// veteran. founder. builder.

Michael D. Connell Jr.

Thirteen years as an Army Behavioral Health Specialist, helping soldiers hold their lives together. Now I build systems that carry the same mission — founder of Life Re:Scripted, author of The Phoenix Protocol.

See the work

The story

mdc@techvet: ~

$ whoami
veteran. founder. builder.
$ history | head -1
13 years, army behavioral health (68X)
$ mission --status
same mission, different tools
$ ls ./current
life-rescripted/  the-phoenix-protocol.book  mdc-techvet.dev

// current builds

What I'm shipping

Life Re:Scripted

Flagship

Reclaim. Rebuild. Reignite.

A platform focused on helping people rebuild identity, direction, and daily structure through journaling, reflection, habits, and practical systems — built by its first user.

mdc-techvet.dev

This site.

Personal portfolio, blog, and book home. React 19 + React Router prerendering, Tailwind v4, shadcn/ui, MDX content, and Supabase-backed forms — deployed on Vercel.

Full portfolio

The Phoenix Protocol book cover — gold geometric phoenix on black

// The Phoenix Protocol · Fall 2026

You don't need motivation. You need a system that runs when motivation doesn't.

The Phoenix Protocol is a daily operating system for rebuilding who you are — written by someone who needed one first. It's for people who are functioning but fraying, and done starting over.

About the book

// latest writing

From the blog

July 27, 2026 · 4 min

Rebuilding Isn't Starting Over

Fresh starts are a myth sold to people in pain — what you actually have is salvage, and salvage is worth more than a blank page.

July 2, 2026 · 3 min

How I Use AI Without Losing the Learning

AI is the fastest way to get an answer and the fastest way to skip understanding it — the difference is entirely in how you reach for it.

June 15, 2026 · 3 min

Accessibility Is More Than Contrast and Screen Readers

Color contrast and screen-reader support are the floor, not the ceiling — the harder problem is how much a person has to hold in their head.