Introduction

Background Information and Caveats

None of this text has been reviewed by an editor.

Some dates and locations and units and material designations are incorrect by design. And some bullshit is there because, you know, deus ex machina. Or perhaps opsec. If you think that I fucked up factually, let me know.

Many ideas are from the tales of soldiers, sailors, Marines, and civilians; none want attribution. The plurality of ideas are from accounts provided by my godson, a career Marine. There are some phrases or plot evolutions that are not my mine and did not originate from anyone’s first person accounts, but I cannot recall the source. Let me know the source for proper attribution if you recognize the prose.

There is some math and physics and information technology. No problemo if you are math or science averse. Skim through the nerd stuff as an understanding of these subjects is not required to make sense of any plot lines. The brain physiology stuff in later chapters is my wild-ass extrapolation of ideas gleaned from several brain function and brain structure discussions that I had with a relative that is a physician and scientist.

Some of my stuff could be severely depressing, or a ‘triggering’ read, or an insult to the sensibilities of people that

- have no military experience, or too much military experience. - do not like dark humor. - find descriptions of sociopathic or violent psychopathic behavior untenable. - view humanity as noble creatures. - view love as pure. - believe that human life is fundamentally precious and always has value. - are POGs and armchair commandos, and ‘know’ that a description or a place or a date is not correct.

The story has acronyms and technical terms and colloquialisms used by the American military; some are specific to individual units. Most unknown terms can be resolved by a DuckDuckGo search or from context. If neither can provide a useful definition, please complain and I will either re-write or perhaps include a glossary or add footnotes.

The narratives are the bastard children of third-person omniscient and various alternating-persons subjectives. Some narrative forms are for plot reasons. Sometimes the format for a particular chapter or section was chosen justforthefuckofit.