How it all started

Every journey begins with a step. In the military, marching in cadence means making sure every step you take is the right one, at the right time, while using a call-and-response chant to keep in rhythm. I’ve crossed the finish line and ended my journey as a soldier. I’ve responded to my new calling as a writer. This blog began as the proper step on that path, and in finding the rhythm in the stories along the way.

My story

I’m an infantry veteran with 12 years of service in the National Guard. I stepped out into the world with my deployment to Iraq in 2009. I struggled with my emotions and the adjustment all servicemembers go through upon returning home as I wandered aimlessly over the coming years fighting to overcome the battle within me to stop getting up every time I fell down. Eventually I began to climb out of the hole I had dug for myself and began to envision a new life for myself–one where I had a skilled job and was self-reliant. I made plans to go to school for welding following the end of my next deployment. Unfortunately, no plan survives first contact, and I was injured on a rotation to Kosovo–a peacekeeping mission under NATO–and I spent the last two years of my service at the Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB) having my feet rebuilt. I retired and discovered how much I enjoy writing as an outlet. Now I look to pull from my walk in life to add a little more to the world in the form of storytelling.

The approach

My vision is to simply be a warrior in a garden and tend to whatever offers itself to be grown. Many of the posts I make will certainly have a military influence to them, and the language used will lend itself to the stories in order to better put the reader into the environment, but my goal is to bring to the table a variety of work that showcases all perspectives of life.