Fred Tomasello Jr.

Fred Tomasello Jr. served three years as an officer in the U. S. Marine Corps. He earned two Purple Hearts, five Air Medals and a heavy dose of Post Traumatic Stress.

Born and raised in West Tampa, Florida, Fred graduated from the University of South Florida and worked 27 years at the Tampa Postal Service. Retiring in 1999, he and his wife Kathy Blair sold their home, bought a truck and trailer, and traveled cross-country for five years as full-time RV'ers before settling in Cheektowaga, NY, a suburb of Buffalo.

Soon after September 11, 2001 Fred started writing and discovered the spiritual renewal and catharsis associated with recording the truth about his experiences. His articles have been published in Over Coffee, a publication of the Northside Writer's Group, The Tampa Tribune, Nostalgia magazine and the The Buffalo News.

"Walking Wounded: Memoir of a Combat Veteran" is an insider's look into the life-changing events of war: A grunt platoon commander leading Marines into combat; an Aerial Observer calling in close air support; a Casualty Assistance Officer notifying families of Marines wounded or killed in action; and the long term effects those events have on a veteran's family life.

Also available on Amazon are "West Tampa Stories: Volume 1" and 2, a collection of family history and short stories about growing up in a Spanish and Italian community during the 50's and 60's.

Fred's first marriage lasted 19 years and ended in 1985 with all his kids siding with their mother and alienating themselves from their dad. His second marriage lasted 37 years before he moved out on his own, refusing to compromise his views on Covid and politics. Anger fueled by Post Traumatic Stress triggered his Flight or Fight response and, fortunately for all, Fred left peacefully.

He was living in a trailer park, ALONE, playing shuffleboard and poker when he met Debbie Huff.

Like Fred says, "God saved the best chapter of my life for last."

Read "ALL IN! A Poker Love Story" for Fred's final words about his life, a written THANK YOU for the universe answering all his prayers.

"The War, Me & ChatGPT"

is a Vietnam combat veteran’s memoir that explores the ethical cost of war and the divide between institutional truth and lived experience. Drawing on combat leadership, injury, and decades of aftermath, Fred Tomasello Jr. examines how truth is managed by systems—and carried by individuals.

Through reflective conversations with ChatGPT, the book uses artificial intelligence not as a gimmick, but as a tool for moral clarity—probing accountability, Moral Injury, and what remains long after war ends. This is a human memoir at the intersection of veterans’ experience, ethics, and AI’s role in understanding truth.