Don Bendell is a  top-selling author of 25 books, a television pilot, and a successful feature film, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books, mainly novels, in print worldwide. He is also a successful screenwriter, producer, director, actor, stuntman, talk show host, cowboy, poet, speaker, and martial arts master. 

A 7th degree black belt Master in 4 different martial arts and black sash instructor in Muay Thai, Don is a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame and 1996 inductee into the Martial Arts Museum of America and owns and operates 2 successful karate schools in southern Colorado. He was previously on the National Advisory Board of the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts along with such notables as Burt Reynolds, Wayne Newton, Will Sampson, and Jonathan Winters. In 2007, Don was highly-honored in a speech by US Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson along with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.  He has worked extensively with Vietnamese Montagnard refugees and on Montagnard issues and has also been listed in Marquis' WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and WHO'S WHO IN ENTERTAINMENT ever since 1992. From December of 2001-2003, he was President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter (Chap. 4/24) of the Special Forces Ass'n, is a member of the Special Operations Ass'n, Life member of VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, a former member of the International Platform Ass'n, and the Western Writers of America, where he was nominated for 4 prestigious SPUR Awards for 4 of his 10 popular western novels.

A graduate with a Business degree from Colorado Christian University, Don  has also been a US Army Special Forces (Green Beret) officer and Vietnam veteran, a licensed Colorado big-game guide and outfitter, bodyguard, executive sales rep, and radio disc jockey. He is the father of 6 grown children and grandfather of 6.

THE AUTHOR

Don is currently writing three new modern-day military thriller novels for Berkley (Penguin) the world's biggest publisher about modern day Delta Force, called the Detachment-Delta series. Right now he has another trilogy in release called the CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT series.  The first was released worldwide in December, 2005. Here are what a few notables  said about it:

 “Don Bendell has Hit the Mark with this fine book.”-------Billy Waugh, Sergeant Major US Army Special Forces (Ret) and acclaimed retired CIA master spy, and author of HUNTING THE JACKAL  about his adventures tracking and capturing the infamous Carlos the Jackal.

"Don was outstanding in battle, and now he has been outstanding in writing a powerful modern-day military thriller dealing with the War on Terrorism.”   “. . . you must read this novel!" The Honorable Rudi Gresham, Special Forces retired, Presidential Appointee, and for many years aide to LTG Willam Yarborough, "Father of the Modern Green Berets." 

“Don Bendell knows this stuff cold, and writes better action scenes than any man alive." --Jim Morris, author of WAR STORY and THE DEVIL'S SECRET NAME

The second novel CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT: BROKEN BORDERS  was released worldwide in November, 2006 and the final novel in the trilogy:  CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT: BAMBOO BATTLEGROUND  was released worldwide in November of 2007. Besides being military thrillers and packed with both action and suspense the three novels have had an unrequited love story woven within the overall storylines, which has embraced readers.

Some of the quotes about BAMBOO BATTLEGROUND have been:

Motion picture and TV Superstar Bo Derek:  “I feel so honored that Don patterned Bo Devore as a cross between me and his wife Shirley. BAMBOO BATTLEGROUND ties up all the loose ends from the previous two novels in the trilogy and is a military thriller that I could not put down. The old-fashioned romance between the main characters is refreshing and the suspense and action kept me glued to the pages. I think Don really did it with these three books.”

The Honorable Rudi Gresham, Presidential Appointee, 3-Time Special Forces Ass’n  Member of the Year, and longtime aide to LTG William Yarborough, “Father of the modern Green Berets, “My old friend Don Bendell has written three novels with the CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT series which are an absolute must-read for anybody who likes military thrillers, specops, and in the middle of all that action and suspense there is even a love story for the ages.  BAMBOO BATTLEGROUND is the bow on this fun little three-book package. I recommend it for every man or woman who knows what is going in the world.”

