William Yeske: Damn the Valley

On episode #229 of The Author Factor Podcast, I am having a conversation with nonfiction book author, William Yeske, a US Army combat veteran who served until 2018, despite being medically retired in 2015.

William recently published his first nonfiction book, "Damn the Valley," inspired by his experiences in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. Beyond his service, William is an entrepreneur, running No Limits Marketing Group and serving as a founding board member of Rally for the Troops.

William Yeske and Mike Capuzzi

William Yeske's nonfiction book captures the resilience and bravery of soldiers through vividly recounted experiences, such as surviving a thousand-pound vehicle bomb attack. Listeners will find his book intriguing for its raw and authentic portrayal of the sacrifices made by ground soldiers in Afghanistan, highlighting their courage and dedication.

Being a nonfiction book author has profoundly impacted Will, allowing him to document the untold stories of infantry soldiers and provide a voice to unsung heroes. This journey has not only been therapeutic for him but has also offered support and understanding to fellow veterans and their families.

William Yeske shares his Author Factor

Unlocking the Author Factor: This Episode's Big Takeaway

The key author factor from this episode is the powerful impact of sharing personal and traumatic experiences through storytelling. William Yeske's journey in writing his book "Damn the Valley" not only serves to document the honorable actions and sacrifices of infantry soldiers but also provides hope, support, and a voice to veterans and their families. Through his efforts, Yeske highlights the importance of resilience, the therapeutic value of addressing trauma, and the profound ripple effect that one person's story can have on others.

Learn more about William Yeske by visiting:

Transcript:

Mike Capuzzi: How do you capture the untold stories of bravery and resilience of the men and women who served our country? William Yeske, a US army combat veteran turned author and entrepreneur, recently published his first book, Damn the Valley, a gripping account of his deployment in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. It was a deployment that the media didn't talk about and the government doesn't acknowledge. Three of the company were killed in action. More than a dozen suffered life changing injuries, and half the company had purple hearts. Not many modern day deployments have a 52% casualty rate. Damn the Valley gives a voice to the unsung heroes and their undaunted spirit in the face of adversity. Will currently runs and operates a marketing company, no limits marketing group, and is a founding board member of a veteran nonprofit rally for the troops, now part of racing for Heroes, Will. Welcome to the show.

 

William Yeske: It's great to be here, man. Wow, what an intro. Holy crap.

 

Mike Capuzzi: And that was a little bit longer than normal, will, but, like, I was going through your book and go through your bio and your background, like, holy moly, I could write a book on your intro.

 

William Yeske: Yeah, there's a lot going on in my world. I mean, it's. I think the book has actually slowed it down. That was one of the things during all that, is it? A lot of this stuff that's in there, it slowed it down enough to where I started realizing that I was sort of running from it, you know, and slowing down enough to process that. And that's one of the things to be, actually, that's one of the things to mention before we even get into this whole interview here is, like, for the guys, for anyone who's reading it that's experienced those highs and the lows of combat or while being overseas and stuff, this. This book does bring out. There is some triggers in there. There's probably gonna be some triggers even in the interview, but, you know.

 

William Yeske: Know that 988 line is there. I know that there's. There's people in your world that care about you, and there's, you know, to reach out to them and to keep in touch with them, and that's kind of some of the world that we. We live in. Some of these guys that have been through that stuff experience these traumas every day because they're stuck in that. That trauma loop.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, I saw. And before we jump in, though, I did see on your website for the book, Damn the Valley, that you have a list of the guys that have died, I guess, in combat. And since. And it was amazing. And how that was not a short list, and it's obviously something that is near and dear to your heart. But before we go, jump in about your book and the reasons you wrote it, again, your background is pretty impressive. You've done a lot. I just barely touched on it.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Can you share a bit more about how you served, where you served, and then just bring us up to today what you're doing today?

