Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, 507 Broad Street, Lake Geneva, WI (2026)

04/01/2026

IF YOU GO AWAY...
Op/Ed
By James Strauss

The price of combat in war is not truly understood nor believed if explained by those who went. Television series, war movies, and the slanted military and mass media news continue to disguise the true cost to those who are sent or choose to go into such armed conflict. From actual engaged combat on the ground, there is literally no return, either from ending in a body bag or becoming psychologically killed off to become more of a zombie or a shredded version of what was once a real, thinking, caring, and loving human before engagement. Here is my story and the result, which, if you go, will be your very own.

Opinion/Editorial IF YOU GO AWAY… The country of the United States heads into a ground combat war in the desert, a desert portrayed in Hollywood style in the old Gary Cooper movie called Beau Geste. The setting will not be far off, sand and mountains, and viciously murderous enemies killing his fe...

03/28/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXIX
The preparations have been made for the odd mystery of a mission, that some seemed to know bits and pieces about but not the whole story. I wanted the whole thing to be called off, so I waited with some anxiety for the final phone call, which wasn't even made to me. I had to call Toney and get the news, which was another oddity. 'Stand-off distance' was the phrase I'd heard my father use when he'd gone out on the Kukui Coast Guard ship from Oahu to observe the Johnson Island tests so many years before. Every other human, and almost all the physical assets the Navy could bring to bear, would be some distance away if things went wrong. Those on the mission would never know if it went wrong. We'd simply be vaporized before our senses could even register that we were dead and gone. The Murder Island event I'd started out wanting to be a part of was now filling me with dread.
All the books out there today are drawing down more money than I pay to have them and send out, even autographed. The ones I send out on the orders of readers are well worth their price, at least in my opinion. Thanks for whatever you do as it all sure helps this adventure continue.

I wanted to have a part in loading the boat, simply because if I knew where things were being placed and an emergency came up, then there’d be no delay in getting to what was needed. Not that the entire mission wasn’t just a rolling emergency. But, even more important than that, I had to […]

03/19/2026

EGRESS, Short Story by James Strauss
Dedicated to Jean Auel

The fictional events of an intrusive, violent CIA mission gone very wrong and ending up very successful, but badly, depending upon one's perspective. The entire story is fiction, or at least the names of those involved are, as some of the actions you will read have forever-punishing complications for survivors. It was a harrowing and "Eiger Sanction" time, and the wind coming up over high cliffs, while standing on the top edge looking down, takes anyone right back who might have been there.

The 14 books I have published are selling, and I hope you will take advantage of getting autographed copies while the autograher is still here to sign them. And my great thanks if you do.
Semper fi,
Jim!

EGRESS A Short Story By James Strauss The decision was the fastest and most fateful he had ever made, but living with the result was going to be problematic, even if the life he had left was to be very short in duration. Josh stood with his back pressed into the hard, cold granite. He […]

03/15/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXVIII
The preparations brokenly assembled in planning gain momentum with the very surprising and unlikely entry of Marcinko onto my team, as his experience, vastly different than my own begins to pay dividends as the real objective of the mission is revealed but not in sufficient enough detail to lay out everything we should, but will not, know before kicking off from the line of departure. The understanding about why the DEA and the U.S. Navy want to be as distant as possible from any physical effects is explained and understandable to men and women who have been in real combat. No one in their right mind wants to snuggle up to an armed hydrogen bomb. The active part of the mission now begins. Murder Island looms on the horizon.

Thank you all for purchasing my books. The value of signed books has zoomed up with some of them going for over a hundred dollars used and signed. Not many of those with remarks are on the market. Some people must have realized that I have to be in my eighties to be writing these. Get an autographed copy of any or all the books.

I called Tony, and before he could say a word, I read him the riot act about his inclusion of Marcinko on the mission in any way. “You done now?” was all he responded with. “I breathed in and out deeply. Marcinko and the others, including the clerical staff, had gone off to Sadie’s Restauran...

03/07/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXVII
The last planning and supply stages kicking off the Murder Island Mission begin to be completed, as the CIA funds everything requested without question. The surrounding players make appearances looking to feather their own nests, although not at any real expense to anything but the mission's seemingly unlimited budget. I begin to feel queasy about entering into a mission without understanding yet what it is truly all about, only being able to guess that it has something to do with a 'broken arrow' or nuclear device under the control or possession of someone or something not authorized to have it.

It was the water; I finally figured it out. It wasn’t the clear, fresh aroma of the mid-Pacific that swirled around the island chain of Hawaii—in those waters had been the clarity, the slightly salty sense of crystal purity, and a welcoming temperature that seemed to draw one down into the inter...

02/18/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXVI

The United States Navy once more steps in to apparently save the day, as the pilot and his small Cessna decide to attempt to play dive bomber on our boat. The Navy sends in the Marines, although they should have been Navy, and the mystery continues to build. The drug cartel, money, and drugs, the original apparent motivator for the mission, have begun to look like child's play next to the real thing, which remains hidden behind the stage curtain. The curtain must open soon.

The books are out there and selling on eBay for a lot, so that means there's some value in purchasing them now, particularly the books that are signed. My books will not be truly famous in my lifetime, but they will surface slowly to add to the historical perspective of life in the USA and how it is conducted through espionage and cultural and linguistic applications of truth, justice, power, and intellect. Invest in the work. Invest and take a chance on me.

