July 28, 2025 • 21 mins
Rich LaMonica joins to share his journey as an author and discuss his book "Out of the Darkness," which delves into the impact of PTSD on veterans. He provides an overview of his writing journey and highlights the importance of supporting struggling veterans through personal stories. Rich also talks about his podcast, which extends his advocacy work. The discussion covers book availability, including formats and target audience, as well as a mention of his other work, "13 Steps to Success." Rich reads an excerpt from his book, discussing character development and teasing an upcoming sequel. The episode concludes with final promotions and expressions of gratitude.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back.
Or if this is your first time, welcome toreading between the words podcast.
This is where we dive into the spaces betweenthe words, which is where meaning and wisdom
stirs.
Join us as we open the door between the pageand the person.
You'll hear the heart of the author, thepurpose behind the book, and the transformation
to ignite your life or your business.
You
can see I'm wearing for those who are watchingthe video, I'm wearing my barbecue for life,
(00:25):
and it's a barbecue place in Boise, Idaho.
I'm here in Texas.
I know.
But they have amazing barbecue, plus they havevegan.
Can you believe it?
Vegan at a barbecue place.
It is good vegan.
So good.
And I'm usually not much for vegan food.
I like my meat.
I'm a carnivore, but they have really goodfood.
(00:47):
And the reason I'm showing off their shirt isbecause I'm sponsoring them tonight.
Every once in while, I sponsor somebody elsebecause it's good to pay back.
So if you're in Boise, Idaho, and I think theyhave one now in Eagle, Idaho, somewhere out
that way, take a look.
Check them out.
It's really great.
But we're here to talk about Rich and his book.
(01:10):
He's got two of them, but we're gonna talkabout just one of them right now.
So, Rich, kinda introduce yourself a littlebit.
Let people know who you are and what you do.
Alright.
Awesome.
Thanks for having me again.
And, of course, thank you for inviting me tocome back for my other book.
But I am Marshall Monica.
I served in the army for twenty two years aftergrowing up in New Jersey for the first twenty
two years of my life.
(01:30):
Then twenty two years in the army, so half mylife in as a a city kid, half my life as a
military guy.
And then the last, eight years now, I've beenretired from the military and going through a
lot of life's, ups and downs of learning how tohow to be an adult, I guess, after being in the
military for so long.
So during COVID, I wrote my first book afterwriting a bunch of little, little sayings about
(01:52):
things on Facebook for a year, and then mydaughter told me to write a book about it, so I
did.
We'll about that next time.
But the whole time I was writing my other bookout of the darkness without knowing it.
Every time I deployed, I'd write some stuff.
I'd write some stuff, and then I'd kinda storeit away.
And it
kinda just stayed there.
Like, some writers get writers block.
I got writers, I guess, file lost, and it wasout there just lost in the in the darkness of
(02:16):
the file.
And finally, after I published the first book,I I was able
to exhale saying, it's not
that hard to do.
I can publish this.
I said, let me finish this book.
Let me just put the hammer down and finish thisbook.
And I did.
It's a it's a quick read, less than a 170pages, but it's it's a book about about
basically about battling PTSD.
(02:37):
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Well, don't discount your book for being small.
One of the most famous books is as a manthinketh, and there's 45 pages.
And it packed.
It is just packed.
So, yeah, small doesn't mean it's not worthy.
It's definitely worthy.
So that's a really amazing thing that you'redoing is talking about PTSD firsthand.
(03:04):
I'm not saying that you have it, but you'rearound it so much.
My husband has it.
He wasn't military, but there are other thingsthat happened.
And and it's just it's hard being on theoutside watching what happens because there's
nothing you can do to make it better.
But let's talk about your book because maybeyou have some really great insight that I
(03:29):
haven't heard before.
So out of the darkness is a fictional portrayalof a military unit.
And each person each character in the bookcomes from maybe three to four, maybe five
people who I served with combined into one so Ican pay homage to as many of the people I've
served with as possible over twenty two years.
So is this a a fiction book?
(03:49):
Like,
This one's a fictional book.
This is a fictional book.
And you have do you have it with you so thoseon video can sit?
Okay.
There you go.
Out of the darkness.
Oh, wow.
That's powerful cover you have there.
Okay.
So so you're telling a story that combinesseveral people into one.
(04:10):
That's interesting concept.
Each character is based on multiple people Iserved with except for one.
One is just one person.
And, because she was the only one like that Iever served with in my career, so she got her
own character in there.
And that's Bowling Callie.
Bowling is the main person, the main characterof the story, and he's the team sergeant.
(04:31):
And he tries to keep the team together throughconstant fighting and a horrible mission that
goes bad.
Oh.
And it's the it's the return home, excuse me,that, causes the the real realization that even
the best fighters go through PTSD symptoms andsituations.
And they started losing guys to, through to thedarkness, which is why it's called out of the
(04:55):
darkness.
