U.S. MILITARY H BOOK EXCERPTS 1ST OF A SERIES

THE RESILIENT WARRIOR

BATTLE-TESTED LIFE HACKS FOR MILITARY MEN & WOMEN

BY NICK BENAS AND BUZZ BRYAN

Book Editor's Note: Featuring self-help, mental health, and mind and body tactics from a variety of sources — veterans, former and active U.S. Marines, Navy, Army Rangers, Green Berets, family members and caretakers — The Resilient Warrior is collaborative collection providing needed wisdom for complete well-being for all of us. The first step to thriving is surviving, and the first step to surviving is knowing how to get what you need, when you need it. The following excerpt of this essential self-help guide to living a healthy, resilient, fulfilled and better life is the first in a series of five that EP Magazine will feature over the coming months.

INTRODUCTION

The two of us are frequently reminded of signage we once saw splayed on a blast wall back in Iraq: COMPLACENCY KILLS.

That graffiti was our reminder to keep moving, questioning, examining, re-examining, and attacking. It remains our decision to this day to keep moving, by adapting and overcoming, skipping the ailments, and the reactionary. Yet many of our fellow warriors are torn and in tatters, empty shells of their former physically and mentally fit selves. Both veterans and those actively serving are stuck, suffering, and often suicidal. Some wage a war within, as high-stakes as the war without, and still lose the battle. We are burdened by this truth.

The following pages are our personal exploration of what lies beyond the "traditional methods" of care. We have enlisted the help of our close friends and friends of friends; veterans, divorcees, single mothers of military families, military sexual assault victims, drug and alcohol users, former and active U.S. Marines, Navy, Army, Rangers, Berets, a former member of The British Royals, an auxiliary Coast Guard

Member and Master Barber, providers, and caretakers who are practitioners in their respective niche(s). They are doing the daily rinse and repeat. They are getting themselves unstuck, seeking and practicing with positive, healthy alternatives, all in the name of chipping away and coping with setbacks and struggles. The WARRIORS featured in this book are relentless. They take care of business.

The two of us have made a career out of working and supporting veterans post-military, and we avow that the warrior contributors featured, are appropriate for this project. They have expressed comfort in their sharing. They have fostered an aesthetic of smoothness and speed in their operational environments. They continue to shock the enemy, even while others dwindle away their time with the manufactured suffering.

Throughout this book you will hear many voices, each with their own tips and tricks to gaining the upper hand against the powerful enemies of the modern day-to-day. The gains they have won are immeasurable, and now they are offered to you freely.

This book is a field manual for feeling well.