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Military.com/undertheradar “Talks Act of Valor” with Banditos Brothers producer, Scott Waugh. Click here to read the full article.

Gretta Friedman, the nurse in the iconic WWII photo, has the chance to talk about her side of the story. Click here to read the full news report from the Washington DC ABC Affiliate.

Now that Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor has been published for four months and the movie Act of Valor has been on the movie box office hits list for a full six weeks (debuting at #1 in its first week of release on February 28), it’s time to review the bidding: Reviewing events over the past four months in regards to the book and the movie can tell us a lot about American core values.

What are America’s core values? Politicians and pundits might disagree, but most influential strategic and military analysts agree that these values are captured in the document, A National Strategic Narrative, which highlights “our enduring national interests – prosperity and security” which is bounded by our “national values.”

Whether it is the intelligence community, the military, industry, or just individuals attempting to get some notion of what the future holds, extrapolating current trends to determine likely outcomes in years “downstream” is absolutely essential to stay one step ahead of any current – or future – adversaries.  This is the work of military and intelligence analysts and is more essential today than ever before.

As we reported last week, worldwide press coverage in advanced of the release of The Kissing Sailor has been intense.  There is good reason for this as it is a compelling story focused on “Five Ps: The Picture, the Place, the Publication, the People, and the Proof.

Here’s part of what renowned inaugural host of Good Morning American had to say about the book in his Foreword:

Whether it is the intelligence community, the military, industry, or just individuals attempting to get some notion of what the future holds, extrapolating current trends to determine likely outcomes in years “downstream” is both a science and an art and one that is absolutely essential to stay one step ahead of any current – or future – adversaries.  This is the work of military and intelligence analysts and is more essential today than ever before.

One such concept, the Navy-Air Force AirSea Battle Concept (ASBC), emerged well “under the radar,” in a small study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).  Released without fanfare by an American think tank, it was “merely” one of hundreds of such studies that emerge every year.  However, we found it prescient in looking towards the future of conflict for the U.S. Armed Forces.

The Kissing Sailor is gaining popularity, not just in the United States, but places as far as Chile and the UK.  This iconic post World War II photo captures everything that we as a country were feeling at that moment in time.  The identity of the kissing couple has been a mystery for 67 years, and now author George Galdorisi and co-author Lawrence Verrie have revealed the truth.  There have been approximately 5 candidates for the sailor, and about 3 for the nurse. Though, it all came down to forensic analysis to ensure that the real couple was identified. There is ample news coverage on the new book, “The Kissing Sailor”, and the story that details the search for the sailor and nurse in this historical photograph.

To read more about this amazing story we have listed below links to news coverage, interviews, and articles that will allow you to learn the story of, “The Kissing Sailor”.

There are many indicators that point to the potential for a book’s success.  One of the most closely-watched and widely-regarded is Publisher’s Weekly.

Publisher’s Weekly isn’t well-known to many outside the publishing world.  Publishers Weekly, also known as PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents.  Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, “The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling.”  With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews.

It is the most iconic photograph in American History – perhaps in all history.  Why?  Because when people look at this picture V-J Day 1945, In Times Square they understand what it felt like when World War II ended.  But until now, we knew very little about V-J Day, 1945, In Times Square.

And to this day, sixty-five years after this picture was taken, it is not hyperbole to say that interest in this picture, this event, this moment, has not flagged, it has only intensified.  An August 14, 2010 front-page article in the New York Times about a woman at the periphery of one of the five photos of the sailor and nurse that day said it best:

It is a defining image of the American century, one that expressed the joy of a nation at its moment of greatest triumph: on the day of the Japanese surrender in World War II was announced, a sailor grabbed a nurse in the middle of Times Square, bent her back and kissed her.  That kiss on V-J Day was captured in at least two photographs – one iconic, one merely famous.  And for decades since, there have been debates.  Who was the sailor?  Who was the nurse?  A number of people have staked claims, and countless stories have tried to sort them out.

George Galdorisi, along with co-author Lawrence Verria, have written a novel that has uncovered the identities of the famous “Times Square Kissing Couple”.  The couple was photographed in 1945 upon learning that Japan had surrendered to the United States.  The couple has now been identified as the nurse Greta Zimmer Friedman, and the Sailor George Mendonsa.  Below is The Huffington Post’s coverage of the telling novel.