As we lose twenty two to forty four people aday for in the mill from the military to
suicide for veterans.
And it just depends on what stat you look at.
So twenty two is the official stat from the VA,but they don't count a lot of
many.
So it's closer to about forty four that we losedaily to suicide.
And it's a horrible number.
It's Yes.
(05:15):
We're trying to fight it from with the withinthe veteran community.
And I figured writing this book from the heartand experiences that I have will help maybe
have someone reach out to me for help or reachout to someone they love for help instead of
Yeah.
Going against the darkness and making thatpermanent solution to a temporary problem.
And Yeah.
On my show, we talk about it all time, themisfit nation.
But when I wrote the book, it was trying toseparate the two, the show from this, and and
(05:40):
to get it out there.
And it just kinda just happenstance because ofwhat I do, it blended together.
And trying to get as much much words in thebook to show people that there are people out
there that can help you.
You don't have to go with the fight alone.
You can reach out for help.
And that was the main point of the darkness toshow you that you don't have to go into that
tunnel.
You can come out and stay in the light.
(06:00):
Yeah.
That's really awesome.
That's that's a powerful message.
And go ahead and tell us about your podcast.
I don't mind you saying it here.
What's the name of it?
The Misfit Nation.
Misfit Nation.
Okay.
And
This is the logo before it here.
Oh, there you go.
Cool.
Running my coffee mug.
So
Yeah.
But, this started, and I was also during COVID.
(06:24):
I just graduated with my master's fromGeorgetown University.
I couldn't walk across the stage.
I was kinda bummed about that because I wasn'table to walk across from my bachelor's either
because I was still in the army.
And COVID hit, so
I couldn't walk across from my master's.
I was like,
man, everything's going bad here.
And then I was like, I got eight hours a weekleft.
I don't do anything now because I'm not inschool.
I said, I gotta find another thing to do, and Istarted researching.
(06:48):
I said, oh, a podcast.
They can't be that hard because Joe Rogan doesone.
He's a comedian.
So I should be able to do this.
And I
Sorry, Joe.
I started just as a audio audio only, and,basically, I was recording on my phone on the
Bluetooth in my Jeep.
Oh, yeah.
(07:08):
Yeah.
And and sitting in a parking lot talking.
So I was all my shows for interviews just likethis.
And after two years, after the end of my secondseason, I did an interview with with a guy
named Nate Nate Palmer.
He said, bro, you have a great message on yourshow.
Go to video.
Let the world see you and see your passion.
So from that point on, I did video.
(07:29):
So for I think it's 200 something episodes,it's been video, but 434 episodes now of the
Misfit Nation.
Wow.
So are your videos, you put them on YouTube, orare they on Spotify?
Or
The videos are all YouTube.
We go live on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdaysat 7PM central time.
So it's on YouTube right away, and then we wepublish the audio later.
(07:52):
Cool.
Cool.
Wow.
That's really neat.
So where can people find your book?
It's the book can be is the Amazon, Barnes andNoble.
There's a link on our website,themisfitnation.com.
It's on their, I think, store, I think is whatit's called on there.
You can buy shirts or you can buy books, andthey're both both books are there.
So easy to find.
(08:13):
It's easy to find.
You just search Out of the Darkness by RichLamonica.
It's the first thing that pops up.
And then I think 13 steps will be right belowit.
Now what are 13 steps?
That's my other
book.
Okay.
Okay.
Cool.
You can go ahead and show the cover on that onewhen we got time.
Alright.
Promote them both.
There you go.
13 steps to success.
(08:34):
So I wanna get back to to your out of thedarkness.
So there's you know, you wanna do it to helppeople that are going through ready to step
into the darkness.
You wanna pull them out of there.
You wanna keep them from getting in there inthe first place.
I think there's probably a little more storythat you're telling us if you want to tell us.
(09:02):
Why why why write this book?
Because there's you know, you could just directpeople to suicide hotlines, to other places.
I don't know if they call it that anymore.
I know they're trying to be more sensitiveabout the name, but they're trying to you know,
there's a lot of resources out there.
Why did you feel that your book was reallyimportant to write?
(09:29):
I felt it was important to write.
One, because those hotlines, a lot of peopleare afraid of them.
They're afraid if they call them, they're gonnalose a lot of their rights and such, especially
veterans.
They had this weird fear that if they call forus for help, one, they're weak.
Two, they lose their weapons that
they have in their house and all this otherstuff.
And Yeah.
So in the book, I I portray battle, which a lotof us went through over the global war on
(09:51):
terrorism, some prior to that.
There's some Vietnam veterans that we know aswell still with us and still fighting the
demons from Vietnam.
And yeah.
So I put the battle scenes, and I made it feellike you're there in those battle scenes.
And then flashbacks within those battle scenesto maybe thinking about their youth and how
things were a little better back then beforethe chaos.
