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Decisions: A Middle-Class Memoir
Our lives are shaped less by what happens to us than by the decisions we make in response.
The first ten seconds begin in Baghdad, with an enemy rocket striking combat veteran, former enlisted Marine, and Army officer Russell A. Smith in the head.
He walked away.
Smith’s story will challenge you to examine your own defining the setbacks you endure, the choices you make, and the kind of person you decide to become.
Decisions is about more than surviving combat. Adopted and abused as a child, wounded in Iraq, and awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Smith faced moments that could have defined the rest of his life. Instead, he learned that we cannot always control what happens to us—but we can decide what happens next.
From the Marine Corps and Army to Pentagon assignments, and later the classroom, Smith shares hard-earned lessons about military leadership, courage, resilience, faith, family, trauma, and adversity. Honest, sometimes painful, and often humorous, A Middle-Class Memoir is for veterans, leaders, adoptees, trauma survivors, and anyone facing adversity or a difficult decision about what comes next.
Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.
The first ten seconds begin in Baghdad, with an enemy rocket striking combat veteran, former enlisted Marine, and Army officer Russell A. Smith in the head.
He walked away.
Smith’s story will challenge you to examine your own defining the setbacks you endure, the choices you make, and the kind of person you decide to become.
Decisions is about more than surviving combat. Adopted and abused as a child, wounded in Iraq, and awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Smith faced moments that could have defined the rest of his life. Instead, he learned that we cannot always control what happens to us—but we can decide what happens next.
From the Marine Corps and Army to Pentagon assignments, and later the classroom, Smith shares hard-earned lessons about military leadership, courage, resilience, faith, family, trauma, and adversity. Honest, sometimes painful, and often humorous, A Middle-Class Memoir is for veterans, leaders, adoptees, trauma survivors, and anyone facing adversity or a difficult decision about what comes next.
Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.
309 pages, Hardcover
Published November 21, 2025
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