 

William Yeske: Yeah, my. So, my background, believe it or not, I had a little bit. Hey, who. Who would have thought that I had a little bit of an adrenaline junkie background in there before going into the military? But I. I did. So I went from, you know, out of high school, I was going into college. I had thought about serving back then, but then was sort of dissuaded with that promise of college. Um, and quite honestly, it would have been the best thing for me at the.

 

William Yeske: At the time. Uh, when you have that voice inside of you or that pull towards something, listen to it. Cause quite honestly, I spent, you know, some great, great years of my life. I ended up, uh, within the racing world. So it was a lot of motorsport stuff, um, specifically BMW up at Lime Rock park, and then on with Subaru doing rally. But then the military ended up being a hard reset button for me. It was something to where I knew I needed that discipline instilled. I had a lot of potential, but I was just a wild man, you know, and getting in.

 

William Yeske: I went in on a special forces contract and ended up not making it the first time around. I got hurt somewhere within the training, before we had selection, ended up recycled out to the main force, and then within a year, found myself in Afghanistan. I mean, one thing just led to another and, oh, man, I just lost track. I went, Mike, I'm sorry, man. I just ended up in Afghanistan.

 

Yeah, well, you know, it happens. Yeah, well, I mean, I was just thinking, like, all right, where we were just talking about what led up to and then some of the other stuff, but it was really on leaving the military or on going through that experience in Afghanistan and then coming back to it and then going back through where I started off. I ended up going back through selection, made it that time around, went to the schoolhouse, ended up two years over there learning Russian, learning the different tactics, booted out at the end, um, went back in to the civil affairs end of things, but then, uh, again, something there, back out into the conventional force. For my last eight months, there was just a. It was a roller coaster ride. You know. Your time in service, you know, it was almost like a separate life. So, I mean, what we have prior service, then you have service, and then it's, you're reintegrating into society.

 

So you have someone who's been, you know, that's now has these disciplines and has these habits that are built in, but you're trying to reintegrate in the civilian world. And sometimes, you know, we move at a different speed with all that in there. And it can be frustrating. It can be frustrating for a lot of guys. Reintegrating into society is, is a really tricky time there. I was able to use college sort of as a buffer for myself within that. And, you know, that was moving out of, out of college, going for marketing, which quite honestly, I think that's the one reason why the book is anywhere where it's at, is because of that marketing background. You know, that they are essentially storytellers.

 

So to get that story out there, and we were just saying that before, one thing leads to another, but everything happens for a reason. Because if I had taken that, you know, that corporate marketing job, because I was going to the various panel interviews and searching around the job market, and then Covid hit. So what do you do at that point? What do you do fresh out of college trying to reintegrate into society? Covid moment. Your wife is now, uh, she was finishing up nursing school, so she was going into the hospital workforce during, as Covid's heading. She was also a vet, so there's a lot of things going on there. But that's what spun up no limits marketing group, quite honestly, was that purpose to help other people and stuff. And I was seeing, hey, these are the tools that have been given me and looking at what was happening around me in my own community and my own backyard and seeing these smaller businesses and stuff, like, what are we going to do? We don't have this digital footprint that these bigger guys have. We don't have, you know, the access to have a delivery services or we're not integrated into DoorDash or we don't, you know.

 

So it was showing them that this stuff is readily and easily available at a much lower cost than you think and giving them those same resources that those larger companies and stuff have. Um, teaching it, essentially working myself out of job, uh, out of a job in some instances to where? Well, no, it was just, it would become so intensive to where it's like, look, you have to have somebody on staff at this point, you know, and getting them successfully crossboarded over or handing the, the keys over basically to the domain or the. That end is. That end is so rewarding for me to see them growing and progressing, you know, and it's the same thing with the business model on my end. It's sort of turning into something to where it's like, all right, this has grown into something where it's more of a consulting end than what it originally was. Um, yeah, but mission is the same. We're still. That purpose of helping others out and.

 

And making a difference within your community is. Has been there, and it's something I think is instilled in a lot of the veterans out there.

Mike Capuzzi: So, will, are you retired now completely from the service? Are you out?