And then at the end, it's when everythingbecomes in this blender.
(10:14):
So you don't get to see all that from a personwhen they're just going through that, that
final dive into darkness.
You just see them usually find find out thehard way that through maybe a Facebook post or
something like that that we lost them.
And it was a year just about a year before wejust book published or less than a year before
we published, had it from Paul Kluedek that Imet through the Woundoware project.
(10:37):
Great dude.
Super super awesome guy.
Very friendly.
Very happy.
But he was battling those demons.
And, earlier in that year, he he just made apost on Facebook.
Today, I've become part of the 22.
Oh.
He tagged his family, and and that was four inthe morning, so no one can stop him whenever he
was doing at that point.
Yeah.
I got that I've seen the post where I was atthe gym in between sets.
(11:00):
I was like, no.
No.
No.
No.
No.
And there was no way.
It was already over.
And that fueled me more to make sure I got thisbook out that year.
Yeah.
Should've worn my Scars and Stripes today.
Scars and Stripes is a coffee company forveterans to help them get a foot up, those that
have been injured and can't, you know, go doregular jobs.
(11:23):
So it's and you can find that.
It's on on the website.
Wow.
That's that's really hard.
It's it's you know, I've just this weekend, Iwas at Texas Book Festival, big festival.
I've never been to one before.
And I talked with a few people that wereveterans, and I just can't imagine what it's
(11:52):
like to live in their brain.
You know?
Some days are really good, and I know some daysare not.
I worked for a boss who was a sniper inVietnam.
And the stories he told me were just you know,how how do you recover from that?
So what what are some ways?
(12:14):
I mean, that just sounds devastating that, youknow, it's four in the morning and nobody can
do anything about it.
Are there signs people can look for?
I mean, are
there just Different?
It's different with each person.
Some people show signs and others don't pick upon it.
And then there's some like Paul, I think twodays before that, he was posting having a great
(12:38):
time either at a Metallica concert or somethinglike that or or rejoicing in Metallica.
That was his favorite band.
And so there's no outward signs to anyone else.
Maybe his immediate family knew he was goingthrough some struggle, but no one else knew.
No one knew.
And so it was just shocking.
And there's other dudes that they'll justportrait just let it out.
I'm I'm hurting.
I need this.
I need this.
And hope that someone will pick up what they'reputting down.
(13:02):
And sometimes it it works, and some people helphim.
And sometimes they just, oh, he's just messingaround.
He's just always doing this, so I don't wannahelp him.
But there we still have the veteran crisishotline.
It's call it's just dial 988.
If you're a veteran, take option 1.
If you're not a veteran, just I think it'soption 2 or 3 for everyone else.
Okay.
Don't be afraid.
Take call 988 or phone your friends.
(13:23):
Everyone has at least five friends that areclose to them.
Call them.
Use them 5.
We call on the misfit nation, we call it thefive to one method.
There's five people out there for every one ofus.
Call them 5.
They're they wanna hear from you, and you wannahear from them.
And that'll just keep that circle going andkeep each other talking and staying alive.
Wow.
That's really good advice.
(13:43):
I like that.
So what are some other things in your book?
We know we've written it as as a story.
You've got the sergeant that's going there.
You have the the woman who's the military inthere.
What are some other other things?
Do you do you wanna read part of your book?
A lot of times, I let let authors read part oftheir book.
(14:05):
Do you wanna read something that would reallyintrigue us to wanna go get the book besides
what you said?
I can, read I can read some of chapter twohere.
Okay.
Okay.
The smoke this is the title of chapter two ison top of the mountain.
The smoke still laid heavy on the mountaintop.
The smell of spent munitions and blood wasthick in the air.
(14:27):
Afghanistan, if not for war, would be abeautiful country is all I can think about at
the moment.
Sixteen hours earlier, his team climbed tofight on this mountain.
They were met with stiff and trained resistancefor much of the climb.
Two hours in the climb at the first plateau,Tex, who was from Hawaii, was shot through the
left side of his vest and out the right.
(14:48):
A big guy who could have been a defensive endin the NFL if he didn't choose to serve his
country first, dropped like a sack of potatoeswith little to no noise besides the thud of him
hitting the rocks beneath him.
He was immediately in shock as most of theteam.
Doc jumped up and got to the side to to starttreating him.
Doc spoke calmly to Tex, telling him he'd he'dbe alright.
(15:12):
He pressed the radio and asked for immediatemedevac.
Doc was our team medic.
He grew up on the streets of Compton in LongBeach.
At the age of eight, he became the man in thehouse after his dad was killed in a drive by
shooting.
His dad was his hero, a firefighter in LosAngeles and an army veteran.
He got out of the city at the age of 18 andwent to the army and was with the seventy fifth
(15:33):
Ranger Regiment during Desert Storm andSomalia.
