The Jackson County GOP’s Orville Coward Forum on Public Issues program featuring Retired U.S. Marine Corp Gen. Geoff Higginbotham will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 23, at the Sapphire Resort Community Center in Sapphire.

Gen. Higginbotham’s service in the military spans 33 years and includes tours in Vietnam and Desert Storm and as a commander at every level. He is a Distinguished Service Medal honoree who is now among several U.S. generals who have been asked by the Republican National Committee to appear and be interviewed on national radio talk shows.

“I am among those generals who felt it necessary to educate the public under our nation’s present circumstances,” he said in a recent interview.

In a recent address to the Mountain High Republican Women’s Club, Gen. Higginbotham began his remarks to the group expressing that he could speak to many areas but chose Afghanistan above the others. His speech covered a review of the reasons for the war, a brief summary of the conditions and the culture of Afghanistan, and an explanation of U.S military strategy. In his sidebars to the main subject, Higginbotham described the state of our military forces in general, the Iraq War and the political influences that impact our present military needs.