 

William Yeske: Oh, yeah. They literally, as I was doing the examinations and stuff to go out the door, I didn't even find out until after. So when I left active duty in 15, I was serving in a reserve unit and got the word from the VA that I should have been medically retired. And I'm like, what do you mean? Like, these injuries, you shouldn't have been able to do what you were doing at the end of your time in service, like, and I. Well, I'm still in, and, you know, at that point, that's when the reserves deadline me, and they just basically made me a tactical trainer for where I was at.

 

Mike Capuzzi: All right, so, 2015. So, Jesus. Coming up on almost ten years, um.

 

William Yeske: Well, 18 was when I really left, because you look at the. The time in the reserves. Yeah.

 

Mike Capuzzi: So it's been a number of years. When did this idea. And I started going through your book and saw that even, I think even when you were in Afghanistan, if I recall the story correctly, someone mentioned, hey, someday you're going to write a book about this, right?

 

William Yeske: Yep.

 

Mike Capuzzi: When did you know you had to publish? Damn the Valley.

 

William Yeske: So it was always something, whether it was that comment or not. So that was Sergeant Robert muscle that actually said something. We were stepping off for a patrol into the Arghandab, and, yeah, he had said exactly that. You know, you know, one of these days, 1010 or so years down the road, you're going to see a book of all this stuff with, yes. Key's name on the COVID And I'm like, no possible way. There is no way. I. Honest to God, I thought it was going to be him or there was another guy that was put out there with us by the name of Jacob Schultz.

 

William Yeske: So he was a. He was an e five medic that was moved over. I think we got him from Charlie company, and he had just been overworked over there. I mean, that was, oh, my God. That I mentioned in the book. We would hear firefights across the river from us. So where our fight was like, fighting ghosts and getting constant landmines and stuff. In our area that we were facing, they were in gunfights, like, just day after day after day.

 

William Yeske: So we ended up getting Doc Schultz over there. But he was always one of those guys that was a little bit more reflective of his time in service. And I kind of called it because I was like, you're a journalist? No, no, no. And down the road, I actually got to watch him when I was finishing up some of my classes at Columbia business school. I watched him walk across the podium there at Columbia getting his masters in writing, and he's now a university professor. And I'm like, I freaking told you, man. Where's yours now you got to come out with a book. Hold him to the wire.

 

William Yeske: But no, this was always something that was there nagging at me and always pulling at it and always in the bet, hey, you should put this stuff down. And I kind of resisted it. And it was really another writer, a Wall Street Journal writer by the name of Ben Kessling, coming out with a book by the name of Bravo company that had to do with some of the stuff that happened over there, specifically this company. But the scope and the picture that was presented, it was just too broad. A lot of people felt marginalized. A lot of people felt left out. And there was really an uproar from some of the guys just saying, you know, he wasn't there. Our actions, like, the feeling is kind of there, but, like you, there's no way, like, the scope just doesn't cover it.

 

William Yeske: I don't know exactly why because I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the book. I thought it was a good book, but they were. I could see their point. I could see where they're like, you know, that boots on the ground dialed into an ants view and putting somebody in the. I guess through the. Through the viewpoint of what you saw out there and what you experienced out there and felt. And it is.

 

William Yeske: It's a very different book. It's different in the way of it reads like a fiction, and I've been told, and it's simple to read through. But then you start realizing that this is stuff that guys actually experience, and you're like, whoa. You know, that's when that realization and that take back, like, this is real life. This is a non fiction book. Like, this is not just something that was put in there. And quite honestly, it's something that was echoed and has been reached out to me from guys that were there after us as well as guys before us, you know, and can be something that was really a picture of what a lot of the guys saw, um, during the fight in Afghanistan. You know, it's not just this unit.

 

William Yeske: And I know there's a lot of books out there from the special operations community, so a lot of the conventional end feels marginalized, you know, oh, my story's not really that important. Oh, I wasn't special operations. And it's, I think Sean Ryan actually said it on one of his shows, but they're doing the same stuff, they're experiencing the same casualties, and it doesn't get talked about enough.

