01
War & loss
From Afghanistan’s front line to losing his mother exactly one year after her terminal diagnosis.
The memoir by Royce Hardman
HardmanSoft Heart
A soldier. A survivor. A second chance.
A raw and ultimately hopeful story of war, grief, addiction, brotherhood, love, survival, and the dog who gave one man a reason to stay alive.
The story
Surviving the war was the easy part.
At sixteen, Royce Hardman decided he was going to war. At twenty, he found himself on the front lines in Afghanistan. Then he came home to loss.
Grief gave way to trauma, violence, psychiatric wards and addiction. At his worst, Royce was drinking two litres of rum a day. Twice, he attempted to take his own life.
Then there was Trigger.
An American Staffy who gave Royce something he desperately needed: a reason to stay alive. Together, they set out to walk around Australia for mental health awareness.
“No matter how far you run, you have to meet yourself.”
02
Trigger & purpose
A dog, a walk across a continent, and a mission to make unbearable pain mean something.
03
Learning to live
Sobriety and relapse, love and heartbreak, and the reckoning no distance could avoid.
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The story of how he finally learned to live.
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