His dad taught him values every day, and Doctried to emulate him.
So that's one character, one part of the fight.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I have a new book I have to get.
Thank you.
Oh, definitely.
(15:54):
That sounds I like I like good stories.
There's a lot of good stories out there,though.
I'm yep.
I gotta gotta get that one.
And I tried to help my daughter
this podcast.
There's so many books.
You can start your own book festival now.
That's right.
I'll I'll do a reading.
(16:17):
I'll read you a story, but you don't get totake my books.
Tell you where you can go buy one, though.
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah.
Wow.
And the character development that was based onmy daughter's recommendation.
She she was already published out of highschool.
She wrote a book called the Unexpected, and itwas something she wrote during her junior year
(16:37):
when she should have been studying, but shewrote which I'm still proud of even though, you
you're supposed to be mad that she wasn't doingschoolwork, but she did that.
So it was pretty successful.
Yeah.
And, she helped me edit she edited this book.
She edited my first book.
So she's she's the thorn in my side afterproduction.
And, but she told me to make sure my characterdevelopment was on point.
And so I kept that in my head and did that forher, and it worked out.
(16:59):
Oh, good.
Good.
Yeah.
Gosh.
This weekend, there were, a lot of differenttrainings available, and it's talking about
that character development, talking about yourwhole story, things going together.
There's a lot to doing a book.
But for those that are out there wanting towrite, just write it.
All the other stuff can be done later.
Just write it.
(17:19):
Get it out there.
And then find some people to edit.
You know?
I always have beta readers for my books.
You know?
People read the books.
For those who don't know, a beta reader issomeone that us authors share our book with or
part of our book with, have them read it, tellus how they like it, what they don't like, you
know, what needs to be adjusted and things likethat.
(17:42):
So we know we've got a good story out there.
They also are the ones who will read it andthen leave comments right away.
It's it's just real important.
You know?
Have somebody else read it, then then you know.
You know?
Did I miss something?
Did I forget something?
Oh, yeah.
I didn't see that.
Usually get the more ice you have on it beforeit's it's out to the world, so to speak, the
(18:08):
better your book's gonna be.
And and I like how you did each of yourcharacters and stuff.
So one of the things I usually tell tell myclients to do is choose one person to write to.
Now when you were writing your book, did youhave one person in mind or one persona of a
(18:30):
person?
Yes.
Mostly the veteran population.
That's that was the persona, the the hardchargers who won't go get help unless they see
something like this and realize it's okay notto be okay.
And Yeah.
That's what this was aimed for.
But but I would, first responders also need abook like this, maybe with a different
character basis, but they need something justlike this because they're the same mindset
(18:53):
where if they show they need help that maybethey they won't be able to be a first responder
no more.
They won't be the best that they can be if theyget help.
Yes.
You can.
You can be even better with help.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Definitely.
And it's so can this book, is it an ebook aswell, or is it only paperback?
It's ebook and paperback.
(19:14):
This one is not audio yet.
Okay.
Okay.
Ebooks are great.
In case people don't know, you can buy 10ebooks and then give nine of them away.
A lot of people don't don't realize that youcan give you books as gifts from Amazon, so
that's always good.
Yeah.
Oh gosh.
Can you imagine having that as an audiobook?
(19:36):
That would just be so powerful.
You'd you'd just not do anything else.
Maybe it's a good thing your book is is smallbecause it's one of those books you're not
gonna put down.
You're gonna keep reading it until it's donebecause you gotta know what's going on.
I'm already already about three quartersthrough the second part of the book too.
It's gonna be called force and resilience.
(19:57):
So I'm still in the writing phase of that, butit's gonna be it'll be a lot longer than this
one because I got my feet wet with this one,and my storytelling is there now.
So
Good.
Good.
So tell us again the title of the book andwhere we can find it.
The one to talk about now is out of thedarkness, and that's on Amazon, Barnes and
Noble.
I think it's on Target and Walmart as well.
It's also on our website, themisfitnation.com.
(20:19):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
When I have to listen to your podcastsomebody's asking me what my favorite podcast
was.
It's like, how can you choose just one?
But I know I'm gonna go listen to yours.
I've gotta hear this.
So thank you so much, Rich, for being here.
I really appreciate it.
And we're gonna have you back to talk aboutyour 13 steps.
(20:40):
I'm interested in hearing that one for sure.
And thank you, our audience.
Be sure and get his book.
Tell tell me the title one more time.
Out of the darkness, and it's on Amazon, Barnesand Noble, and themisfitnation.com.
Yeah.
I just I keep seeing that character on thebook, and I just get frozen on the title.
Out of the darkness.
(21:01):
Out of the darkness.
That's cool.
I like that.
Alright.
Well, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you, our audience, for being here, andwe'll see you next time.
I hope today's conversation on reading betweenthe words gave you a glimpse into the heart
behind the book and spark something new foryour life or business.
