Category: marriage

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Tentacles Are Longer Than Our Hope

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful .  We just past 3,060 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in one year. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Help us to make it to 3,100. We are so close. We are only 40 subscribers away. Could you be the one that puts us over the top?

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

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Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It will be reaching out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides ever day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics. Doug sent off his mini proposal to an agent who is very interested in his concept. We will update you when we hear more. 

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Sorry I missed a few days. The Thanksgiving week was very hectic. Lots of family time, but we had two full Thanksgiving gatherings due to meeting with both sides of the family for my wife and I. I did have a major victory. I didn’t gain one pound through the whole ordeal! Yes!!

So we’re  back to sharing some of the chapters from the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”


Hope you are all caught up looking at the back posts to see some of the other chapters. They are right below this one and then keep scrolling down to see all of them.

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Worry is Not the Answer

While in the military, there is a lot of worry time. We shouldn’t waste so much of that time worrying. It doesn’t gain us one day of life.

Tentacles That Are Longer Than Our Hope.

Life can feel unfair, It can seem like we are going in the wrong direction, It is like an octopus wrapping its long tentacles around us and pulling us down into the ocean.

Had a Rough Life? You Are Still Alive

This was one of the toughest chapters for me to write. It talks about the consequences of us taking our own lives.

There is Not a Time When You do not Have a Choice.

Too many people use the excuse, “I just didn’t have another choice. I had to do it.” This is not true. We all have choices.

Military Spouses Have a Huge Task

Sometimes the true heroes are the one who are left behind to care for the children, and keep the home fires burning.

Death in the Military

This is also a tough subject to write about. What happens to the ones left behind when a loved one is killed while deployed?

The next post will have what is left for chapters, Then I will dwell more on some of them to give you a stronger feeling what the book is really about. I want you to live and breath this book and realize it is meant for any of you who have served, or are currently serving.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a post.

And always Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever give up!

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Domestic Violence in the Military

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful .  We just past 3,060 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in one year. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Help us to make it to 3,100. We are so close. We are only 40 subscribers away. Could you be the one that puts us over the top?

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

____________________________________________________________

Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It will be reaching out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides ever day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics. Doug sent off his mini proposal to an agent who is very interested in his concept. We will update you when we hear more. 

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Here are some more chapter titles from the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

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Time Doesn’t always Heal Wounds

Many people let personal wounds fester, and never attempt to clear it up with the person they are upset with.

F.E.A.R:

(1) Forget Everything and Run

(2) Face Everything and Rise

The Choice is Yours

Some people want to stick their heads in the ground and hide, while others face their fears and are victorious.

People Don’t Understand Me

This chapter is all about PTSD. It shares the symptoms and shares some ideas on how to cope.

Deployment Can Very Hard on the Family

Months of separation. So many times of loneliness. It all comes to a halt when they see their family again.

Marriage is Not a Four Letter Word

When there is a deployment there is a heavy strain on the marriage.

There is Sometimes Violence in Military Marriages

“Angry people want to see how powerful they are. Loving people want to see how powerful you are.”

Chief Red Eagle

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There will be more chapter titles in my next post, so be sure to subscribe so you can keep up on what is in the new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

To all of you who have served in the military and are now serving:

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

 

 

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Being Deployed to the Bay of Pigs

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful .  We just past 2,870 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in one year. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Our goal for 2015, is to make it to 4,000.

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

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We are listening! I asked you to subscribe if you like having posts about the military, and the response was very clear. The subscription rate doubled this week from the previous week. That is telling us you want more posts about the military, so they will keep coming, plus updates on the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

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+ Here is the latest update on the progress of the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

July 9, 2015

The main body of the book is about finished. I am now working on the appendix, and putting the Table of Contents in order. This means that it is getting very close to being complete.

Last week, I sent out three mini proposals to two publishers and an agent. The proposals will be read and given back to me on August 11th (My birthday BTW..)at a writer’s conference. They may like what they see and meet with me at that time.

Hopefully this book will reach out to the many military people currently serving their country, and the millions of those who are now veterans.

It really doesn’t matter what country you are from. Much of what is being written pertains to any country.

I have added the following sections to the book to cover most everything that a military person may face:

  • PTSD
  • Deployment
  • Domestic violence
  • The spouses left behind
  • Death in the families
  • Basic training problems
  • Foreign assignment stories
  • Loneliness, fear, anxiety, depression, doubt, and the many other usual suspects
  • Personal thoughts
  • More

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I have a son that is retired from the Army. He was a Colonel. He had two tours in Iraq being commander of a field hospital. (Nothing like MASH!)

He doesn’t like to share too much about his time in the service. Some of it is too painful to share. Do you have experiences to share? Were there times when you faced fear? Did you have moments of depression, or anxiety. I sure did when I was in the military.

My time of fear came when I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. It was the end of my duty time for the military. I only had days left before I was to be discharged.

Just when I thought that all I had to do was put in my time, the intercom came to life saying, “All soldiers report to headquarters immediately. This is not a drill.”

I had heard this before, and they have all been drills, but he said this wasn’t a drill. I ran as fast as I could to headquarters, and got into formation. The commanding officer walked up to the mike and said, “The commanding general of the Army has notified me that we are to get ready to be deployed to the Bay of Pigs. This will put you in harms way. Get your gear fast and report back here.”

What? I only have a few days left and I am being deployed into a war zone? I packed quickly and reported back.

They loaded us into buses and took us to the base airport. They then marched us to several planes and started loading us into them. We were in full combat gear.

I sat on the plane with my M-1 rifle between my legs. Those legs were shacking. I looked at the other men, and they too looked very concerned.

Then the plane engines started to roar. The plane started moving to the take-off area.

I began to think about home, and that I may not make it back home if I am going into combat.

The engines got louder like they were ready to take off. Then the plane turned around and headed back to the departure spot. The pilot came on and said, “The mission has been aborted, we are going back to unload you!”

You could see the relief on the men’s faces, and some even began shouting for joy. We came a breath away to being in a war, and on the front lines.

This really happened and is a chapter in the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of”Life.”

I will have more stories about the military. So keep coming back to find out what is going on.

To make sure you know when there is a new post about the military, subscribe to this blog by clicking on the icon right after the title. You will then be notified each time there is a new post.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!