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The Velvet Hammer Podcast
The Velvet Hammer is a hard-hitting series that clearly explains missions, training, and world events. These stories are sometimes intense but always filled with powerful life lessons.
David is a successful businessman and has created several successful enterprises from the ground up. David is a decorated United States Air Force veteran with over a decade of honorable service. He founded the Urban Warfare Center (2002-2012) and is a former Dive Rescue International public safety SCUBA Instructor. His background includes humanitarian missions, military operations on multiple continents, search and rescue, defensive tactics, anti-human trafficking, counter-terror, and certified bodyguard for high-risk areas. He is a small arms expert, National Taekwondo Champion, and the producer and director of over 16 commercial films. More can be found at www.davidburnell.com
The Velvet Hammer Podcast
Bad Gods: A Bodyguard in Medieval Haiti eBook
This is the true story of my experiences in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. It has taken me over ten years to write it. This is a FREE eBook. I hope you enjoy it and can feel, at some level, the goodness of the doctors and nurses who went to heal. This is dedicated to them—the helping hands of Haiti.
This is my story without embellishments, nor is there any fanfare or sensationalism. The mere scope of this mission to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and its complexities are enough to bend the knees and dredge the soul of anyone who reads it. The fundamental question will always be, “Why do some people run right into the middle of the fray and risk everything for people they have never met.” It is easier to answer this question in military service or in line of duty operations wherein you have mates to protect and defend. The dynamic changes and tests your mental state when you are alone in this space and have no real connection to anyone. Are you in it for you, or are you there to really try and change the world a little bit for the better?
The critical part of these types of missions is broken down into a few simple metrics measuring the intensity of the experience. To measure this, we simply look at sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell to determine what intensity the experience will engrave itself into your soul. I also look at the following gauges to measure the long-term effects of such missions: Frequency (how often things go to higher levels of stress), duration (how long you are there), and intensity (how emotionally impactful the experiences are). On this particular mission, I witnessed many people come to help, such as nameless movie stars sporting half dozen bodyguards and six guns on their hips (literally). They came to “help” while they watched safely from a long distance, surrounded by barbed wire and those muscled-up guards. Compared to others who wade into the mix and deal directly and quietly behind the scenes with blood tissue and violence.
Because of the intensity of the Haiti mission, the doctors and nurses of the Utah Hospital Task Force, of which I was the Chief of Security, were overwhelmed in a short period of time. Day in and day out, with little to no sleep and with minimal calories, they continued to give until many collapsed from the constant stress, fatigue, and overwhelming aftercare. Each day they would get up and return to continue the work of healing. These are the ones who do not stand in front of cameras for glory or fame but simply continue the work of fixing broken bodies and trying to mend torn souls. I love them each, and this is my story of not only protecting them during the largest natural disaster in recorded history, but it is an insight into the mind of a protector and a guardian who sees the world in a different light than the healer.
For more information, please visit www.davidburnell.com
