Over a 24 year career, FBI Firearms instructors made us repeat the same series of actions on the firing range. After a while, it got so repetitive that I wondered how I would fare in a shootout if I didn’t have my firearms instructor barking out orders on what to do...
Not very many people are excited to get a knock on their front door from an FBI Agent. They’re even less enthusiastic when the Agent tells them they need to speak with them about a pending investigation. Wariness can quickly turn into hostility if they think the...
When I was ten years old, I was riding my black quarter horse and helping my dad cut a horned bull from the cattle herd. The bull suddenly turned, horns first, and charged my horse. I grabbed the saddle horn; my horse pivoted on his back hooves and we got away...
A lot of people seem to think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. As if…this was the first time life was unfair. As if…this is the first we’ve seen violence in the streets below us. As if…this is the first time a pandemic has circled the globe. But you see,...
After months of fear, isolation, soaring unemployment, and uncertainty, it shouldn’t surprise us that the Census Bureau estimates one-third of Americans are anxious about the future. Stress and uncertainty produce anxiety. Covid-19 has produced not only a health...
I listened as one of my fellow FBI agents gave a briefing on the next steps he planned to take in his investigation. I thought he was headed in the wrong direction, and when he asked for our opinions, I shared my amazing insight with him and my colleagues. I thought,...
While assigned to my first FBI office, a fellow agent asked me to accompany him as his girlfriend for an undercover assignment. The undercover agent (UCA) had targeted an organized crime gang and the leader of the group had invited the UCA to an afternoon BBQ with...
Some days can be so bad you want to pull the covers up over your head and stay in bed. There’s something about a crisis that pulls together all the ingredients needed for an emotional meltdown. The crisis could be a pandemic lockdown, a divorce, a loss of our job, or...
Until recently, trauma was believed to be one of the prevalent ways our lives got f*cked up and created serious mental health issues. More recently, however, psychology has come to terms with the fact that trauma is very common. Trauma, obstacles, and adversity is not...
“Don’t be a wimp!” It was a phrase I heard a lot as I grew up on a remote cattle ranch in the middle of Wyoming. Ranching is a serious business at 6,500 feet—the harsh winter blizzards often drive cattle into draws and the lower ground, where they can be covered with...
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