 

Mike Capuzzi: So I was reading through an interview that you did, I guess I think it was fairly recently, and the interviewer asked you the same question I'm going to ask you, which is, who did you write this book for? Actually, let me take that back. I want to know who should read this book, because there's people listening to this interview right now. They may know somebody. Maybe they served, whatever it might be. Who should read this book, will?

 

William Yeske: I mean, so the book was written specifically for the infantry guy on the ground, like these guys in particular. I wanted to put. Have something out there that they could put up on their shelf for their. For their kids to see, you know, and understand, for their family to see. But really for them to be able to look back and see what they did and pick out those honorable moments. I mean, they did some stuff out there that was just, you know, they kept their, they kept their heads. They didn't lose it. They didn't do anything that was like, that would be considered a black stain on humanity or, you know, to where a lot of people that are in those pressing situations and stuff, you see the.

 

William Yeske: The degradation of command or you see the degradation of a moral standpoint. But these guys kept it together, and they really, they did something honorable. They were going out there and really providing a sense of freedom for some of these people to where they had never experienced it before. I mean, we're talking, if you were seen talking to Americans, you would get drug out of your house at night and who knows what would happen? Any myriad of things. But really, it's expanded since writing it for those guys, you know, and it was really just through the whole project. You see the COVID there. There's a flag being pulled out of the rubble. And that was an instance with second platoon to where the enemy had lit off a thousand pound vehicle bomb and flattened the compound these guys were in, we're talking guys were buried alive, all right? We didn't lose any of our personnel.

 

William Yeske: There was a few Afghan children that ended up perishing in the incident, unfortunately. And as they were going through and recovering, you know, after they had recovered the guys and dug people out and after they had medevacked, everybody they're going through and they're unearthing things that were underneath the rubble and whatnot, and they came across the flag, and that's where someone decided to snap this picture as they were pulling the flag out of the ground and to fly that back up and say, hey, look, you might not knock us down. We might get hit pretty hard, but we're here to stay. You know, there's a, there's an old 82nd airborne poster from World War Two that has a guy on it that was quoted as famously saying, you know, this is the 82nd Airborne, and this as far as the bastards are going to get or are going to go, you know, it's that same mentality. But choosing that cover photo really was a big thing of that mentality, that type of mentality. You know, you can knock us down, but you can't keep us down. And I got a call during, during all of this from one of the guys who had been former first platoon, and he goes, you know, Bill, I saw the photo for, for this, but I have the flag from the COVID I'm like, what do you mean you have the flag? He's like, I recovered it from Afghanistan. You know, when the new unit came in, I pulled that flag down and I stowed it away, and I've had it this whole time.

 

William Yeske: Is there something that we could do with this after that? That's when I was really just held to the fire. And I was like, man, like, you have to put something out. Not only, you know, this was never about me to begin with, but now you are really held to the fire here because you have somebody, you know, as he's handing this flag over, I can't even imagine the, the emotions going through his head and whatnot. I mean, tears are in his eyes, you know, and he is just shaking, handing this thing over to me, and he's like, this is for the guys, you know? And that's what really held the book launch event, being down at the airborne and special operations museum down in Fayetteville, North Carolina. That flag has now been entered into the DoD historical archives and is something that you can go down on display as well as, like, there's quite a few other artifacts that were in that book that are mentioned from different stories that are now in this museum and now preserved for perpetuity. You know, they really can bring their family members down. And this is now something that's in the history books, you know, and that really does, it needs to be remembered. But people can get into this thing and see the thing that these guys went through and maybe have either a little bit more of a respect or an understanding of what a modern day soldier goes through.

 

William Yeske: But also keeping in mind that look at Ukraine, look at Israel, look at the various things happening in Africa and all around us. You know, this is war, and it's not pretty. It's not something that I would ever want anybody to experience, you know, my kids, much less anyone on the street. Unfortunately, it is a reality sometimes. But what lessons can you learn that are vested in this book here?