If you love this episode, join theconversation, share it with a friend, leave a
review, or reach out and let us know what spoketo you.
(21:23):
We appreciate your support of this podcast, andremember, your words have power too.
Go to lskirkpatrick.com/podcast.
Welcome back.
Or if this is your first time, welcome toreading between the words podcast.
This is where we dive into the spaces betweenthe words, which is where meaning and wisdom
stirs.
Join us as we open the door between the pageand the person.
You'll hear the heart of the author, thepurpose behind the book, and the transformation
to ignite your life or your business.
You
can see I'm wearing for those who are watchingthe video, I'm wearing my barbecue for life,
(00:25):
and it's a barbecue place in Boise, Idaho.
I'm here in Texas.
I know.
But they have amazing barbecue, plus they havevegan.
Can you believe it?
Vegan at a barbecue place.
It is good vegan.
So good.
And I'm usually not much for vegan food.
I like my meat.
I'm a carnivore, but they have really goodfood.
(00:47):
And the reason I'm showing off their shirt isbecause I'm sponsoring them tonight.
Every once in while, I sponsor somebody elsebecause it's good to pay back.
So if you're in Boise, Idaho, and I think theyhave one now in Eagle, Idaho, somewhere out
that way, take a look.
Check them out.
It's really great.
But we're here to talk about Rich and his book.
(01:10):
He's got two of them, but we're gonna talkabout just one of them right now.
So, Rich, kinda introduce yourself a littlebit.
Let people know who you are and what you do.
Alright.
Awesome.
Thanks for having me again.
And, of course, thank you for inviting me tocome back for my other book.
But I am Marshall Monica.
I served in the army for twenty two years aftergrowing up in New Jersey for the first twenty
two years of my life.
(01:30):
Then twenty two years in the army, so half mylife in as a a city kid, half my life as a
military guy.
And then the last, eight years now, I've beenretired from the military and going through a
lot of life's, ups and downs of learning how tohow to be an adult, I guess, after being in the
military for so long.
So during COVID, I wrote my first book afterwriting a bunch of little, little sayings about
(01:52):
things on Facebook for a year, and then mydaughter told me to write a book about it, so I
did.
We'll about that next time.
But the whole time I was writing my other bookout of the darkness without knowing it.
Every time I deployed, I'd write some stuff.
I'd write some stuff, and then I'd kinda storeit away.
And it
kinda just stayed there.
Like, some writers get writers block.
I got writers, I guess, file lost, and it wasout there just lost in the in the darkness of
(02:16):
the file.
And finally, after I published the first book,I I was able
to exhale saying, it's not
that hard to do.
I can publish this.
I said, let me finish this book.
Let me just put the hammer down and finish thisbook.
And I did.
It's a it's a quick read, less than a 170pages, but it's it's a book about about
basically about battling PTSD.
(02:37):
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Well, don't discount your book for being small.
One of the most famous books is as a manthinketh, and there's 45 pages.
And it packed.
It is just packed.
So, yeah, small doesn't mean it's not worthy.
It's definitely worthy.
So that's a really amazing thing that you'redoing is talking about PTSD firsthand.
(03:04):
I'm not saying that you have it, but you'rearound it so much.
My husband has it.
He wasn't military, but there are other thingsthat happened.
And and it's just it's hard being on theoutside watching what happens because there's
nothing you can do to make it better.
But let's talk about your book because maybeyou have some really great insight that I
(03:29):
haven't heard before.
So out of the darkness is a fictional portrayalof a military unit.
And each person each character in the bookcomes from maybe three to four, maybe five
people who I served with combined into one so Ican pay homage to as many of the people I've
served with as possible over twenty two years.
So is this a a fiction book?
(03:49):
Like,
This one's a fictional book.
This is a fictional book.
And you have do you have it with you so thoseon video can sit?
Okay.
There you go.
Out of the darkness.
Oh, wow.
That's powerful cover you have there.
Okay.
So so you're telling a story that combinesseveral people into one.
(04:10):
That's interesting concept.
Each character is based on multiple people Iserved with except for one.
One is just one person.
And, because she was the only one like that Iever served with in my career, so she got her
own character in there.
And that's Bowling Callie.
Bowling is the main person, the main characterof the story, and he's the team sergeant.
(04:31):
And he tries to keep the team together throughconstant fighting and a horrible mission that
goes bad.
Oh.
And it's the it's the return home, excuse me,that, causes the the real realization that even
the best fighters go through PTSD symptoms andsituations.
And they started losing guys to, through to thedarkness, which is why it's called out of the
(04:55):
darkness.
As we lose twenty two to forty four people aday for in the mill from the military to
suicide for veterans.
And it just depends on what stat you look at.
So twenty two is the official stat from the VA,but they don't count a lot of
many.
So it's closer to about forty four that we losedaily to suicide.
