Author: Maximilian

BATTLE BORN: LAPIS LAZULI is the story of Sergeant King and his platoon taking the fight to the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan. Deep in the Sar-i-sang valley of Badakhshan province, the Afghan people have mined lapis lazuli and other valuable gemstones for millennia. For the majority of the modern conflict in Afghanistan, Badakhshan had been relatively untouched by the war… Until recently, when the Taliban moved into the region and illegally took over the gemstone trade. With lapis lazuli now a conflict mineral, the Afghan government has requested the help of the United States in recapturing the region from Taliban control.

BATTLE BORN: LAPIS LAZULI was written and illustrated by me, the creator of TERMINAL LANCE, Maximilian Uriarte. It was a lot of work, taking over an entire year to write and illustrate, and I’m excited to see it finally hit the shelves.

This story, while Marine centric, was a great way for me to explore some new ideas outside of TERMINAL LANCE. In some ways, it is a spiritual successor to my first graphic novel, THE WHITE DONKEY (you may even find a white donkey amongst the pages of this new story…), but in others, it’s a very dramatic departure from anything else I’ve ever done. BATTLE BORN is truly a visual experience that you have to hold in your hands and see with your own eyes, with each turn of the page meticulously plotted and planned for maximum impact.

If you’re a fan of TERMINAL LANCE, you will love BATTLE BORN.

BATTLE BORN: LAPIS LAZULI is available for sale everywhere books are sold in hardcover, please check it out here.

Marines are known for many things, but equally not known for their ability to control their impulses. After all, they wouldn’t make very effective fighting machines if they had some form of self control keeping them from charging into incoming enemy fire, so it should be no surprise that they’re absolutely terrible at basic life shit when it comes to making measured decisions.

A young Lance Corporal marrying someone they just met is a tale as old as 1775, and the Mustang has been a boot-favorite for as long as APR financing has been a thing. Marines are great at many things, but self-control is not one of them.

If it were, would they even be Marines?

When a Marine is “broke,” it means he’s out for the count. Marines break in all kinds of ways… Physically… Emotionally… Financially… It’s just a matter of time before you have to call it in and (hopefully) skip PT for a couple of weeks.

Of course, the average Lance Corporal is much more likely to be broke monetarily than physically, as they are practically invincible from copious alcohol abuse, but it happens.

In other news, BATTLE BORN: LAPIS LAZULI is officially out and available in hardcover everywhere books are sold. BATTLE BORN: LAPIS LAZULI is the story of Sergeant King and his platoon of Marines sent to the mountains of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province, where they must regain control of the nation’s precious gemstone trade at the behest of the fledgling Afghan government. It is an emotional journey that I spent a lot of time and energy on, and I’m really excited to see it come to light. Click or tap the image below to purchase.

There are few things worse than the rude awakening one finds in the field when its their turn for firewatch. You could be dreaming about any number of wonderful things, all of them far away from where you are in actuality, and find yourself pulled back to cold, hard reality. A Marine stands over you, flashlight in your face… It’s your turn for firewatch.

You sit up, rub your eyes, gather yourself, throw some boots on and pick up your rifle, and meander over to the head of the platoon. You stand there… Trying not to sleep… Watching the soft glow of your watch as you eagerly await your turn to wake someone up…

And thus, the cycle continues.

“I’m trying to knock up a stripper to get out of the barracks,” is what one Marine told me during my travels. The quest to get out of the barracks leads many Marines down the path of the dark side of marriage. As an institution, the Corps tacitly encourages young marriages by making life for single Marines so abjectly terrible that anything else seems like a better idea. On the contrary, married Marines are treated better in nearly every way, simply by virtue of not having to live in the barracks.

Get married and suddenly your quality of life skyrockets (by LCPL standards). Suddenly, you’re offered a choice: double your paycheck and collect BAH or be given a rent-free private home to live on base for you and your spouse. Meanwhile, your single friends are back in the barracks getting yelled at for not cleaning under the rim of their own toilet on a Thursday night.

Tough choice.

It’s such a crazy time to be an American this weekend. Independence Day approaches tomorrow and the nation is in the middle of an explosive COVID-19 pandemic that just keeps getting worse. What would be a blessing any other year—July 4th falling on Saturday—has turned into just another day for many Americans forced to quarantine and social distance.

What could a Commanding Officer possibly tell their Marines?

Shit sucks. Don’t get the rona. Stay inside.

Happy 4th of July, Marines.

He’s a Marine

First to fight, he’s loyal

Honor, courage, commitment

Corps Values, Semper Fi

Oorah,

He’s a Marine

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBj-8rCloYT/?igshid=155bletdzi02k

Relationships and the Marine Corps go together like… Wait, no they don’t. They don’t go together at all. It’s no wonder that marriages in the Corps end at about an 85% divorce rate.

This sounds bad, of course, but I feel like if you compared the relationships and divorce rates of most 18-22 year olds, regardless of their enlisted status, you’d get similar results. It’s a simple fact of life that young love burns bright and burns fast. People just barely moving out of their parents house and figuring out who they are probably shouldn’t be making lifelong commitments to begin with.

Who am I kidding? If Marines weren’t the impulsive type they are, they would have never signed that contract at a strip mall anyway.

Racists are having a really hard time these last couple of weeks. It turns out that most of the world is kind of tired of their shit, and even longstanding mainstays of married cousins like the confederate flag are no longer welcome aboard our military installations (and in most normal parts of America).

Of course, this comes about 150 years too late, seeing as the confederacy lost the war for slavery against the Union, like, a long ass time ago; but I suppose late is better than never.

Every Marine Corps installation is surrounded by some weird little small town that pretty much only exists because the base exists and married Marines need somewhere to spend their BAH. Camp Pendleton is actually home to both Oceanside and San Clemente. Both of which are actually pretty nice. The only really negative thing you can say about them is that they’re full of boots on liberty from SOI, but that’s to be expected anywhere.

Outside of Camp Lejeune is the quintessential Marine town known as Jacksonville. Being a west coast guy, I’ve never been, but I hear it’s… Nice.

Of course, Twentynine Palms is home to… Well… Twentynine Palms. The California desert oasis is the kind of place no one chooses to live, but many people end up. It drips with the aura of small town rural America combined with the unique trials and tribulations of western desert life.

Naturally, there are others, but those are the biggest bases. I was stationed in Hawaii, which had Kailua right outside of it. There’s nothing funny about it, because Kailua is fucking awesome and Teddy’s Bigger Burger is my shit.