I speak with James "Jimmy" Hatch, Navy SEAL, father, husband and author about his combat deployments, life threatening injury, and struggles with severe depression. He recounts a harrowing journey as the cummulative weight of combat deployments, the death of SEAL team members and K9 combat partners, his injury, multiple surgeries, and loss of identity overwhelmed him and he became suicidal. During his hospitalization, Jimmy slowly learned to love and forgive himself and begin a new healing arc. Recognizing his debt to the K9 dogs that saved his life on multiple combat missions, Jimmy started a national foundation for the care and preservation of service dogs called the Spike K9 Fund. He also wrote a book called Touching the Dragon about his journey and enrolled as an undergraduate student at Yale in the Eli Whitney Students program. We discuss how the concept of deconstruction in literature can mirror life- when we can redefine meaning, we discover a new language and a pathway for change.
You can find Jiimmy's incredible book Touching the Dragon here and on Amazon:
https://spikesk9fund.org/products/touching-the-dragon-and-other-techniques-for-surviving-lifes-wars
https://www.amazon.com/Touching-Dragon-Other-Techniques-Surviving-ebook/dp/B0755ZYGRK
Please support Spike's K9 Fund helping the training, care and preservation of working dogs:
Amazon link to the book Genius, by Harold Bloom
https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Mosaic-Hundred-Exemplary-Creative/dp/0446691291
