How does it feel to retire from the Army after your extensive service?
The thought of retiring from the Army after 20 years of service is very surreal. But, after the past 15 months in Iraq, I am beyond excited at the prospect of civilian life. I look forward to spending as much time as possible with my family.

What can Americans learn from our servicemen and women, and the military as a whole?I do think that we can all learn some valuable lessons. If you look at the military as a profession, you will see that is clearly personifies all that is great with America. Service to others, to friends, to communities, to the nation, is so important. In order to be successful at our combat tasks, the order of precedence must always be the mission first, the good of the unit, and lastly, the individual. An organization where teams succeed because of individual dedication is incredibly inspiring.

How do you plan on spending your retirement? Will you be writing anymore books on your experiences?
My wife Tori and I have many grand plans for life after the Army. We are excited at the opportunity to start our own business in 2008. We have been developing a business plan for a placement firm to help senior enlisted soldiers find great job opportunities after their service is complete, and we will continue to support the wounded warriors at Walter Reed.

As for writing, I’ve always wanted to write a book about leadership and followership, especially for young men and women. I am currently penning a pocket book of leadership.

If you there is a single philosophy that you have learned from the military, what would it be and why is it important to you?
The single greatest philosophy I will take is that the great leaders are only 30% of the solution. We must have outstanding followers who like and believe in what they are doing, and that only happens if we invest in our subordinates. I can trace every single one of my succcesses to a leader who invested something in me. My failures are mine alone, but my achievements are due to others who took the time to coach and mentor me.

What do you hope your experiences will teach your audiences, and what lessons do you think the military can give to individuals and businesses?
Life in the Army continually forces me to refine my problem-solving techniques while concurrently evaluating my people skills. This has become muscle memory. That may be the single most beneficial lesson that I can give; developing people for the greater good. That’s what we have done and that’s what I hope to continue to do (after a long vacation, of course).

What inspired you to write a book about your childhood?
Seeing my mother rooting in the garbage, asking her what on earth I was supposed to tell people about her, and her telling me simply and elegantly: Just tell the truth.

What was the most challenging part of writing this book?Confronting a past that I tried very hard to run away from.

What was your reaction to the book’s critical acclaim and its best-selling staying power?
I’m flabbergasted, amazed, amused, and grateful. Here I thought that my past was embarassing - and it turned out to be the ace up my sleeve.

How do you share your story to make it compelling to diverse audiences?
One of the many things that I’ve learned from speaking to audiences is how much we’re all alike. We may face different challenges and we deal with those challenges differently. But, I believe that once you get past the differences, we all have the same fears and the same desires, so if you speak honestly and openly, you connect with all people. A friend of mine once told me a verse from the Talmud that I think sums it up well: When the heart speaks, the heart listens.

How do you plan to follow up The Glass Castle? Are you interested in writing more non-fiction?
Yes, I’m at work on another non-fiction book. I’m no good at fiction. In my opinion, the truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s more compelling.

As you continue to share your story, what do you hope people will learn from it, and how would you like your speaking to make a difference?
So many people have said to me, “Oh, you’re so strong, I couldn’t have possibly survived what you did.” I tell them, “Of course you could! You’re much stronger than you realize. You just haven’t been tested. You just weren’t lucky enough to have a really weird childhood.”

How has speaking to audiences changed your life?
I used to operate under the assumption that to win, you had to get ahead of other people. I now realize how wrong I was. It’s not a competition. We win by helping others. What’s more, I was completely unprepared for how open-minded, wise, and kind people are. It has changed my world from a place filled with potential enemies to a place filled with potential friends. And I’ve come to understand that we all have demons from our past - the trick is not to run from them, but to put a harness on them and put them to work for you.

You are a son of John Bradley, who raised the American flag at Iwo Jima. People must assume you give speeches about war. Do you?
Some who haven’t heard me might assume so. But I don’t spead of war, I speak of “getting it done” in life.

Using historical examples, I demonstrate how people’s thoughts have allowed them to accomplish tasks deemed “impossible” by “experts.” The geniuses judge something “impossible,” and it would be so: No one would attemt the task branded as “impossible.”

Then, a leader emerges and says, “Let’s do the impossible.” They leap over the assumptions of the crowd and lead a few to accomplish what was considered “impossible.” The American commander who placed my father on the sands of Iwo Jima defied military experts that said it couldn’t be done. In London, I met a man who ran the first four minute mile. Doctors had warned that if anyone dared to push the human body over the distance of one mile in less than four minutes, their circulatory system would collapse. He disagreed. He ran the mile in under four minutes. Within months, a number of runners around the world saw the fallacy of the “impossible” and broke the four minute time barrier also.

The name of my speech, “Doing the Impossible,” sounds like a big subject. But it is as simple as this: You become what you think about. Napoleon said it best, “Imagination rules.”

On the speaking circuit you are known for your passionate delivery and the spontaneous standing ovations from your audiences. What is your take on the art and craft of public speaking?
When he returned from the Pacific as a war hero, my father spoke to millions of Americans in stadiums and over the radio. When I was a little boy, my father taught me how to stand straight and speak clearly to guests in our living room. I learned at an early age that proper presentation mattered.

Later, I produced and directed entertainment shows for corporations. I observed the stage skills of everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Ronald Reagan and Bill Cosby. I observed audiences as they watched shows as diverse as Roy Orbison or a dancing bear act and learned that people want to be entertained first, and learn second, and it’s the job of the speaker to entertain. I study audiences, and I serve audiences. My question is, “What does this audience want?” If they want to hear some fabulous true stories about people who did the impossible, then I hope we can meet.

