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Kindle Vella Primer, Plus Free Access to The Judas Goat

Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to explain how Kindle Vella works, and to announce that there are now eleven episodes of my new adventure/fantasy novel, The Judas Goat, available on the platform for your reading pleasure. Here is the story description from Amazon: “Dave Gillespie’s quest for redemption goes sideways when a box of hallucinogenic mushrooms sends him tripping into a deal with the…

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The Judas Goat Episode 3: A Bag of Swollen Plums

This is the last episode I can post in its entirety, but there are plenty more episodes available here: The Judas Goat on Amazon’s Kindle Vella Episode 3: A Bag of Swollen Plums The three friends dropped their charade the instant the Spanish ship’s gloomy interior hid them from Captain Wright’s view. “Dibs on the flask,” Trevor called, shoving Dave and Noah aside so he could enter the crew…

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The Judas Goat Episode 2: Booze, Porn, and Eggs

Episode 2: Booze, Porn, and Eggs First Mate Cole, standing beside Captain Wright on the quarterdeck, regained his composure quickly after storming into the gun deck. A spectacular negligent discarge hadn’t been part of his plan, but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Making certain the Captain was listening, he addressed the three-man boarding party as they came out on…

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The Judas Goat Episode 1: Gunner Short Takes a Nap

This is the first episode of my new serialized novel about a seventeenth century privateer who’s quest for redemption takes a turn for the weird when a box of magic mushrooms sends him tripping into a wager with Hades. Enjoy! Episode 1: Gunner Short Takes a Nap Dave Gillespie welcomed the cannon’s cool barrel against his cheek as he estimated the range to the Spanish merchant ship through the…

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Continuing Actions Epilogue and Conclusion

EPILOGUE THOSE WHO’VE FOUGHT in Iraq and Afghanistan have an historic opportunity to redefine the veteran’s experience for future generations of American warriors. How? By approaching the challenges of coming home as integral components of the warrior’s journey, not as aberrations that only affect the weak. America’s relationship with her veterans has matured to a point where invisible wounds are…

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Continuing Actions Chapter 11

AS UNSELFISH AS IT GETS “Cover me, I’m fucked!” “Fuck you—I’m covered!” —Conversation between two grunts at Thermopylae, Fallujah, and every battle in-between IT DOESN’T MATTER if you’re a grunt, an admin clerk, motor transport, or a high-speed, low-drag recon guy, there’s somebody in your unit who’s a selfish prick. This guy—or gal—always makes sure they’re taken care of first. Their pay is…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 10

“DOC!” BY THIS POINT IN MY JOURNEY, I figured I had it all under control. My self-aid consisted of spearfishing and free-diving to quiet the physical aftereffects of combat and writing to understand the emotional ones. I had developed my self-awareness to the point where I was able to understand the genesis of my emotions and reactions significantly better than before. I felt I had successfully…

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Continuing Actions Chapter 9

LOOK AT IT “By itself, reconstructing the trauma does not address the social or relational dimension of the traumatic experience. It is a necessary part of the recovery process, but it is not sufficient.” —Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p.183 I HAD A GOOD FRIEND in college who loved to get hammered and expose himself in public. More than once I lost track of him while stumbling home…

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Continuing Actions Chapter 8

KUM BAY YAH, ANYONE?

“In the second stage of recovery, the survivor tells the story of the trauma. She tells it completely, in depth and in detail. This work of reconstruction actually transforms the traumatic memory, so that it can be integrated into the survivor’s life story.” —Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p.175

TO UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONAL effects of your experiences, you must…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 7

EMOTIONS, SHIT.

“Narrative can transform involuntary reexperiencing of traumatic events into memory of the events, thereby reestablishing authority over memory.Forgetting combat trauma is not a legitimate goal of treatment.” —Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam, p.192

IF YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED your own safety and sobriety, either through self-, buddy- or corpsman-aid, then you are ready to move…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #suicide prevention #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 6

GETTING PHYSICAL

AT THIS POINT I have to assume two things: First, that what I’ve explained about the warrior’s journey, and how we’re only prepared for some of it, makes sense to you and, second, that you’re getting tired of background information. That information was critical to set the stage for the rest of the book—but I agree. It’s time to start hammering out the details.

From here on…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #suicide prevention #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 5

THE VALUE OF MYTH

“Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or sky. Furthermore, it is never difficult to demon- strate that as science and history mythology is absurd. When a civilization begins to interpret its mythology this way, the life goes out of it, temples become museums,…

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Continuing Actions Chapter 4

SOCIETY’S ROLE

“. . . I cannot escape the suspicion that what we do as mental health professionals is not as good as the healing that in other cultures has been rooted in the native soil of the returning soldier’s community.” —Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam, p.194

SOME SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT history had specific ways of helping their warriors heal the inner chasms created by combat trauma.…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #suicide prevention #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 3

THE MYTHIC POWER OF WAR

“War is a mythic arena. In its noise and grandiosity, its manipulation of the forces of life and death, and its irrevocable shaping of history and destiny, war transforms the mundane into the epic and legendary.” —Edward Tick, War and the Soul, p.25

WAR HAS BEEN HELD as a rite of passage for thousands of years. Traditionally, it was the crucible boys had to survive in…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTSD #suicide prevention #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 2

DEADLY MISCONCEPTIONS

MECHANICAL ADJUSTMENTS are easy. If a pistol-shooter consistently hits low on the target, it’s more than likely they’re anticipating the shot. A good pistol coach can break that bad habit and have them drilling the bull’s-eye in short order. The same cannot be said for mental adjustments.

Mental adjustments cannot be externally imposed—they have to come from within. In…

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#Combat Trauma #Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #suicide prevention #veterans

Continuing Actions Chapter 1

NONE OF THIS IS NEW

A FEW YEARS BEFORE the invasion of Iraq, Mongo (his mom didn’t name him that; we—his friends—did) was flying a Cobra helicopter with a senior officer from our squadron. Crossing a huge desert training range, they heard the electronic beeping of an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) coming through their radios. Knowing a stricken aircraft must be nearby, they began…

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#Continuing Actions #how to help veterans #PTS #PTSD #suicide prevention #transition #veterans

Free Book--In Chunks

Free Book–In Chunks

I’m going to try something new. Over the next 16 posts or so, I’m going to chop up my entire second book, Continuing Actions: A Warrior’s Guide to Coming Home, and send it out through blog posts. I’m doing this because, despite ringing endorsements from Dr. Jonathan Shay (Achilles in Vietnam, Odysseus in America) and Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and bestselling author Tom Ricks, it hasn’t…

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