Author Description

About the Author Retired MASTER SERGEANT ROGER SPARKS has served within the military as both a Recon Marine and an Air Force Pararescueman for over 25 years. Sparks is a recipient of the Silver Star, one of our nation's highest awards for valor, for his actions during a fierce firefight with insurgents in Afghanistan’s Watapur Valley on Nov. 14, 2010. Sparks has transitioned from a career of special operations into the civilian world as an artist, author and speaker. He lives with his family in Eagle River, Alaska. DON REARDEN grew up on the tundra of Southwestern Alaska. An associate professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, he is a produced screenwriter, a Rasmuson Foundation Project Fellow, and author of The Washington Post Notable novel from Penguin, The Raven’s Gift. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Product Description This program is read by the author, and includes a bonus interview. The riveting story of how a young boy's upbringing with outlaw culture and charismatic role models forged him into an elite Marine and a decorated Pararescueman. "Absence of self is my sword" comprises the final line in "The Warrior's Creed," a 14th century poem written by an unknown Japanese Samurai, and this is the code Master Sergeant Roger Sparks embodied as a Recon Marine turned Alaskan Pararescueman. A living legend in the military, Sparks first made a name for himself within elite Marine Reconnaissance units. He went on to become an instructor where he trained future Reconnaissance Marines with unorthodox and ancient indigenous warrior techniques. A decade later, the same methods would keep him and others alive, when he hoisted into a maelstrom of violence to rescue an embattled platoon in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Introduced to a tough code of honor, family, and brotherhood from birth, Roger Sparks rose to become a distinguished instructor in Marine Reconnaissance and a Silver Star reci