Full Measure

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Fallbrook, my adopted hometown, for bringing me so much of this story without my even asking.

Thanks to Lance Corporal Tristen Chunn, who fought with the Third Battalion, Fifth Regiment of the Marines in Sangin, Afghanistan, and lived to tell about it.

And to Staff Sergeant Scott Meily, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine, and was especially thoughtful and articulate about combat and its consequences.

Of great help to me were Barbara Giberson and Sandra Jensen of the Camp Pendleton libraries. They had not only some fantastic resource books, but some very pointed and poignant stories of their own. Thanks for showing me around Pendleton.

Special thanks to author, Kit-Bacon-Gressitt for making the introductions.

Gail Chatfield and John Maki run the terrific Veterans’ Writing Group of San Diego. Thanks for having me to your meetings. Keep your fingers to the keyboards, servicemen and — women. We need your stories.

Thanks to the dozens of Marines I met over the years at Camp Pendleton and in my Wounded Warrior classes in San Diego — too many to name, but thank you sincerely for all you’ve done, and for being willing to talk about it.

Big thanks to Bob L. Vice for all things avocado. He’s the definition of a gentleman farmer — smart, good-humored, generous, and to the point.

And to Peter Piconi for his insights into fly-fishing San Diego Bay as a professional guide.

Many thanks also to Tucker Watkins, private wealth advisor for Ameriprise Financial in Irvine, for his valuable insight, both philosophical and technical, on being a financial advisor during a recession.

Thanks to Steve Bagley, city engineer of Greeley, Colorado, for showing me the ways that public safety projects can go both right and wrong.

Big gratitude to good friend Rick Raeber, who, over beers and hours of fishing in Baja, convinced me I could and should write this book.

Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group believed in this book from our first conversation over lunch, long before a word had been written. An author can have no better combat team than Trident Media. I thank Robert, Erica Silverman, Mark Gottlieb, and everyone else at this fine agency.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, especially Sally Richardson, who published my first book all those nearly thirty years ago. It’s great to be reunited with her, Charlie Spicer, and Joan Higgins, too. I offer a thankful memory of Matthew Shear, publisher, who loved this book from the beginning but didn’t get to see it born — thank you for the faith.

Last but first, deep thanks to my wife, Rita, for giving me love, liberty, and the belief that I was up to this task. Your belief counts more than you know.