And it's a horrible number.
It's Yes.
(05:15):
We're trying to fight it from with the withinthe veteran community.
And I figured writing this book from the heartand experiences that I have will help maybe
have someone reach out to me for help or reachout to someone they love for help instead of
Yeah.
Going against the darkness and making thatpermanent solution to a temporary problem.
And Yeah.
On my show, we talk about it all time, themisfit nation.
But when I wrote the book, it was trying toseparate the two, the show from this, and and
(05:40):
to get it out there.
And it just kinda just happenstance because ofwhat I do, it blended together.
And trying to get as much much words in thebook to show people that there are people out
there that can help you.
You don't have to go with the fight alone.
You can reach out for help.
And that was the main point of the darkness toshow you that you don't have to go into that
tunnel.
You can come out and stay in the light.
(06:00):
Yeah.
That's really awesome.
That's that's a powerful message.
And go ahead and tell us about your podcast.
I don't mind you saying it here.
What's the name of it?
The Misfit Nation.
Misfit Nation.
Okay.
And
This is the logo before it here.
Oh, there you go.
Cool.
Running my coffee mug.
So
Yeah.
But, this started, and I was also during COVID.
(06:24):
I just graduated with my master's fromGeorgetown University.
I couldn't walk across the stage.
I was kinda bummed about that because I wasn'table to walk across from my bachelor's either
because I was still in the army.
And COVID hit, so
I couldn't walk across from my master's.
I was like,
man, everything's going bad here.
And then I was like, I got eight hours a weekleft.
I don't do anything now because I'm not inschool.
I said, I gotta find another thing to do, and Istarted researching.
(06:48):
I said, oh, a podcast.
They can't be that hard because Joe Rogan doesone.
He's a comedian.
So I should be able to do this.
And I
Sorry, Joe.
I started just as a audio audio only, and,basically, I was recording on my phone on the
Bluetooth in my Jeep.
Oh, yeah.
(07:08):
Yeah.
And and sitting in a parking lot talking.
So I was all my shows for interviews just likethis.
And after two years, after the end of my secondseason, I did an interview with with a guy
named Nate Nate Palmer.
He said, bro, you have a great message on yourshow.
Go to video.
Let the world see you and see your passion.
So from that point on, I did video.
(07:29):
So for I think it's 200 something episodes,it's been video, but 434 episodes now of the
Misfit Nation.
Wow.
So are your videos, you put them on YouTube, orare they on Spotify?
Or
The videos are all YouTube.
We go live on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdaysat 7PM central time.
So it's on YouTube right away, and then we wepublish the audio later.
(07:52):
Cool.
Cool.
Wow.
That's really neat.
So where can people find your book?
It's the book can be is the Amazon, Barnes andNoble.
There's a link on our website,themisfitnation.com.
It's on their, I think, store, I think is whatit's called on there.
You can buy shirts or you can buy books, andthey're both both books are there.
So easy to find.
(08:13):
It's easy to find.
You just search Out of the Darkness by RichLamonica.
It's the first thing that pops up.
And then I think 13 steps will be right belowit.
Now what are 13 steps?
That's my other
book.
Okay.
Okay.
Cool.
You can go ahead and show the cover on that onewhen we got time.
Alright.
Promote them both.
There you go.
13 steps to success.
(08:34):
So I wanna get back to to your out of thedarkness.
So there's you know, you wanna do it to helppeople that are going through ready to step
into the darkness.
You wanna pull them out of there.
You wanna keep them from getting in there inthe first place.
I think there's probably a little more storythat you're telling us if you want to tell us.
(09:02):
Why why why write this book?
Because there's you know, you could just directpeople to suicide hotlines, to other places.
I don't know if they call it that anymore.
I know they're trying to be more sensitiveabout the name, but they're trying to you know,
there's a lot of resources out there.
Why did you feel that your book was reallyimportant to write?
(09:29):
I felt it was important to write.
One, because those hotlines, a lot of peopleare afraid of them.
They're afraid if they call them, they're gonnalose a lot of their rights and such, especially
veterans.
They had this weird fear that if they call forus for help, one, they're weak.
Two, they lose their weapons that
they have in their house and all this otherstuff.
And Yeah.
So in the book, I I portray battle, which a lotof us went through over the global war on
(09:51):
terrorism, some prior to that.
There's some Vietnam veterans that we know aswell still with us and still fighting the
demons from Vietnam.
And yeah.
So I put the battle scenes, and I made it feellike you're there in those battle scenes.
And then flashbacks within those battle scenesto maybe thinking about their youth and how
things were a little better back then beforethe chaos.
And then at the end, it's when everythingbecomes in this blender.
(10:14):
So you don't get to see all that from a personwhen they're just going through that, that
final dive into darkness.
You just see them usually find find out thehard way that through maybe a Facebook post or
something like that that we lost them.
