The Kennedy Detail Documentary Kicks Off The 31st Annual Breckenridge Film Festival

June 9th at 4:00pm and 12th at 3:00 pm
Book Signing will follow the film presentation.

If Sundance is too crazy, grand and expensive, come to Breckenridge and recapture those early days of Sundance. Be part of four full days of films and festivities.

Visit http://www.breckfilmfest.com to learn more about the 2011 Festival, forums and events.

The Kennedy Detail Book Tour - Comment

Last night I went to our (awesome) local library and heard a talk by Gerald Blaine who has just published this book. He is one of the Secret Service agents with JFK when the president was assassinated in Dallas. Another agent, Win Lawson, was there also.

I bought the book as a gift for someone, started to browse through it, and was still reading at midnight. Guess I'll have to keep this copy. It is a fascinating account of this terrible event and what these agents still think of as a horrendous 'failure.' At the time, they had no trauma counseling and actually never have had. It was only a couple of years ago during an interview for the Discover channel that they finally began talking about their own experiences. The book seems to have become a catharsis for some of these brave and dedicated public servants. After only a few chapters, I can highly recommend it.

posted by Louscraps

Join me at the Bookworm's Local Author Showcase - Friday, June 3, 6 pm

Local Author Showcase 2011

Inside Secret Service Training

The Making of An Agent

After 16 weeks of action-packed exercises that will test them to the core, the recruits in Training Class No. 283 will pass into the elite ranks of the Secret Service -- or leave humiliated

By Laura Blumenfeld

Special Agent in Charge Michael Bryant talks about the Secret Service and the rigorous program would-be agents must complete at the James J. Rowley Training Center outside Washington, D.C.


Launch Photo Gallery






LESSON ONE: Get Ready To Die

The teacher walks into the mat room.

"Good morning, Mr. Mixon," the students say in unison.

"Cut that [expletive] out. Don't act like you give a crap about my morning."

Steve Mixon smiles, or maybe it's a snarl. Before he became an instructor at the Secret Service training camp outside Washington, Mixon served as a team leader on President George W. Bush's Counter Assault Team.

"Everyone's going to leave today in some degree of pain," Mixon tells the special agent trainees.

The 24 recruits, dressed in black combat pants and jackets, stiffen into four rows, jingling handcuffs. Scott Swantner clenches his jaw. Krista Bradford rubs raw knuckles. One trainee, who broke a rib, is keeping it a secret, fearing he'll be discharged.

"Everything is in play here, guys. Everything you learned from Day One," Mixon tells them in a basement that muffles rifle blasts. "Assailant control. Guillotine chokeholds."

For the members of Special Agent Training Class No. 283, this is finals time. They have been cramming here for months, since days after the election of Barack Obama, hoping to join the men and women charged with protecting the president.

Not all of them will make it. Read More

Join Caroline Kennedy to Celebrate President Kennedy's Birthday

Celebrate President Kennedy's Birthday Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 12:00 noon

You are invited to join Caroline Kennedy and The Honorable Ray Mabus, United States Secretary of the Navy, for a very special celebration of President John F. Kennedy's birthday this Sunday, May 29.

During this historic celebration, Secretary Mabus will officiate at the Naming Ceremony for CVN 79 - a United States Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier - to be built in the coming years and christened in 2018.

This inspiring and colorful celebration will include remarks by Caroline Kennedy and other dignitaries; a video presentation of President Kennedy's August 1, 1963 Address to the U.S. Naval Academy; the Presentation of Colors; music by the Navy Band; and the formal announcement by the United States Secretary of the Navy of the name to be given to the nuclear powered aircraft carrier CVN 79.

The Ceremony will take place in the Stephen Smith Center beginning at 12:00 noon. The U.S. Navy has requested that guests arrive by 11:30 a.m. dressed in either Business Attire or Service Uniform.

Seating is limited and reservations are required. Click here to register.

This event will be webcast live at www.jfklibrary.org/webcast.

Gaithersburg Book Festival!

Photos Courtesy of Jeffrey D. Pullen

With a Gaithersburg Book Festival Fan!

On Saturday, May 21, a book festival was held in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Two of the featured authors were Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill from the Kennedy Detail book. While this was a life-time moment for me, it was my chance to have my son to experience history. Even though Terrell may be too young to understand the significance of the moment, years later he will be able to say that he shook hands and met two people who are etched in American history.

BTW: Before I could [ask] Mr. Blaine & Hill can I take of picture of them with my son, they beat me to the punch...and here is the proof....

















With Clint Hill and 6 Year Old Terrell Pullen


Courtesy of Jeffrey D. Pullen