Schumacher, Gerald 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born 1948.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Richmond, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

U.S. Army, served with Special Forces (Green Berets), completed tours in Korea, Germany, and Vietnam, retired as colonel; Spectrum Quest (multimedia company), Richmond, CA, owner; professional photographer.

WRITINGS:

To Be a U.S. Army Green Beret, Zenith Press (St. Paul, MN), 2005.

A Bloody Business: America's War Zone Contractors and the Occupation of Iraq, Zenith Press (St. Paul, MN), 2006.

Author of forewords to War Stories of the Green Berets, Zenith Press, 2004, and Hunting Al Qaeda, Zenith Press, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Former U.S. Army colonel Gerald Schumacher retired from a long and distinguished career to become a professional photographer and writer. With tours in Korea, Germany, and Vietnam, highlights of Schumacher's army career included traveling on special assignments for the U.S. Secret Service, commanding a Special Forces unit, developing detection equipment for biological agents, and training soldiers as a basic training company commander and division chief of staff. Schumacher's firsthand experience with the Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, became the basis of his first book, To Be a U.S. Army Green Beret. Described by Army reviewer Jimmie W. Spencer as having been "written by someone who has obviously ‘been there—done that,’" the book chronicles the journey to becoming a Special Forces soldier. It begins with basic training and continues through postgraduation courses in specialized skills. Spencer asserted in his review that the book "should be standard issue to every high school library and recruiting station."

Schumacher next changed literary perspectives to that of a civilian working in a war-torn region in A Bloody Business: America's War Zone Contractors and the Occupation of Iraq. The book details the lives of the men and women who volunteer to work in the Middle East despite facing daily life-threatening situations. A California Bookwatch contributor remarked that Schumacher's narratives are "riveting testimonies to their [the contractors'] duties and hardships." In a review for Publishers Weekly, a writer commented: "Schumacher writes with a keen sense of justice and empathy as he recounts the harrowing tales of these contractors-for-hire."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Army, March 1, 2006, Jimmie W. Spencer, "Four Views of the Quiet Professionals," review of To Be a U.S. Army Green Beret.

California Bookwatch, July 1, 2006, review of A Bloody Business: America's War Zone Contractors and the Occupation of Iraq.

Publishers Weekly, March 27, 2006, review of A Bloody Business, p. 75.

ONLINE

Gerald Schumacher Home Page,http://www.geraldschumacher.com (May 24, 2007).