JOURNAL
The Journey Continues
Follow the ongoing development of the SCARS OF SERVICE Foundation, the memoir, and the mission.
WHY WE KEEP A JOURNAL
Documenting the Journey as It Unfolds
Every meaningful mission is built one step at a time. This Journal documents the continuing development of the SCARS OF SERVICE Foundation, the progress of the memoir, and the lessons learned along the way.
By sharing milestones, reflections, challenges, and lessons from the journey, we aim to provide transparency, encouragement, and practical insight for others navigating their own paths.
The story is still being written. The mission is still being built.
Latest Entries
617 Pages and Counting
The SCARS OF SERVICE manuscript has now reached 617 pages, marking another significant milestone in a journey that continues to grow in depth and meaning.
I have completed the earlier portions of the manuscript and am now writing Part III: From Combat to Conflict, which is approximately 30% complete.
This section chronicles my transition from nearly three decades of service in the United States Marine Corps into civilian employment. It explores the challenges of adapting to a different professional environment, the responsibilities of leadership, and the experiences that would profoundly change the course of my life.
As the manuscript has developed, I have made an important decision to expand the book into four distinct parts.
Part I — Making Scoby
Before the uniform, before the rank, and before the battles, there was a young boy growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana. A journey through the people, hardships, defining moments, and life lessons that shaped my character, tested my determination, and laid the foundation for the man I would become.
Part II — Marine Corps
Nearly three decades of honorable service, from the lowest enlisted rank to the highest. A journey defined by leadership, combat, sacrifice, brotherhood, triumph, loss, and the unwavering responsibilities of serving my country while balancing the demands placed upon my family. These are the experiences that forged my leadership, strengthened my convictions, and shaped my understanding of honor, courage, and commitment.
Part III — From Combat to Conflict
After nearly thirty years of military service, I entered civilian life with optimism, a commitment to excellence, and the expectation that integrity, accountability, and professional achievement would carry the same meaning beyond the uniform. What began as a promising new chapter would become an unexpected struggle involving workplace conflict, difficult decisions, and challenges to the very principles I had spent a lifetime defending.
Part IV — The Consequences of Evil
The story extends beyond professional conflict to reveal the profound personal, financial, and emotional consequences my family and I endured. This final part confronts the devastating effects of the events that unfolded, the institutions and processes we turned to for accountability, and the difficult journey of protecting our dignity, preserving our family, seeking justice, and rebuilding what was lost.
Adding Part IV was a deliberate decision. I believe the story would be incomplete without examining how the events described in Part III affected not only me, but also the people closest to me.
My commitment to the writing process remains unchanged: I intend to tell the entire story before submitting the manuscript for formal editorial and publication review.
I will continue sharing carefully selected excerpts as the writing progresses, giving readers a glimpse into the journey without revealing the entire story.
617 pages written. Part III underway.
A fourth part added. The journey continues.
The scar is part of the journey, but it is not the destination.
434 Pages and Counting
The SCARS OF SERVICE manuscript has now reached 434 pages. The United States Marine Corps portion of the story is approximately 85% complete, and based on the journey still ahead, I now estimate the completed manuscript will be approximately 650 pages.
What began as an effort to document my story has grown considerably as memories, people, places, conversations, humor, hardships, and lessons have returned to the page. I have made a conscious decision not to rush that process simply to reduce the page count.
The Marine Corps portion traces a journey that began with a young man leaving Lafayette, Louisiana, and eventually carried me through nearly three decades of service, leadership, combat deployments, humanitarian operations, intelligence assignments, family sacrifices, friendships, laughter, loss, and lessons I still carry today.
Once the Marine Corps portion is complete, the story will transition into post-retirement life, where a very different chapter of the journey begins.
My approach to the writing process remains unchanged: I intend to write the entire story before submitting the manuscript for formal editorial and publication review.
434 pages down. The journey continues.
The scar is part of the journey, but it is not the destination.
196 Pages and Counting
Part I of SCARS OF SERVICE has been written. I am now approximately 20% into Part II—the United States Marine Corps years.
Based on the story still ahead, I currently expect the completed manuscript to exceed 500 pages, although that number will naturally change as the story develops and eventually moves through editing and review.
I have also made an important decision about the process: I intend to write the entire story before submitting the manuscript for formal editorial and publication review.
Along the way, I will begin sharing selected manuscript snapshots that are appropriate for public release. These will offer glimpses into the people, places, experiences, humor, hardships, and lessons that shaped the journey behind SCARS OF SERVICE.
196 pages down. A great deal of the journey remains.
The scar is part of the journey, but it is not the destination.
Preparation Begins Before You Need It
Most people never expect to navigate a complex workplace complaint, investigation, administrative review, or oversight process. By the time those systems become personal, important decisions may already need to be made.
One of the lessons that inspired SCARS OF SERVICE is that preparation should not begin after a crisis develops. Understanding processes, preserving information, maintaining accurate records, and knowing where to seek assistance can make the path ahead easier to understand.
The Foundation cannot predict outcomes or replace attorneys, investigators, or oversight agencies. What it can do is help people become better informed and better prepared before important decisions have to be made.
No One Should Have to Navigate Alone
One of the most important developments within the Foundation is the creation of a mentorship program focused on preparation, knowledge, and informed participation.
The program is being designed around practical areas of guidance, including administrative processes, documentation and timelines, evidence preservation, informal resolution, professional communication, oversight offices, records requests, ethical leadership, career recovery, and resilience through adversity.
Mentorship begins with listening.
The Story Continues
Work continues on SCARS OF SERVICE, a memoir tracing the journey from childhood in Lafayette, Louisiana, through nearly thirty years of military service, a career in the Intelligence Community, and ultimately to the experiences that inspired this Foundation.
At the time of this update, Part One was approximately 80% complete. Work remained focused on completing the remaining chapters while continuing to organize and review the documentary record supporting later portions of the memoir.
Foundation Website Launched
August marks an important milestone in the development of the SCARS OF SERVICE Foundation. After months of planning, writing, research, and development, the Foundation website officially launched as the central home for the mission.
The website introduces the Foundation’s purpose, guiding principles, mentorship program, the developing memoir, and opportunities for others to become part of the mission.
Milestones
- SCARS OF SERVICE Foundation website officially launched.
- Mentorship and guidance framework introduced.
- Part One of the memoir reached approximately 80% completion.
- The Prologue was finalized.
- Supporting documentary records continued to be organized and reviewed.
More Stories Ahead
New entries will document milestones in the Foundation, development of the memoir, mentorship resources, lessons learned, public initiatives, and other meaningful developments as the mission continues.
ASK A QUESTION
Questions about the journey?
Readers are invited to send questions about the memoir, the documentary record, or the Foundation's work. Selected questions will be answered in future Journal entries.