The Cessna was having to turn slowly and very sharply to be able to come back around and still have another decent run at us, made all the harder by Kingsley turning the boat to port to lessen the timing and effect of the Cessna’s turn. The sound of the high blades of the CH-53 […]

02/12/2026

https://jamesstrauss.com/the-cowardly-lion-volume-six-chapter-xv-2/

The planning for the mission had come to an end without what I considered to be the key element of it, which was, what in hell was the real mission because it sure wasn’t breaking up a band of drug smugglers, stealing their cash and destroying them and their stash. That explained why the DEA […]

02/06/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXIV
The CIA 'First Directive' for field agents, never written but burned in by control officers, other field agents, and in training I was yet to receive; never take family or friends into mission territory or on any mission itself. Missions in the field have a way of going 'South' without warning and on into territories of extreme danger. I violate that directive for the first time in allowing my wife to stay nearby while i am preparing the planning for a mission. Her involvement does not include danger for her but for me in my marriage. The boat trip down to the mission area from Key West is harrowing and fraught with mysterious circumstance and danger but at least exposing only Nguyen, Kingsley and myself and then one stowaway to be yet discovered. Adaptation is the most valuable talent a field agent can possess.
Notables such as Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear fame) and Linda Ronstadt have weighed in with emails and support and are reading the series. The vets and other fans who write are much more poignant in their comments but the notables weighing in feel wonderful to have. Buy the books. They are going somewhere great, so go somewhere great with them. I may not be here, because I'm so old but that won't matter. Just make the stuff more valuable.

I sat with the phone off the hook, watching the light blink, soundlessly yelling at me, while I was wishing I could know more than I knew. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the Rover should have the car phone somewhere inside it. I got up and went to the parking lot. The Rover sat […]

02/04/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXIII
The heat continues to rise as the truth about what the mission might entail as the U.S. Navy commits millions to provide ships and support while a budget continues to become unlimited and every request I put in is instantly approved no matter how idiotic or made up. Murder Island may well be properly named as the portent of impending death or serious violence begins to become the expected result.

Thanks for buying my books as it is having an effect on continuing this series when all things seem opposed. Semper fi, and thank you. Jim

I tried to get to sleep, which I nearly accomplished until my wife poked me in the side. “What is it?” I asked, my tone one of irritation. “You mentioned something, and I wanted to discuss it before you nod off, as it may be important as to whether you continue on this ‘mission’ or […]

01/24/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXI

The mission off the coast of Florida takes on new importance as it should never have been a CIA mission in the first place. Why the CIA becomes the major and only player in the mission becomes apparent when my association and friendship with an inheriting member of the Kohler family, famous in northern Wisconsin for plumbing and other equipment, comes to the fore. Wild results begin to pile up and play out as the bizarre mission unfolds.

Please buy the books and, in particular, buy the signed ones I sell at James Strauss, 507 Broad Street, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 53147. I don't have that much farther to go in life and these books are going to be worth a fortune when i am gone. There are very few portrayels of real combat and real recovery that ever make it into print. Thank you and I'm glad you are there to appreciate the work and me in particular.
COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXI

Roger Rabbit, the pilot, flew us directly back to the airport in Key West. No one said a word, and even though it was hard to be heard inside the plane, which, with Robert pushing the speed to the little plane’s maximum, the reason for the complete silence had nothing to do with the plane’s […...

01/17/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXI

The mission off the coast of Florida takes on new importance as it should never have been a CIA mission in the first place. Why the CIA becomes the major and only player in the mission becomes apparent when my association and friendship with an inheriting member of the Kohler family, famous in northern Wisconsin for plumbing and other equipment, comes to the fore. Wild results begin to pile up and play out as the bizarre mission unfolds.

Please buy the books and, in particular, buy the signed ones I sell at James Strauss, 507 Broad Street, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 53147. I don't have that much farther to go in life and these books are going to be worth a fortune when i am gone. There are very few portrayels of real combat and real recovery that ever make it into print. Thank you and I'm glad you are there to appreciate the work and me in particular.
COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XXI

There was too much going on, and my control was once again nearing the ephemeral kind of leadership I had in the A Shau Valley so long ago. The boat, or specialized watercraft that resembled a yacht, was ready to be guided down the waterway. Rosley Ryan was on the way to add credibility and brillian...

01/04/2026

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume VI, Chapter XIX

The rushed trip to Korea and back takes its toll but there is to be no respite as the Murder Island prepatory trip to Florida must be made, and the family left to once more wait, isn't dealing well with the non-stop missions or the wear and tear it's causing on everyone. Florida proves to be problematic, with Mary wanting to settle into the Flamingo Hotel in MIami to await events, and the preparations by the principal, Nguyen and Kingsley run into obstacles and difficulty in not revealing anyone that they are what they are.

Thanks for the patience in awaiting another chapter and hopefully having read the Christmas stories I run every year in the weeks preceeding that holiday. Please invest in the books as so many of you have and I am most happy to send out autographed copies to anyone who orders them. James Strauss at 507 Broad Street, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147.

I was not encountered by anyone from either the embassy or any of the people I’d met earlier in the country, which was a blessing as my recovery from the cough syrup I’d taken before and during the flights over had taken the wind out of me, as well as my need or even ability […]

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

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