Jim Howe

A U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Jim Howe spent eleven years serving aboard five different cutters, in two of them as Commanding Officer. He found that the challenges of a seagoing career quickly thrust responsibility on even the most junior officers, whether leading a boarding party onto a suspected drug smuggler's boat, operating in stormy weather, or saving lives in desperate situations.

Jim's first book, Red Crew, recounts service aboard a small fleet of high-tech cutters operating from Key West in the early years of the war on drugs. The stories in Red Crew are true, but read like a Hollywood script: battling heavy seas to save a disabled vessel drifting toward a dangerous shoal; chasing smugglers across extreme shallows at high speed; searching for drug caches hidden in expertly-hidden secret compartments; and seeking a way to rescue the crew of a grossly overloaded sailboat found trapped in a coral reef -- with a storm front approaching.

Jim continues to write, with at least two more books in the works. He loves his family, his country, and his cars, and has earned master's degrees in strategic studies, government, and space studies. Most importantly, though, Jim's time at sea taught him the precious value of life, and of the importance of living it well. He hopes that Red Crew will shine a light on the true nature of Coast Guard service, and the Coast Guard's devotion to saving those in need.