DON REARDEN
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WARRIOR'S CREED
Warrior's Creed ----My latest book from St. Martin's Press.
Blurbs from Surfing Icon, Laird Hamilton, and Marc Cameron (the new Tom Clancy!)
"Gripping, fast paced, and entertaining. Warrior's Creed shares an inside look into the intense challenges and hardships Roger and men like him have to endure and ultimately overcome to arrive at an enlightened and spiritual frame of mind. I related to so many tales and philosophies of this book, and it has left me inspired to work even harder, and to save any excuses I may have. Warrior's Creed reconfirms that no matter what type of warrior you are that all warriors live by a similar creed." —Laird Hamilton, legendary big-wave surfer
"One of the best books I've read all year. Words like honor, sacrifice, and duty get bandied around a great deal. Warrior's Creed gets down to the guts of it all, then digs even deeper. It's a book that speaks on many levels—wrenchingly visceral and entertaining. An incredible story, marvelously told." —Marc Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy: Oath of Office
The riveting story of how a young boy's upbringing with outlaw culture and charismatic role models forged him into an elite Marine and a decorated Pararescueman.
"Absence of self is my sword" comprises the final line in "The Warrior's Creed," a 14th century poem written by an unknown Japanese Samurai, and this is the code Master Sergeant Roger Sparks embodied as a Recon Marine turned Alaskan Pararescueman. A living legend in the military, Sparks first made a name for himself within elite Marine Reconnaissance units. He went on to become an instructor where he trained future Reconnaissance Marines with unorthodox and ancient indigenous warrior techniques. A decade later, the same methods would keep him and others alive, when he hoisted into a maelstrom of violence to rescue an embattled platoon in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
Introduced to a tough code of honor, family, and brotherhood from birth, Roger Sparks rose to become a distinguished instructor in Marine Reconnaissance and a Silver Star recipient as an Alaska Pararescueman. A raw and exhilarating tale of guts, grit, and heart, Warrior's Creed recounts the hidden side of special operations training, heroic and heartbreaking Alaskan wilderness rescues, and the surreal and deadly rescues during Operation Bulldog Bite in Afghanistan’s Watapur Valley.
This powerful and inspirational story is as much of a self-help book as it is an edge of your seat military memoir. Warrior's Creed reveals a motivating and mindful approach to over coming the odds, facing the impossible, and finding mercy and grace in the aftermath.
ABOUT ME
In 2nd grade the kids in our small one room school house took a field trip to visit the abandoned houses across the river from our village. The houses appeared as if the occupants left in a hurry, the contents inside undisturbed. The elders told us that ghosts would haunt those who took anything from inside one of the homes.
This was my first glimpse into the devastation wrought by epidemics in Alaska. From that day forward I would be infected with a love for the history, cultures, and stories of this vast landscape that is Alaska.
I grew up on the tundra and rivers of southwest Alaska. My experience and adventures in Alaska have shaped both my writing and my love and concern for humanity and our planet. I'm a professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, screenwriter, novelist, and--- when the mood hits, a tundra philosopher-poet.
Recent Awards and Honors:
2017 Alaska Literary Prize
2016 Alaska Center for the Book's "Contributions to Literacy in Alaska" Award
2014 Rasmuson Foundation Individual Project Award
2015 Anchorage Reads Novel
2013 Washington Post Notable List
CONTACT
Have you read one of my books and have a comment or question? OR do want me to visit your book club, officiate your wedding, or chop your firewood? (I'm really good at the latter!) Send me a message. Who knows, I might just respond!