Bankrate: Are you tempted to weigh in on the Iraqi conflict?

Griffin: No. I didn't get into Vietnam either. I don't feel comfortable writing about it because I don't know that much about it. It's a different war than the kind I knew. When I was there, we never heard from the Pentagon; we did, but everybody ignored them. Now these guys are controlled by some GS-7 at the Pentagon. That changes the whole face of war. I've talked to a lot of guys who have been there, but I don't want to write about it. There's nothing really to say.

Bankrate: Is that because it seems to be largely a political war?

Griffin: No. I'm terrified of the (terrorists). I think they are determined to destroy Christian civilization and Jewish civilization, which means the western world, and nobody wants to accept that. They scare me to death. These people don't have the same concept of reality that we do. We couldn't surrender if we wanted to. It's just a nasty, nasty place to be. You're living in air-conditioned barracks and going out and getting killed. Part of why I couldn't write about it is, you can't get victory.

Bankrate: You completely changed course with the "Badge of Honor" series, shifting into police work for the first time. Were you familiar with police protocol going in?

Griffin: Not at all. There was a cop named (Philadelphia Police Chief) Zeb Casey who invited me up, and I liked the guys, but frankly there was no sense in me doing it, they're a closed fraternity. He said, "You come up here and I'll get you in," and he indeed did. There's a strong parallel between the military and the cops. Most of the white shirts in Philadelphia, had they been in the army, they would have been Green Berets or SEALs or Marines.

Bankrate: How have you invested your money?

Griffin: For years and years, I did it myself, and I did it in absolute ignorance. Now I have a money manager and he's very good. I didn't do bad. I went with T. Rowe Price for a lot of it and I made a lot of money, but it wasn't that I was smart; I was just stupidly lucky. I didn't know what in the hell I was doing. I was investing in mutual funds -- I think there were 75 of them at T. Rowe and they're all in something weird -- and I played with that and I didn't do bad. My accountant said, "You know, you're lucky. You better stop this and get somebody who knows what he's doing." So I got one of these guys who doesn't get a commission from buying and selling; he gets his commission based on how much more money he makes for me, and I'm absolutely delighted with him. I'm amazed at private citizens trying to think they know the market.

Bankrate: You've been very successful writing about the military during decades when the public appetite for war has been at an all-time low. What's your secret?

Griffin: That's very true. I think it may be because I write about people rather than stereotype soldiers. That sounds self-flattering to speak that way and I don't mean to be. I've been lucky, there's no other way to put it. They gave me a lot of money for doing something I love to do. That's as good as it gets.