Hello Golden Touch Family. I just wanted to take the time to express my sincere gratitude for being able to be a part of this family. I know I do not post very much. I am currently busy with school and various other professional endeavors, but I will get better about posting more. As some of you know, I am a former United States Marine. I enlisted at the age of 17 as a Machine Gunner (Infantry). I was assigned to 1st Battalion 2nd Marines Weapons Company in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. I graduated from boot camp, went to Infantry School, and four months after graduating from Infantry School, I was deployed to Iraq. It was definitely an eye-opening experience being 17 in a combat zone. It forced me to grow up very quickly. I turned 18 years old in Iraq, the last place I would have expected to reach that highly coveted age when multiple freedoms open up to you. I ended up doing another combat deployment to Iraq at 19 years old and finally, my last combat deployment to Afghanistan when I was 20 years old (three deployments total before the age of 21). I was wounded in action in Afghanistan three months into what would be my last and final deployment. My vehicle hit a roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED) / Bomb and I suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to over 30% of my body. A few of my Marines are now triple amputees because of the blast. I have lost a lot of good friends over my three deployments. That feeling of loss is very hard to deal with sometimes. The after effects of my experiences still affect me to this day. However, as time passes, dealing with those experiences becomes a little more manageable. For a long time, I did not trust anyone nor did I care to socialize and make friends. I thought to myself, how could I possibly make friends out here in the civilian world? I just got done serving with a bunch of guys in some pretty hellacious situations in which they were willing to lay down their lives for me and I was willing to give my life for them. The friendships I made in the Marine Corps were forged in blood. We are blood brothers. Those bonds can never be duplicated or broken. I also feared getting too close to people. I never wanted to experience the feeling of loss like I did in the Marine Corps ever again. It is the worst feeling in the world to be talking and planning with your friend one day, and then the next day, you are loading him up on the bird (helicopter) due to something unfortunate.

However, these feelings started changing for the better once I discovered Golden Touch. I love Craps. I have loved the game ever since I was a kid. I wanted to learn how to play it the right way, so I went on the internet and purchased every single Craps book I could find. I bought the DVD and watched it a million times trying to figure out how in the world they could get the dice to travel through the air synchronously gently landing and dying at the back wall. I watched the Dice Dominator more times than the mind can fathom to count. I started idolizing Dom and wanted to be able to possess his level of skill. So I called him and signed up for the Primer Class in Tunica. I am so glad I did. Dom and I hit it off instantly. I was extremely nervous about attending the class. As a matter of fact, I almost did not go. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I sunk down into an emotionless pit and completely disconnected myself from everybody and everything. I was going down a path of emotional destruction. Hence, my hesitance to travel down and attend the seminar. I arrived at the class and was extremely hesitant. I met Dom at the front and was instantly enamored. My mentor, Sandman, the Almighty Leader of the one and only “Bone Crushers” team (we are the best by the way) took me under his wing immediately and started going over what we were going to do for the weekend. I felt a sense of trust and belonging, something I had not felt in a long time.

And then, there was Dom’s story about how he scavenged up every penny he could find, practiced like crazy to increase his skill set, and then started taking it to the casino. Dom’s story inspired me to change my way of thinking. Instead of pushing people away and cutting myself off from the world because I felt as if there was nobody I could relate too or forge a friendship with, I began coming out of my shell and started opening up. Dom and I have shared some pretty deep conversations with one another and it felt good to be able to do that. So to make a long story short and to avoid boring you to death, I was in a very bad way. I suffer from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, survivor’s guilt, amongst many other ailments. Every day is a struggle. Being a part of Golden Touch has sort of given me a new perspective on life and helps me better manage the ailments I deal with. Just like in the Marine Corps, I am now a part of a group with a common mission. In the Marines, we protect and serve. In Golden Touch, we come together and commit utter chaos destroying the “bottom lines” of the casinos with our skill, discipline, and proficiency. I love every bit of it and I thank all of you for accepting me into the bunch. Cliff “Big Daddy Revs”, Don “Hard Nine”, Dom, Billy the Kid, Alligator Rose, Dr. Crapology (whose wife is a much better shooter than he is), Sand Man, Midnight, Mr. Finesse, Nick@Night, Pit Boss, No Field Five, and anybody else that I failed to mention. Thank you for helping me trust people and step outside into the world again. The scars of war are terribly difficult to deal with, but you guys make dealing with them that much easier. I am glad to call you my friends.

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