Dead Soldier: A Story of the Living

The Memoir of Sergeant Carmelo Rodriguez

By: Carmelo Rodriguez

Narrated by: Gary Tredwell

After a combat tour in Iraq, Carmelo Rodriguez returned home to find that a government glitch with Veteran Affairs (VA) had declared him dead. After receiving the initial notification of his death at his mailing address, he thought that the VA would correct its mistake. But Carmelo's family members were notified, a check for his funeral expenses was paid out, and Carmelo received one last notification that his benefits were ending.

But it didn't stop there.

Agencies like the IRS and Social Security Administration followed suit and declared him dead as well, terminating his loans, scrubbing his identity, and shutting him out of his bank accounts making it hard to provide for himself. Initially unable to correct the egregious error, Carmelo went into a tailspin of depression.

But that depression combined with the deteriorating effects of a combat-related injury eventually woke Carmelo up like never before, and he found within him the ability to go toe-to-toe with the swarm of faceless entities determined to declare him dead. But how is this even possible?

That's what Dead Soldier: A Story of the Living is about: Carmelo's fight to be declared alive again."

©2020 Carmelo Rodriguez (P)2023 Carmelo Rodriguez