// the short version

About

I'm Michael D. Connell Jr. I spent my Army career as a Behavioral Health Specialist — thirteen years helping soldiers hold their lives together. In 2016 I medically retired, and I had to do for myself what I'd spent a career doing for others: rebuild a life, without the structure, the team, or the title.

That took years. My health, career, identity, routines, and sense of direction all changed. I found plenty of tools for journaling, habits, motivation, and productivity. What I did not find was a system designed around the larger problem: rebuilding a life and identity when the old version no longer fits.

So in my late forties, I learned to code and started building it myself. It became Life Re:Scripted, which carries the same mission forward through different tools, and The Phoenix Protocol, the book I wrote about the system underneath all of it. This is a continuity story, not a reinvention story. This site is where the building shows.

// the timeline

How it actually went

  1. 2003–2016

    U.S. Army — Behavioral Health Specialist (68X)

    Thirteen years supporting service members through difficult circumstances, in a system where documentation, accountability, trust, and follow-through mattered. Left as a Staff Sergeant.

  2. 2016

    Medical retirement

    Thirteen years in, my health ended the career before I was ready. I was medically retired — and then had to figure out who I was without the uniform.

  3. 2023

    Learning to code

    In my late forties, I returned to school through the VA's Veteran Readiness and Employment program and began a software development program at CIAT. The coursework gave me the fundamentals; building real applications gave me a reason to need them.

  4. 2024–2025

    Degrees earned

    Associate of Applied Science in Software Development (2024) and an Applied Bachelor's Degree in Software Development (2025), both from CIAT.

  5. 2025

    Founding Life Re:Scripted

    Incorporated in Kansas: a platform for rebuilding identity, direction, and daily structure. Same mission as the uniform, different tools. Reclaim. Rebuild. Reignite.

  6. Fall 2026

    The Phoenix Protocol

    My first book: fifteen chapters and an oath, about 27,000 words, built on one idea — you don't need motivation, you need a system that runs when motivation doesn't. In beta with readers now; launching this fall.

  7. 2026

    This site

    mdc-techvet.dev is the workshop and the record: portfolio, blog, and proof of work in one place. I build in public because evidence beats claims.

// what I'm building toward

Everything here points in one direction: working tools for people who are functioning but fraying — the ones rebuilding who they are without an audience and without a manual. The book carries the system. Life Re:Scripted delivers it, one issue at a time. This site documents the work: the code, the writing, and what it actually costs to rebuild late and mean it. If any of it holds a door open for you, it's doing its job.

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