Part 1 I never wanted to go. I can admit that now. That sunny Saturday morning at Camp Pendleton, I was the reluctant…

PART 1 I thought I was a god. That’s not an exaggeration. At twenty-three years old, I was a specimen of physical perfection.…

PART 1 The steel handcuffs bit into my wrists, cold and unforgiving, but they were nothing compared to the stares burning into the…

PART 1 I never thought the sound of a career ending would be the scratch of a pen on a legal pad, but…

Part 1 The taste of copper and stone is something you never forget. It’s the flavor of patience. It’s the flavor of death…

PART 1: The Silence in the Mess Hall   The coffee in the mess hall at Camp Meridian smelled exactly the way it…

PART 1 The polished marble floor of the Naval Memorial Center in Harbor Point, Maine, reflected the cold, white lights of the overhead…

PART 1: The Relic on the Range   The heat at Fort Bragg has a specific weight to it. It presses down on…

PART 1 They called me a traitor. A disgrace. The “Rouge Marine” who murdered three of her own in a friendly fire incident…

Part 1 The desert heat in Nevada doesn’t just burn you; it judges you. It presses down on your shoulders like a physical…