Meet James Davis | Air Force Command and Control Specialist & Aspiring Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with James Davis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
I have served in the United States Air Force for 16 years. As a non-commissioned officer, as a leader, the most important lesson that I have learned is the power of empathy. The concept sounds so simple, to understand the feelings and emotions that another person is sharing. People struggle all the time, battling depression, anxiety, daily life stressors, big events, little events and so on. From your perspective you may look at someone else’s situation and think that their challenge is insignificant, but from their vantage they may look at their challenge as daunting as climbing Mt. Everest. We’ve all heard the statistic, 22 veterans a day commit suicide. I reflect back on my own experiences when I faced my own Mt. Everest situation, and it took one person with the emotional intelligence, the empathy to look past my mistakes and treat me with kindness and respect and ask the simplest of questions…”how can I help you”. From that day I’ve strived to be that person for others.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have always enjoyed fantasy, and history, especially medieval history. Through the many people that I’ve met in the military I was introduced to things like Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering, and different books and shows. Getting together for “Nerd Nights”, of playing table top games, and group dinners was a great way to bond with my co-workers away from the job and expand our military family. But, reality hit me this year that the end of my military career is quickly approaching. A kind of parallel formed in my mind that just like a D&D campaign that ends you have the answer the question of what comes next? I had a character that I had played for nearly 2 years, who was inspired by my wife’s real life struggles with mental health. The campaign ended, but I wasn’t ready to let her go as a character. Even though the group moved on, I kept wondering what she would be doing? One of my favorite authors is Rick Riordan who wrote the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. He wrote those works for his son Haley, who has dyslexia and ADHD and did not enjoy reading. And so even though I have never professionally written, I felt compelled to tell her story. For my wife, for myself, my children, and everyone else who struggles with mental health, “The Adventures of Seraphina” is for you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Colorado Springs currently so I have a wealth of options available. I haven’t been up to Pikes Peak yet, but it is a 14k foot mountain summit, that overlooks the region, it would for sure be on the short list of places to go. There is also the Garden of the Gods, which is just an absolutely surreal formation of rocks that stand in stark contrast to the rest of the area. There are famous sand dunes nearby, and cave formations to explore, or Red Rock Amphitheater. If I could be a little biased, I think if I could have a day to show someone what we do on a daily basis on Peterson Space Force Base, or in Cheyanne Mountain Space Force Station, I think that it would blow their minds. Military communities are special places, and the food options seem generally follow suit. There are plenty of places to go, but I also love to host get togethers and through my travels across the country I have learned to make North Carolina BBQ, and smoke Texas style brisket. Its just one more passion that I’ve acquired, and love to share with people.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to give a shout out first to my parents, I don’ t know how they did it, but they instilled in me a never say die, can do attitude that filled me with traits like tenacity, determination, and the resiliency to meet struggles head on. I would also like to give a shout out to my wife, the mother of my four children. She is a wonder, and despite being the primary caregiver for our kids, 3 of whom are autistic and require extensive therapies in and out of the home, she became a licensed in home nurse. She also created her own photography business, and is a representative for a second company. Lastly, I would like to give a shout out to all of my co-workers and the leaders who support me and my efforts. This year I won the Lance P. Sijan Award for leadership from my command NORAD. I could not have done it without their support.

Website: https://www.adventuresofseraphina.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDFantasyBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdventuresofSeraphina

Image Credits
credit to Saturn Light @Light8Turnip for the art work of Seraphina