When asked what his occupation is, Don often refers to himself simply as "an American cowboy." His favorite writing is westerns, and like the late-Louis L'Amour, he rides his horse Eagle over the land he writes about. Don stopped writing westerns after ten were published and doing very well only because the western novel has died on the vine somewhat, but will hopefully re-blossom in the future. His 10-book series of western historical fiction were referred to as "the Colt series" and compared with the late-Louis L'Amour's Sackett series somewhat. Released by Signet Westerns NAL-Dutton, they garnered 4 Western Writers of America SPUR award nominations but the late longtime MEN editor of  Playboy magazine provided the most-telling and significant quote about Don's western novels when he said: "If you liked Louis L' Amour, you will really love Don Bendell." Asa Baber, Playboy magazine.

Don  is the author of a total of 25 books that were written for major New York Publishers. Four of his earliest books were non-fiction stories related to his service in Vietnam. Six science fiction books, the TRACKER series, were published under the pen name RON STILLMAN, and as mentioned ten of his books have been westerns. Four of these have been nominated for the prestigious Western Writers of America SPUR Award. One of his books is a book of poetry, POEMS OF THE WARRIOR.

Don wrote a number of editorials favoring President Bush during the Presidential election, which circulated the globe and brought him over 300,000 e-mails from February through December of 2004. He was interviewed on FOX NEWS LIVE in April, 2004, was written about in the WASHINGTON TIMES, and his articles and editorials were published in THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, and in many magazines, newspapers, websites, and blogs. He was also a Featured Guest Speaker in several states and even made an Honorary Oklahoman by that state's legislature.

ABOUT DON

Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Don joined the U.S. Army after graduating from Tallmadge High School in 1966. He was an MP for a short period and worked as a guard in Maximum Security at Fort Dix, New Jersey where he was shot in the cheek in a training accident by an M-14 rifle. After Infantry Officers Candidate School and Airborne Training (Jump School) at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was commissioned a second lieutenant on June 1, 1967, and trained extensively for a year with the 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina earning his Green Beret. This included Vietnamese Language School under the tutelage of Madame Nhu's sister (who was the sister of the bachelor President of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem and was considered Vietnam's First Lady). In yet another strange training accident during this period, Don, wearing black pajamas, and posing as a Viet Cong crawling through culvert pipe tunnels ten feet underground under a mock Viet Cong village at Camp A.P. Hill, VA, had a member of the 3rd Infantry Regiment throw a grenade into the tunnel thinking it was C.S. (strong tear gas). An investigation by the Pentagon uncovered it was actually a classified experimental hand grenade, and it contained mustard gas, which burned Don's face, hands, lungs, throat, and mouth. As far as can be uncovered, Don is the only veteran from the Vietnam Era who has been burned with mustard gas. He was temporarily blinded by the incident but recovered fully, except for getting pneumonia easily.

Arriving in Vietnam on May 31, 1968, Don was promoted the next day to first lieutenant, assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group in South Vietnam where he became Executive Officer-Civil Affairs/Psychological Operations officer  of an A-Detachment, or A-Team, A-242, at Dak Pek living with and training and fighting with the Jeh tribe of Montagnards (ferocious aboriginal-type warriors who lived in Vietnam's mountainous Central Highlands). As an additional duty, in July, Don was also assigned as District Coordinator of the Top Secret Phoenix Program for the Dak Pek and Dak Sut Districts in his area of operations, and a few months later,  the Jeh Montagnards made him a Brigadier General in their inter-tribal secret independence movement called the FULRO (Fronts Unifie de Lutte des Races-Oprimees), which helped him significantly with his Phoenix duties.  In 1969, he was medically-evacuated, first to Pleiku's 71st Evac Hospital, then the 1st Field Hospital in Tokyo for a month, then back to Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg in the United States, and finally, with a 3-Medical Profile, he was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group, where he became the Group Assistant S-2 (Staff Intelligence Officer) and was the Officer in Charge of all the Top Secret Area Studies for every nation in the continent of Africa. He was not allowed to return to Viet Nam because of his medical profile, although he kept trying to return. In June of 1969, Don was promoted to Captain and sent to the US Army Intelligence Officers School at Fort Holabird, Maryland, where he graduated on the Commandant's List. He had received a Top Secret security clearance in Vietnam in early 1969. When the 3rd Special Forces Group deactivated, Don became an Assistant S-3, or Staff Operations Officer-Area Specialist Officer with the 6th Special Forces Group which was in charge of all the countries in the Mideast.  

