This is the story of three generations of an American family, their trials and triumphs of friendship and betrayal, true love and true loss, and of service to our country spanning three wars, on three continents and the winning of three Silver Stars. The story of just an average American family, perhaps not too different from yours... an average American family, the backbone of what makes this country so great.

Doug's talent as a storyteller is unmistakable. The tales he recounts herein are engaging, sometimes sobering, and often very funny. Sparing himself no scrutiny in looking back on his career as a repossession agent, he holds the reader's attention and gives advice by example (even when the example illustrates what not to do). Doug's conclusions about self-defense, drawn from the lessons learned during his career, are surprisingly insightful. While editing his stories, I found myself both entertained and informed. These sensations are, for someone in my line of work, both rarities - and they are rarer still when they occur simultaneously. This book shares some of Doug's experiences and the lessons he learned as a martial artist and a young man during his eight years in the world of repossessions. During those eight years he would repossess hundreds of items, ranging from cars, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, farm equipment, limousines, and hearses to home appliances and other things long since forgotten. Ninety-nine percent of the time things would go well. The stories in this book encompass the small one percent of the time when things turned bad. Most of the stories in this book have some application to self-defense, as teaching life lessons on self-defense is part of the purpose of the book. Others he's included because he hopes you will find them entertaining.