Humans yearn for connection and to share experiences. We want to laugh with delight and cry with joy. I help audiences do that.

How did a boy from rural Wisconsion become America’s Pacific historian?
Well, my “Cheesehead” dad raised a flag in the Pacific. Later, I went to university in Japan. When I was 21 years old I traveled across the Pacific and Asia. I saw Mao’s bamboo curtain, lived under Indira Gandhi’s martial law in India, bought melons from Afghan men wearing turbans and bandoliers, and shook hands with the Empress of Iran.

Later, I earned a degree in Asian history from the University of Wisconsin, where author Stephen Ambrose also graduated. This is when I decided to devote my energies to a great understanding of Asian culture.

Currently, I am writing my third book. It’s about nineteenth century American political engagements with Asia/Pacific countries. It centers upon President Teddy Roosevelt’s strategy for Asia and its impact on the region.

Your foundation - the James Bradley Peace Foundation - has changed the lives of American students who spend an entire school year living with families in Japan and China and attending school there. What do you mean when you say awarding these scholarships is your effort to build a bridge between America and Asia?
We have no time for hate in this world. My father was carried off of Iwo Jima lying on a litter. Some Japanese soldiers had peppered his body with hot metal. Later, we buried my dad with much of that made-in-Japan metal still in there.

My dad had good reason to be a little sore at the Japanese, but later I observed that when I brought my Japanese girlfriend to meet my dad, he welcomed her warmly to his table.

My books feature a lot of violence that took place between Americans and Asians over the past century. The theory of my foundation is this: If we take American high school kids and introduce them to Chinese and Japanese families, they will return from their year in Asia profoundly changed. Later, when they migrate into the American power structure, there might come a day when our country is again deciding whether to fight it out or talk it out. Maybe in the future one of the James Bradley Peace Foundation kids will help us talk it out. I know my theory sounds naive, but we’re giving peace a chance.

You are well known as an expert on fraud, including forgery and the breach of secure documents. How did this knowledge lead you to write your new book on identity theft, Stealing Your Life? I got involved with identity theft back in the late 1980s when I saw that we were moving to electronic files, and became concerned about people being able to access those files and use them to steal someone’s identity. Today, there’ll be over 10 million victims, or one every 3 1/2 seconds in the United States, losses to banks exceed $50 billion, and it has passed drug trafficking as the number one crime in America. It’s been amazing to watch and write about it since its inception.

What are some of the ways to avoid identity theft, and how can people protect themselves from new technologies that make theft and fraud easier?
There are three answers to identity theft. The first one is that everyone should own a shredder. I can’t overemphasize the importance and simplicity of buying a shredder. I recommend what’s called a micro-cut shredder. It is important to shred everything. What we think of as worthless pieces of paper are very valuable to someone else.

The second thing is use a credit monitoring service. They monitor credit, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What’s important is to make sure they do two things: First ask, “Do you monitor all three credit bureaus?” Two, ask, “Do you notify me in either real time or same day?” When you use a monitoring service that monitors all bureaus and within real time, if someone wanted to get a credit card in your name, you would be notified immediately. And that’s the best thing to do.

Finally, all companies and corporations have to do a better job protecting the identity of customers and employees. If you have an employee who quits and downloads all [customer information], then what? Go out and buy identity management software so those things don’t happen.

Those are the three easiest things to put a dent into identity theft.

Your fraud seminar is a valuable tool for individuals and businesses. What is the key point you emphasize in getting people to protect themselves?
The key is that you have to let people know their risk. If you show people where they’re at risk, explain a simple, easy solution for protection, people will go out and do so. People are basically honest, and they don’t sit at home with a deceptive mind thinking, “How would someone rip me off?” I try to have that deceptive mind for them. I try to put in front of them all the things that can happen, and I give them very simple solutions.

The important thing for my seminar is to educate. I’ve found that the only way you prevent crime is to teach people how to protect themselves. I think I’ve been very successful because I’m not the policeman. They sit there and think, the guy knows the insides and outsides of it, and how to deal with it. I give people very simple solutions, and common sense tells them, “He’s right, I need to go back and make those changes.”

What do you consider to be your greatest contribution to fraud prevention?
In my 32 years of doing this, I think the fact that I make people aware. That’s why people have changed the way they’ve done business, because I’ve made them aware of their risk.

Your presentations are some of the most popular talks on the speaking circuit. How do you stay passionate about speaking, and what is your secret to success?
I truly believe you have to believe in what you’re speaking about. If I’m speaking about fraud, protecting people and educating people is very dear to my heart. When I give a keynote about my life, I know that people are entertained by the things I did as a teenager, but, bring them around so they understand where my life has come from - fatherhood, being married for 30 years, being a dad, and what’s important in my life. It’s worthless to go out and speak unless you’re leaving your audience better people than they came in.

What do you think is the most important message you impart to all audieences, whether they are watching your autobiographical “Catch Me If You Can” lecture or your fraud seminar?
The important thing is the message about family in my keynote. In my seminars, the important thing is to educate people. I hope that they walk away and their eyes are opened and people go out and better protect their businesses and families. Those two things are what are important to me. Whether it’s talking to business people about fraud, or just being a keynote speaker and talking about where my life has brought me.