Frustrated because he could not return to Vietnam and was told he was "too unconventional" because he was an Infantry officer with tours in 4 Special Forces Groups, Captain Bendell was honorably discharged from the Army in 1970. He began to pursue a number of jobs, including a stint as a disc jockey and radio salesman and producer at WAYN radio in Rockingham, North Carolina. He also worked as a plainclothes store detective, a planning coordinator for a community action agency, and turned down a job with the Secret Service to work as an executive sales representative in Ohio with F.W. Means and Co., Inc. He also started writing magazine articles. Having studied various martial arts since 1966, he opted to return occupationally to one of his first loves, the martial arts. In Ohio, he became a certified training officer for the Ohio Peace Officers Training Council, and as a writer for martial arts magazines, developed a friendship with World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali starting in 1973 which still continues. In the mid-seventies, Don returned to the Fort Bragg area, because he wanted to teach the martial arts to Green Berets and other soldiers. Twice per week, Bendell taught defense against knives, guns, and weapons, as well as a combination of Tae Kwon Do, Jujitsu, and Kickboxing at the Fort Bragg Boxing Club, and had a school outside Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, called the Karate Institute, and a branch school in Pinehurst. As a civilian volunteer, he also assisted then-Commanding General Hank Emmerson in setting up a Tae Kwon Do program for the 18th Airborne Corps, which was comprised of Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell, Kentucky called the "US Army Fit to Fight" program.  In June, 2005, legendary BLACK BELT magazine had a photo feature story about Don called WISDOM AGAINST WEAPONS.   He has also been featured in other national martial arts magazines, and from 1997 through 2000, he and wife Shirley put on the very popular and successful National karate tournament called "Don Bendell's Halloween Classic," which drew competitors from all over the United States. He also toured the country as a primary referee at many major World Championships, including the Diamond Nationals in St. Paul, the Battle of Atlanta, the Bluegrass Nationals in Memphis, the Compete Nationals in Los Angeles, John Chung's SIDEKICK World Championship in Washington, DC, Stan Witz' International Karate Championship in Las Vegas, the Desert Classic in Phoenix and many more. Don has also trained dozens of State Champions and a number of National and World Champions in forms weapons forms, sparring, and grappling.  One of his former students was a 10-times NASKA World Champion in sparring. In high school, Don was a first string lightweight wrestler at Coventry and Tallmadge High Schools in Akron, Ohio and was a sparring partner for a Golden Gloves Champion. He has been trained as a "cut man" by boxing legend the late-Johnny Tocco of Las Vegas. Master Bendell's has trained with others and has been creating his own style of Jujitsu for years, but his primary and only recognized instructor for close to four decades is former World Champion and Hall of Fame Black Belt Grandmaster Bob Chaney of Temecula, California.   

After an 11-year marriage to his first wife, Linda, ended in 1979,   but with three wonderful children, a son and 2 daughters, Don, in 1980, achieved a lifelong goal and successfully raised the financing, wrote, produced, directed, and co-starred in the low budget martial arts action motion picture THE INSTRUCTOR, which was eventually successfully-released in 1984 worldwide by Shapiro Entertainment Corporation of Hollywood and by Vestron Video and sold to and featured in 164 countries around the world. Don jokes that the feature brought in very little money for him but plenty for his Hollywood distributor, but it did provide him and Shirley with PhD's in Hard Knocks in every aspect of the motion picture business. 

In 1981, Don married his wife Shirley and adopted her three sons. They moved to southern Colorado in 1982, where Don achieved another lifelong goal and became an American cowboy, which he still is today. In 1984 and 1985, he became a licensed big game guide and outfitter, but during it all, he still taught the martial arts and worked on film projects. In 1989, he left the film business and started writing books, which he still does today, but he and Shirley made a commitment to return to the film business "when God opens that door again."  In the meantime, Don has used his spare time sometimes to track missing people, animals, or fugitives. This also gives him more ammunition for his books and screenplays. In the summer of 2002, Don wrote, directed, and starred in a one-hour television pilot entitled COWBOY, which featured special guest stars Rex Allen, Jr. and Buck Taylor. Don's family still has two karate schools, Bendell Karate in Canon City and Pueblo West, which Don runs and teaches at, with Shirley's help, and a dozen dedicated  black belt instructors. Like Shirley, he also attended grad school at the Colorado State University-Pueblo, but  most of Don's time is still spent writing, oft-times until the wee hours of the morning "when the phones have stopped ringing."

