Finding the answers was not easy. Armando did not talk about his war experiences with his family and very rarely with anyone else. Was it because he had something to hide or because his experiences were so painful that he could not talk about them? Most of the information about who Armando really was had to come from those who had served with him, POW survivors, relatives and friends who knew him.

Writing with the skill of a professional journalist, which he has been for nearly 30 years, Ron Arias drops in new clues just in time to keep the reader turning to the next page and moving on to the next chapter without a break.

But Moving Target is more than a search for a real father. It is also a trip through history. Those old enough to remember the 40s, the 50s and the 60s will be reminded of the way things were, the way people lived, how they coped and survived. Younger readers will gain insight into a time that their parents and grandparents knew.

Ron Arias’s work as a journalist specializing in disaster coverage – earthquakes and wars – and his quest to find the real Armando takes him to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Cuzco, New York, Nogales, San Diego, Los Angeles, El Paso, Washington D.C., New England and Sarajevo. It?s a news travelogue and a family history, as well as a mystery of international intrigue. (From a 3/18/03 review by Robert E. Kimball, editor-in-chief of the Nogales International, Nogales, Ariz.)
Rating: 5 / 5

Once begun,this book is not easy to put down. It is a chronicle written in a clear, accessible style, and often reads like a mystery novel. It takes a trip through recent history, putting personal faces on the Korean Conflict and the Cold war. As the writer matures and explores his father’s military career and his mother’s aspirations and marriage, many questions emerge. I felt compelled to follow Mr. Arias on his search to find the “real” man who shaped his life. Both his parents are brought fully to life, and as a bonus, Mr. Arias shares his adventures as a journalist. It is a courageous, heartbreaking, intimate life story that I will not soon forget.
Rating: 5 / 5

Arias accomplishes this considerable feat with an effective approach composed of painful candor, suspense and clean, compelling writing.
Rating: 4 / 5

I thought the author did an excellent job of relaying this message to all people, not only the very young but those of us who are aging. She uses a small child that is very much at home in his house. It rains and he says the house is crying because of the changes. His mother brings him a box and says to put everything in it that you would like to take to the new house. Well, he says his box is not big enough to take his favorite tree from the backyard or his best buddy. The day comes and the family moves without the favorite tree from the backyard or the best friends. When he awakes the next morning, he is in his bed at the new houses. He finds the day, bright and shiny and lo and behold there is a tree in his new backyard (not as perfect at the one he left behind) and his mother says there is a boy who lives next door, that could be your second best friend.
Rating: 5 / 5