Savages

Blackwell paints a provocative, brutally honest picture of a Global War on Terror infantryman.

In his debut book, Blackwell explores the complex culture, complete with its own value system, of the American warrior serving during the Global War on Terror, known as "GWOT." The GWOT began after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and includes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed.

"My hope is to immerse the reader in a vastly different society that values hardship, suffering, and deep, life-altering personal development over comfort and self-preservation," said Blackwell, who served in the Marine Corps for 9 years and deployed 6 times to Afghanistan, Yemen, Guantanamo Bay, and with multiple Marine Expeditionary Units. "Understanding infantry culture, and its values, is the key to establishing our legacy during the War on Terror as men who dared for more out of life. We sought challenge and adventure to gain critical knowledge of ourselves and became better because of it."

Blackwell takes a close look at how America often generalizes its view of service members as robots, protectors, and nation builders. He challenges readers to examine their perceptions and ask critical, often uncomfortable, questions to discover the identity of this generation's warfighters and how the tenets of this culture can help enrich the American experience.

"ST pulls the curtain back to give readers an uncensored, no-holds-barred depiction of the life of a GWOT infantryman," said Chris Schafer, CEO at Tactical 16 Publishing. "His story is one that is sure to change your way of thinking and understanding of true American warriors and why this unique culture is critical to our country's survival."