My name is Travis Harless, and I write about culture, history, philosophy, and other things on my mind. 

I have been a police officer for almost 17 years where I have worked in a number of assignments including patrol, Gang Unit, Range Master, academy Recruit Training Officer, and Internal Affairs.  I have also been a SWAT operator for 13 years where I worked as a sniper and a team leader.  Prior to becoming a cop, I was an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps for four years.  I enlisted at age 17 immediately after 9/11 and I was deployed to Iraq three times.  I held every billet in a rifle platoon from rifleman to platoon guide.

I grew up in the Central Valley of California and as a youth, I was a bit of a delinquent.  Raised by a single mom until age 12, then by my dad until he died a year later.  After that, I lived with my older brother and his hippie friends where I worked in a kitchen at a Chinese food restaurant until I joined the Marine Corps.

Now I am a dedicated husband and father of three.

I am committed to telling the truth as best as I can and never lying.  I have come to learn the power of truthful speech as both a weapon and a shield and to appreciate the adventure that comes from telling the truth.

This newsletter is a series of observations from the lens of my background as a family man, the military and law enforcement, and being an unsupervised youth, with an emphasis on truth telling. 

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