 

Mike Capuzzi: And speaking of lessons, I think what's so interesting with you, Will, is you never expected to be, even though you knew that there might be a book someday. This book was with a publisher. You had it traditionally published. It's out less than a year from the recording of this interview. And you've seen a lot of things sort of come from this. There's a lot has been happening. You've been on some podcasts. So the purpose of this podcast is to inspire others to maybe write that first book or write that next book.

 

Mike Capuzzi: I'd love to hear some of your journey as an author, like, you know, is there what has happened since you've published this book? Because you've got some amazing reviews, you know, and I. Real quick, and then I'm going to shut up. It just so happens, and you were just sharing before we hit record, you literally just did a book event 2 miles from where we're recording this. You live in Maryland? I live in Pennsylvania, but at a pub, we could have had a beer together. So, like, you're, you're out there doing the grind of really marketing this thing. So tell me a bit about, since it's been published, what's happened?

 

William Yeske: Honest to God, it has just been following the flow behind this thing like that. That's how I know there's something here. And stuff is I started listening to that voice inside that said I was talking about before on how that voice was telling me, hey, you need to put your stuff down. You need to put these memories down. And I always shirked it. And then to go even further, when I got word of that Wall Street Journal writer and stuff, because I interviewed in that one and I show up in that book as well. But my first thought was, oh, thank God I don't have to write this anymore. That should never be your answer.

 

William Yeske: Because quite honestly, through breaking down and finally listening to that, I've not only had that end of to where, for me, I hadn't slowed down enough to process a lot of these traumas and stuff that had happened over there, but the people I've met through this and the people that are interested there. And I was telling you before we got on, I mean, I'm about to talk to a certain organization on a nationwide broadcast later this afternoon. There's been, man, I mean, just any of the veteran centers within colleges, people within the community. There's someone that reached out within the veterans space in the county they live in. And he was like, hey, did you know that you actually live in a county in Maryland that has the highest veteran suicide rate out of the entire rest of Maryland, where that's there for a reason? If this is part of what I'm tackling here and part of what has been instilled as part of the reason here, like, hey, talk to these guys about facing this stuff is important. Looking at these traumas differently is important. Something traumatic did happen. You can't just shirk it off and be like, hey, you know what? That's just life and everything.

 

William Yeske: No. People are out there that care about you, and there's. There's a stigma. Yeah. Um, but we need to break that, and we need to break it by talking about it. And if guys don't face that end, and that was actually something that was said more recently by Andy Stumpf. To me is, if you don't deal with your shit, your shit will eventually deal with you. And we see that across the board.

 

William Yeske: We see that in the mental health issues in the VA. I mean, and really mental health issues in society. But, I mean, as far as where this has gone and inspiring people.

 

Mike Capuzzi: There.

 

William Yeske: Is no greater thing to do than to open yourself up and just give people that lens, because more often than not, there's another person out there that's experiencing that same stuff, and it's showing them that's okay. Like, the stuff that's discussed in here, it's okay. Like, this stuff happened. You can't dismiss it and be like, oh, it was nothing. You got to face it. Um, through that, though, I. Again, I mean, giving other guys hope. The, uh, the people I've talked to, the families I've talked to, um, I was telling you, I've seen the ripple effects of, you know, the darker end that you see from suicide.

 

William Yeske: But I've also seen the light from. I've seen. Guys, I got a phone call. This is probably the best one to talk about. I got a phone call. I woke up early for some crazy, weird reason. Talk about being in the flow on this thing. I think it was, like, 330 in the morning.

 

William Yeske: And I'm like, man, I usually don't get up until 530. What the heck? So I got up, and I come downstairs, and it was about 04:00 when I'm about to start. I just decided to start my workout early, and 04:00, my phone rings, and it's one of the guys that had been over there. I was like, uh oh, this is not good. You know, this book is out there. I haven't heard from this guy in years. Like, what is this phone call about? It kind of scared me and crazy, you know, I pick up, and I'm like, hey, how you doing, man? What's going on? The gratitude and thanks and, like, he's like, I did not expect for you to pick up. But hearing that or seeing that light, like, kind of found within him.

