An Acceptable Warrior

The story begins in France soon after the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 – Armistice on the Western Front. Signed by the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, the Armistice thus terminated hostilities within six hours of signature and ended the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Shared by the U.S. forces with the French Fourth Army, Meuse-Argonne was the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, engaging 1.2 million American soldiers. Its successful objective was to capture the railway hub at Sedan and thus break the railway network essential to supporting the German Army in France and Flanders. It was the largest frontline commitment of troops by the U.S. Army during the war, also its deadliest, resulting in 26,277 American deaths and 95,786 wounded over 47 days of intense, bloody fighting.

The story progresses over four months, following Armistice on the Western Front, through a succession of adventures encountered by a thoughtful young American soldier and journalist from Virginia, David Atwood, and chronicles his mental state from disillusionment, lost love, hopelessness and depression toward the possibility of ultimately coming to terms with himself and acquiring a renewed sense of purpose. Any sensitive war veteran of any age will likely find some aspects of him or herself in these pages – and a hopeful promise of personal transformation.

This is the story of a personal journey – a young soldier’s path up and out of an uncaring universe toward spiritual awakening and individual self-actualization – discovering his promise and tendency to become actually what he is potentially, to become everything he is capable of becoming, to seek the frontiers of his creativity and strive to reach higher levels of consciousness, happiness, awareness and wisdom, to potentially becoming a fully conscious human – a grateful “spiritual warrior” – or will he?