POTSDAM -- Bruce Conroe, a former SUNY Potsdam administrator, released the book “Memories of a Reluctant Soldier: The Cold War Revisited,” a memoir of his military service, growth as a young man and early family life during the 1950s.

The book was published last summer through www.lulu.com. It is illustrated with Conroe's photographs of Fort Skelly in Regensburg, Germany, and life with his late wife Barbara and first-born child, Scott, in housing off the base.

The book explores Conroe's basic training in Texas, the situation in Europe during the Cold War, his life with Barbara -- whom he met walking to school for the first day of kindergarten -- and the influence his Army years had on him. Assigned to a tank, he had to learn a number of new skills and find his place in the military.

Conroe, a Saratoga Springs resident, is vice provost emeritus for SUNY Potsdam, where he worked from 1967 until 1986 as a counselor and administrator. He and Barbara, who worked at the Potsdam Village Library, raised their children Scott, David, Laurie and John in Potsdam. Conroe was active with the Methodist Church and Potsdam Lions Club. His daughter Laurie Mousaw, a nurse-midwife, lives in Potsdam and raised her three children there with husband Jim.

Conroe holds bachelor's and master's degrees in math from Alfred University and a doctorate in education from University at Albany.

Prior to coming to SUNY Potsdam, he was a math teacher and guidance counselor in North Syracuse and Solvay schools.