Hans Halberstadt

After high school I got interested in sky-diving and girls, and did both till joining the Army in March 1962 in search of other kinds of adventure. Volunteered for Viet Nam after AIT, served as a helicopter door gunner throughout the Central Highlands, mostly going into Green Beret camps and taking Vietnamese troops on combat operations. Had a great time – got shot at but didn’t get hit, and that’s good enough for me.

Graduated from the Army in 1965, went to SF State, graduated in 1968 with a degree in film/broadcasting, and a wife. We spent three years in Washington DC before escaping back to California, returning with two kids, sons Michael and John.

I’ve lived in San Jose ever since, on the same little street in the same little neighborhood near San Jose State, first making short films for public relations, education, and TV commercials. Then, about fifteen years ago, I accidentally started writing books. You may remember me as the guy who couldn’t write a term paper to save his life; well, I’ve written more than fifty books now, and I break every rule Miss Rogers and Mr. Bode and Mr. Wallace tried to enforce in those English classes.

My books are all (supposed to be) non-fiction and appeal to adolescent males of all ages – they are about Green Berets, Navy SEALs, all kinds of combat aircraft, tanks, collectable cars, cops, and even one recent pictorial featuring young ladies in very scanty attire. I contribute photography to SELF, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (two covers this year), MUSCLE & FITNESS, and even an occasional respectable rag like NEWSWEEK.

My wife is the lovely and extremely tolerant Miss April, to whom I have been hitched, lo, these twenty-two years. She came equipped with two house-broken kids of her own, Christopher and Bronwyn. All the kids are grown and out making mischief in the business world; none has been arrested, so far as I know, and only one has very many tattoos. None have hit me up for a loan in quite a while, and one has even produced a coupleof grand-kinder. Life is good.

Contact me at hans@pacbell.net