Me sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself

"I DIDN'T COME THIS FAR...
ONLY TO COME THIS FAR."
and neither did you

Me sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself

And I hadn't. However, after coming back from a deployment in Iraq, the VA mistakenly declared me dead. I know that sounds like such an obvious mistake that it shouldn't have been something for me to worry about. After all, being declared "dead" by the VA has happened to over 4,000 of us. So I took it in stride, expecting that they would correct it.

But they didn't.

Even though I could prove that I was alive, my situation got worse. Before I knew it, the IRS and Social Security followed suit. Yes. My death certificate was confirmed, I lost all of my veteran benefits, and my bank accounts were frozen. That trickle-down effect touched every area of my life until I found myself shut up in my apartment, self-medicating for days on end. Literally, I found myself in a nightmare that was personally worse than anything I had experienced in combat.

"DIE BEFORE YOU DIE...
THERE IS NO TIME AFTER."
c.s. lewis

Just thinking about the total chaos of my situation was enough to drive me to blackout drinking binges that resulted in hospitalization. It was during one of these hospital visits that I learned I had perforated lungs due to the burn pits in Iraq: a double whammy on top of the fact that the VA didn't acknowledge my existence.

But that pity-party didn't last for long.

I cleaned myself up, reminded myself that I was a United States Army Soldier, and got my head straight. When I signed on the dotted line, my life was as good as dead. That was a decision I made to myself and to my country that actually allowed me to perform exceptionally in combat. Why couldn't that work in this situation? I mean, if the VA and multiple other agencies wouldn't help resurrect Carmelo Rodriguez, then I, a dead man, would have to do that myself, right? So I put together a plan and documented my strategy. That's what Dead Soldier: A Story of the Living is about.

Move. Move. Move. That's what got me my life back.