 

William Yeske: And he's been someone who's been down for so many years, family has been like, he's just a shell. He's not the person it was. And this thing, like, lit a fire under him. That alone right there, is worth every bit of the, you know, the year long editing process or dealing with the publisher or going through this marketing stuff or, you know, having to drive or, like I said before, the. The podcast that was in person in Montana, you know, that's worth every bit of it to me. And again, the possibilities, the other possibilities that we were talking about, the Afghans that have reached out through the social media end of things, you know, I would have never thought that there was a kid who had been ten years old at the time while we were patrolling through this Afghan village that reached out to me on one of the platforms and for him to be like, I remember you guys, and be able to describe exactly, you know, and it was just like, holy crap. These were kids that came out while we're out on these combat patrols and would, you know, meet us excited. And I think the.

 

William Yeske: The biggest thing they would ever ask for us would either be a piece of candy or a pen, you know? Cause it was just such a destitute area to where the. The best toy you could ever give a child was a pen so they could write their own name down on a piece of paper. I mean, that’s the type of areas of the world where you’re operating in. And that was just crazy to me. But then to also have the fact that Afghan interpreters and stuff that had worked with us were reaching out through social media and former Afghan army, hey, this is the situation I’m in and my family and out here is, you know, we're fearing for our lives. Can you help in some way? And then to build into these platforms, you know, bots and specific stuff that would give them access to these resources to different organizations that do the vetting process and they do that. The special immigrant visa, the Civ visas that they're, that actually, that's been a lot in the news lately. And through stuff with the congressional is getting extra ones of those so we can get those Afghan allies out because, quite honestly, yeah, their lives are in danger right now.

 

Mike Capuzzi: What you just shared, will, is something, you know, I help people publish books. I've interviewed over 200 authors so far on this podcast, and it's, it's almost, it's what I describe as sort of the magic of being an author. You don't know the impact. Cause most people will not write it. Leave a review. Most people aren't gonna call you at 04:00 a.m. email you whatever it is, reach out yet the impact is there. And the fact that you've written this book, which maybe it's your first book, maybe it's your only book, but regardless, you took the time and energy to do this, it's just another testimony to the power of sharing your story, you know, doing the hard work because there's a lot of great books that nobody knows about.

 

Mike Capuzzi: You're doing the hard work of getting it out there, and you're going to be doing that for a while because, again, you're just in the beginning phase of all this. But, you know, congratulations with that. It's, it's a very powerful, like I said, testimony to what it means to be a book author. So thank you for that.

 

William Yeske: One of the other things to go along with that, too, is inspiring some of these other guys to write, put their own stuff down. I was talking before about Charlie company with those firefights every other day. One of those guys reached out to me through this, too, and they now have a book coming in October called the Devil's Playground. So, I mean, I know, like, we're talking about Damn the Valley here, but, like, that's just an expansion on ripple effect.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah.

 

William Yeske: Yeah. And he's told me there's been people that are reaching out to him, too. So, I mean, this is, this is far from over. Yeah. It's just so cool to see. It's so cool.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Exactly. And enjoy the ride, because again, you know, you're jumping on that plane to Montana and you're sitting, or, you know, wherever, it's BWI. Or wherever you were coming out of, like, oh, my gosh, what am I doing? But enjoy that ride, you know.

 

William Yeske: Publishers don't pay for this anymore either, so it is 100%. It's all on you. So, I MEAN, have a plan. That's the biggest thing I could say to other authors out there is have a budget and have a plan, because don't count on your publisher for anything, you know, I mean, and, hey, if you get the Schuster deal or something down the road, cool, awesome. You know, but have. It happens to so few. I have a plan.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah. Hey, I want to, I know we're going a little long, but I want to ask you one more quick question, and then we'll wrap up because you made it. You mentioned something BEFORE we hit record, which is a strategy I haven't heard, at least the way you described it using Reddit forums. So could you just give me, like, a two minute? Because that might be a tidbit that somebody else listening could use, maybe even myself included. Tell me about that a little bit. Just really quickly, a quick description of.

