"In Absent Friend you tell the part that needs to be told. You remind us of the important things. Things like completing what you start. Things like not letting down those that count on you. And most importantly what it means to live up to what you profess to believe."

"Through all of this story I have been amazed at not only your excellent writing skills but the sensitivity and care you have displayed in covering a very sensitive aspect of American history. I can't tell you how much it is appreciated nor can I thank you enough for doing such a good job. Would that in real life all of our casualties could come home."

"The author has taken us on an almost lifetime trek that is constantly gripping, despite much being the normal life lived by normal people. Why is it gripping: because he teaches us that normal people all have some part of their life that is not normal. In this case, the key protagonists are Vietnam war veterans. Wonderfully, one of the minor characters is actually a former Viet Cong that they encounter late in the story. The author actually gets the relationship between old adversaries just about right; I almost cried. "