory."

-Ken Blanchard, Co-author, The One Minute Manager and Leadership by the Book

"Dave Carey has written a riveting book that poignantly illustrates the triumph of the human spirit. His experience of conquering in a horrendous environment is a powerful example of and motivator for winning the everyday battles of life. This book is a winner."

-Dr. Ron Jenson, Chairman, Future Achievement International

About the Author
Dave Carey is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. After being shot down during the Vietnam War he spent five and a half years as a prisoner. He is now a successful speaker, consultant, and trainer.

Excerpted from The Ways We Choose : Lessons from a Pow's Experience by Dave Carey. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Chapter 4: On Becoming a Professional POW

We had one fellow who went to interrogation one day. The interrogator wanted to know, "In your country, where do your parents live?" He told them, "Kansas." The interrogator said, "Your parents, what do they do?" He told him, "They are farmers." The interrogator then asked, "What do your parents grow?" He told him, "They grow updoc." Later on that day, the interrogator took him back to his cell.

The interrogator went to another cell. The little spy door opened with a bang, and there stood the man we called the Elf. He wanted to know, "What's updoc? What's updoc? What's updoc?"

It didn't make any sense at all. Everyone was thinking the Elf had popped his cork. But he really wanted to know: "What's updoc?" He was standing there with his face pressed in that little trap door, and he was really starting to get excited. The veins were standing out in his forehead. He was starting to scream and sputter. "What's updoc?"

Everyone was thinking, "Oh please, give us a hint, give us a hint." Finally the Elf screamed, "You know! Updoc! Grows on farm in Kansas!"

Ah! Yes, of course, updoc! So they told him, "It's about five feet high when it matures. Updoc looks a lot like maize ... it has a red flower on it that grows into a yellow gourd-like vegetable ... we use it in soups."

He wanted to know everything about updoc. So they taught him everything there is to know about it. They taught him the recipe for updoc bread, and even the Latin name for updoc. "