And it was a year just about a year before wejust book published or less than a year before
we published, had it from Paul Kluedek that Imet through the Woundoware project.
(10:37):
Great dude.
Super super awesome guy.
Very friendly.
Very happy.
But he was battling those demons.
And, earlier in that year, he he just made apost on Facebook.
Today, I've become part of the 22.
Oh.
He tagged his family, and and that was four inthe morning, so no one can stop him whenever he
was doing at that point.
Yeah.
I got that I've seen the post where I was atthe gym in between sets.
(11:00):
I was like, no.
No.
No.
No.
No.
And there was no way.
It was already over.
And that fueled me more to make sure I got thisbook out that year.
Yeah.
Should've worn my Scars and Stripes today.
Scars and Stripes is a coffee company forveterans to help them get a foot up, those that
have been injured and can't, you know, go doregular jobs.
(11:23):
So it's and you can find that.
It's on on the website.
Wow.
That's that's really hard.
It's it's you know, I've just this weekend, Iwas at Texas Book Festival, big festival.
I've never been to one before.
And I talked with a few people that wereveterans, and I just can't imagine what it's
(11:52):
like to live in their brain.
You know?
Some days are really good, and I know some daysare not.
I worked for a boss who was a sniper inVietnam.
And the stories he told me were just you know,how how do you recover from that?
So what what are some ways?
(12:14):
I mean, that just sounds devastating that, youknow, it's four in the morning and nobody can
do anything about it.
Are there signs people can look for?
I mean, are
there just Different?
It's different with each person.
Some people show signs and others don't pick upon it.
And then there's some like Paul, I think twodays before that, he was posting having a great
(12:38):
time either at a Metallica concert or somethinglike that or or rejoicing in Metallica.
That was his favorite band.
And so there's no outward signs to anyone else.
Maybe his immediate family knew he was goingthrough some struggle, but no one else knew.
No one knew.
And so it was just shocking.
And there's other dudes that they'll justportrait just let it out.
I'm I'm hurting.
I need this.
I need this.
And hope that someone will pick up what they'reputting down.
(13:02):
And sometimes it it works, and some people helphim.
And sometimes they just, oh, he's just messingaround.
He's just always doing this, so I don't wannahelp him.
But there we still have the veteran crisishotline.
It's call it's just dial 988.
If you're a veteran, take option 1.
If you're not a veteran, just I think it'soption 2 or 3 for everyone else.
Okay.
Don't be afraid.
Take call 988 or phone your friends.
(13:23):
Everyone has at least five friends that areclose to them.
Call them.
Use them 5.
We call on the misfit nation, we call it thefive to one method.
There's five people out there for every one ofus.
Call them 5.
They're they wanna hear from you, and you wannahear from them.
And that'll just keep that circle going andkeep each other talking and staying alive.
Wow.
That's really good advice.
(13:43):
I like that.
So what are some other things in your book?
We know we've written it as as a story.
You've got the sergeant that's going there.
You have the the woman who's the military inthere.
What are some other other things?
Do you do you wanna read part of your book?
A lot of times, I let let authors read part oftheir book.
(14:05):
Do you wanna read something that would reallyintrigue us to wanna go get the book besides
what you said?
I can, read I can read some of chapter twohere.
Okay.
Okay.
The smoke this is the title of chapter two ison top of the mountain.
The smoke still laid heavy on the mountaintop.
The smell of spent munitions and blood wasthick in the air.
(14:27):
Afghanistan, if not for war, would be abeautiful country is all I can think about at
the moment.
Sixteen hours earlier, his team climbed tofight on this mountain.
They were met with stiff and trained resistancefor much of the climb.
Two hours in the climb at the first plateau,Tex, who was from Hawaii, was shot through the
left side of his vest and out the right.
(14:48):
A big guy who could have been a defensive endin the NFL if he didn't choose to serve his
country first, dropped like a sack of potatoeswith little to no noise besides the thud of him
hitting the rocks beneath him.
He was immediately in shock as most of theteam.
Doc jumped up and got to the side to to starttreating him.
Doc spoke calmly to Tex, telling him he'd he'dbe alright.
(15:12):
He pressed the radio and asked for immediatemedevac.
Doc was our team medic.
He grew up on the streets of Compton in LongBeach.
At the age of eight, he became the man in thehouse after his dad was killed in a drive by
shooting.
His dad was his hero, a firefighter in LosAngeles and an army veteran.
He got out of the city at the age of 18 andwent to the army and was with the seventy fifth
(15:33):
Ranger Regiment during Desert Storm andSomalia.
His dad taught him values every day, and Doctried to emulate him.
So that's one character, one part of the fight.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I have a new book I have to get.
Thank you.
Oh, definitely.
(15:54):
That sounds I like I like good stories.
There's a lot of good stories out there,though.
I'm yep.
