The deadliest enemy is not always found on the battlefield. Darkness
disguised as light, deception masquerading as truth can ambush the soul so
cunningly that not even we ghost warriors, highly trained in the fine arts of
surprise, violence, firepower, were prepared for the devastating, mind blowing reality that suddenly overwhelmed us.

De oppresso liber (“to free the oppressed”), our Special Forces motto, espouses a noble but ambiguous credo. Lots of unanswered questions, both
military and existential. Yet, without a clue about the nightmare that awaited us, off we flew into the night, ever so stealthily to our parascuba destination.

Only by shedding the shackles of mental slavery and by transcending the blinding blizzard of belief systems that swirls endlessly around humanity did any one of us manage to temporarily escape… myself included… stripped naked of my brain-washed identity and left clinging to no more than the tattered remnants of kindness, love, and the will to do good.

Sounds strange coming from a night shift assassin but, as a green beret medic, body counts weren’t what really mattered. Because this is not only a war story or a loss of innocence tale, but also a philosophical reconnaissance into no man’s land.