 

William Yeske: Oh, no, no, this is too easy. This is, uh. This is like looking at a situation, seeing what everybody else does and doing the opposite.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah.

 

William Yeske: I mean, just in the very beginning, if you look at everything social, it's all at the. At. Damn the Valley book. So, I mean, across the board, you can go across what? Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit. We were just saying, but it's not off my name. Normally, authors, they originally used their name on stuff. Don't do that. You need to create a movement, and then you need to start looking where that movement is effective across the board.

 

William Yeske: So where I might post something on Facebook, um, post it across your others, but make it specific to that platform. Reddit reads. Think about how that social media platform is put up. There's no flashy graphics and video right off. Usually most of the boards, you have to read to get through it. So look at that habit right in the very beginning. Okay. Reddit likes to read, so they're going to, you know, very possibly have a much larger reader base on that platform to begin with.

 

William Yeske: The TikTok's another big one, but you have to be able to talk to Gen Z and know that language. I am still trying to figure that one out. I have, I know people that know that one, so I want to offload it to that. But as far as Reddit goes to where go in those boards, look in that genre, that specific one that you're looking at. But one of them was camouflage uniform being something that was rare that we operated in that valley with was the specific camouflage pattern. So, like, when I post up on certain boards within there, these guys will go nuts over it. I mean, like, we're talking a thousand impressions per, and you've reached 20,000 people off of a single post just because someone was wearing a specific uniform camo pattern. But you'll see these little outliers are what kind of resonates with the audience on these different platforms.

 

William Yeske: Do those, do a blast of those, do them consistently because you'll start to see the trends and then decide if that's the road you want to go down on that. Like, because you mean you can really just start having a massive pull, but make sure that it stays true to what message you're trying to put out there. Don't just pander to the audience, but see what resonates and stay true to your vision and just continue on, you know, push forward. Doing that same stuff. It's about consistency, quite honestly. Yeah. Over a year now on social media for the campaign, you know, where somebody said the other day, you know, congratulations on this, instant success on this. This is amazing.

 

William Yeske: And I'm just like, dude, you should know better, man. Come on.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Well, listen, will, awesome interview. Thank you for sharing this. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for your service. Where, let's share some places. Where's the best place to get your book? I saw autographed copies are on your website. Right? You'll do that. So share that.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Share wherever you want to drive our listeners to connect with you.

 

William Yeske: Well, I mean, the easiest one would be DamntheValleybook.com because you have links to all of your social media campaigns on there. You have the links to where you can get on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and then you also have the, you know, yes, you can get an author signed copy through that website. The cool thing about that is that for every author signed copy that I get out, it actually allows me to get, well, every two author signed copies I sell allows me to get one copy to the guys that were actually there. That's my goal in doing that is sort of crowdsourcing it and that's the way I decided, hey, look, like I don't have the resources to just give 100, 5200 books away to these guys, but if I build it into here, a little bit of extra work, that's how I can do it. One really quick thing, Mike, just to say before, just because due to the content and what's in the book, for people that are out there that might be experiencing some trauma or that hopelessness, end of things, it's never as bad as you think. Take a breath, take a pause. Take that tactical pause in the moment that you might have like as well in combat, the same, same concept. Take a breath, look at your situation and reach out to other people around you.

 

William Yeske: People care about you out there, you know, don't just go making a rash decision. There's a way through. You don't always see it, but there's always a way through. I just want people to remember that.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Well, again, thank you and look forward to seeing how this thing grows. And the next time you're in my town if you happen to be.

 

William Yeske: Absolutely, no, no, I will totally send you an email there, man. We'll do something for sure.

 

Mike Capuzzi: Listen, well, thank you very much.

 

William Yeske: I appreciate it, Mike. Thank you.