I gotta gotta get that one.
And I tried to help my daughter
this podcast.
There's so many books.
You can start your own book festival now.
That's right.
I'll I'll do a reading.
(16:17):
I'll read you a story, but you don't get totake my books.
Tell you where you can go buy one, though.
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah.
Wow.
And the character development that was based onmy daughter's recommendation.
She she was already published out of highschool.
She wrote a book called the Unexpected, and itwas something she wrote during her junior year
(16:37):
when she should have been studying, but shewrote which I'm still proud of even though, you
you're supposed to be mad that she wasn't doingschoolwork, but she did that.
So it was pretty successful.
Yeah.
And, she helped me edit she edited this book.
She edited my first book.
So she's she's the thorn in my side afterproduction.
And, but she told me to make sure my characterdevelopment was on point.
And so I kept that in my head and did that forher, and it worked out.
(16:59):
Oh, good.
Good.
Yeah.
Gosh.
This weekend, there were, a lot of differenttrainings available, and it's talking about
that character development, talking about yourwhole story, things going together.
There's a lot to doing a book.
But for those that are out there wanting towrite, just write it.
All the other stuff can be done later.
Just write it.
(17:19):
Get it out there.
And then find some people to edit.
You know?
I always have beta readers for my books.
You know?
People read the books.
For those who don't know, a beta reader issomeone that us authors share our book with or
part of our book with, have them read it, tellus how they like it, what they don't like, you
know, what needs to be adjusted and things likethat.
(17:42):
So we know we've got a good story out there.
They also are the ones who will read it andthen leave comments right away.
It's it's just real important.
You know?
Have somebody else read it, then then you know.
You know?
Did I miss something?
Did I forget something?
Oh, yeah.
I didn't see that.
Usually get the more ice you have on it beforeit's it's out to the world, so to speak, the
(18:08):
better your book's gonna be.
And and I like how you did each of yourcharacters and stuff.
So one of the things I usually tell tell myclients to do is choose one person to write to.
Now when you were writing your book, did youhave one person in mind or one persona of a
(18:30):
person?
Yes.
Mostly the veteran population.
That's that was the persona, the the hardchargers who won't go get help unless they see
something like this and realize it's okay notto be okay.
And Yeah.
That's what this was aimed for.
But but I would, first responders also need abook like this, maybe with a different
character basis, but they need something justlike this because they're the same mindset
(18:53):
where if they show they need help that maybethey they won't be able to be a first responder
no more.
They won't be the best that they can be if theyget help.
Yes.
You can.
You can be even better with help.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Definitely.
And it's so can this book, is it an ebook aswell, or is it only paperback?
It's ebook and paperback.
(19:14):
This one is not audio yet.
Okay.
Okay.
Ebooks are great.
In case people don't know, you can buy 10ebooks and then give nine of them away.
A lot of people don't don't realize that youcan give you books as gifts from Amazon, so
that's always good.
Yeah.
Oh gosh.
Can you imagine having that as an audiobook?
(19:36):
That would just be so powerful.
You'd you'd just not do anything else.
Maybe it's a good thing your book is is smallbecause it's one of those books you're not
gonna put down.
You're gonna keep reading it until it's donebecause you gotta know what's going on.
I'm already already about three quartersthrough the second part of the book too.
It's gonna be called force and resilience.
(19:57):
So I'm still in the writing phase of that, butit's gonna be it'll be a lot longer than this
one because I got my feet wet with this one,and my storytelling is there now.
So
Good.
Good.
So tell us again the title of the book andwhere we can find it.
The one to talk about now is out of thedarkness, and that's on Amazon, Barnes and
Noble.
I think it's on Target and Walmart as well.
It's also on our website, themisfitnation.com.
(20:19):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
When I have to listen to your podcastsomebody's asking me what my favorite podcast
was.
It's like, how can you choose just one?
But I know I'm gonna go listen to yours.
I've gotta hear this.
So thank you so much, Rich, for being here.
I really appreciate it.
And we're gonna have you back to talk aboutyour 13 steps.
(20:40):
I'm interested in hearing that one for sure.
And thank you, our audience.
Be sure and get his book.
Tell tell me the title one more time.
Out of the darkness, and it's on Amazon, Barnesand Noble, and themisfitnation.com.
Yeah.
I just I keep seeing that character on thebook, and I just get frozen on the title.
Out of the darkness.
(21:01):
Out of the darkness.
That's cool.
I like that.
Alright.
Well, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you, our audience, for being here, andwe'll see you next time.
I hope today's conversation on reading betweenthe words gave you a glimpse into the heart
behind the book and spark something new foryour life or business.
If you love this episode, join theconversation, share it with a friend, leave a
review, or reach out and let us know what spoketo you.
(21:23):
We appreciate your support of this podcast, andremember, your words have power too.
Go to lskirkpatrick.com/podcast.
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