If I Don't Return: A General's Wartime Journal for His Sons

Retired three-star General Mark Hertling joins the show to discuss his new book *If I Don't Return*, which grew out of a journal he started during Operation Desert Storm when he faced a real possibility of not coming home to his young sons. The conversation covers the lessons about life, leadership, and character he wanted to pass on, including making every day count, planning for friction, the importance of marriage and friendship, the role of handwritten notes, the moral weight of war, and what it means to build a man.