My wife was attacked, in part, because she was undefended, because the person whose job it was to stand beside her was a continent away, and the people who hurt her knew it, and counted on it.

I had been serving my country, and I do not regret that service.

But I had also, if I am honest, let my duty become a way of being absent from the daily work of protecting the person I loved most, and the Prescotts had exploited that exact gap.

So when it was over, I did not simply celebrate the convictions and return to my old life.

I changed my life.