He and Shirley love to pack up their horses and camp, fish, and hunt high in the Colorado Rockies. They also love to go dancing, and they travel a lot. Don's six children are in their thirties and forties, and he has six grand-children, having lost one previously. A recovering alcoholic for almost four decades, Don has helped many alcoholics and drug addicts get into recovery programs, and their families into 12-step programs as well. He also works with Montagnard refugee assistance, and has spent a lot of time on veterans issues and exposing phony veterans and fake war heroes. Don is also a rabid Denver Broncos fan and is active in Republican politics. He and Shirley are members of Grandview Christian Church in Canon City,. Colorado.

SHIRLEY BENDELL

In the summer of 2002, Shirley executive produced, produced, and edited the  one-hour television pilot COWBOY, as well as floor directing the live audience stage show, and was the camera operator/sound mixer on several second unit sequences. Writing, producing, directing, and editing a series of business videos, Shirley Bendell  won the very rare and coveted First Place Gold Peak Award for a business and marketing training video she produced. The prestigious award was presented by the International Television Alliance (ITVA) at the 1998 Denver Video Festival. Graduating with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication, with Emphasis on Film and Television, from the University of Southern Colorado, Shirley is very accomplished editing video with Media 100, Avid Composer, and Avid Xpress editing systems; as well as experienced in all aspects of feature film, acting, writing, directing, producing, editing, stunts, shooting video, sound editing, and conforming film. Shirley has been a national finalist for her videos in the Telly Awards and the Horizon Awards. She has also been an associate producer and videographer on multi-camera mix live sports events shooting for the Denver Nuggets basketball games, Colorado State Fair PRCA Rodeo, and numerous high school football and baseball games. She has produced videos as diverse as a marketing and training video for CPA’s, to a documentary on a YWCA Domestic Violence Women’s Shelter, and then to a video documentary on bighorn sheep, or even a series of award-winning training modules to be used by Small Business Centers in Community Colleges on Entrepreneurial Studies.  She was also a major supporting actress and stuntwoman in the successful low budget action/adventure feature film, THE INSTRUCTOR (Shapiro Entertainment Corp/Vestron Video, 1984), and has also acted in professional theater. In 2002, Shirley also wrote, produced, and directed a twenty-minute video on events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and in early 2003, was a production assistant on the one-hour television show TILLY for PAX cable network and produced by IMS Productions.

Chief Instructor Master Shirley Bendell

 
An action-oriented person, Ms. Bendell is a fifth degree black belt master with over 27 years experience in Tae Kwon Do, Freestyle Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu.  She created an innovative Mini-Ninja program for 3, 4, and 5 year-olds, which was copied by most karate schools in southern Colorado. She also started a transitional program for 5 year olds called Power Ninjas. Shirley is Chief Instructor of Bendell Karate in Canon City and Pueblo West.

Also like Don, Shirley was born in northeastern Ohio, graduating from Youngstown Boardman High School but then lived the early part of her adult life in Akron, Ohio. As a young girl, Shirley took ballet, tap, toe-tap, jazz, and gymnastics, and she used to give acrobatic exhibitions until breaking her tailbone. She loves to camp, fish, and bowhunt on horseback in the Rocky Mountains, work with horses, play tennis or golf, and go dancing with Don. She has three sons, one step-son, two step-daughters, and six grandchildren. Shirley and Don have been married since September 6, 1981. Shirley sometimes proudly wears specially-made T-shirts with a Green Beret with slanted dagger behind it, and the words over and under it reading: "Wife and Mother of Green Berets . . .an Incredible Breed of Woman. That pretty much describes Shirley Bendell best.