Ben Hofmeister was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2014, ending a 22-year career in the U.S. Army, as both a Ranger and Green Beret. He gradually settled into a wonderful retired life in Anniston, Alabama, with his wife and their three boys. He couldn’t be happier. After being inspired by the writing of others with MS, he decided to add his own voice. His column is raw and honest, but sometimes sarcastic and pithy too. MS is a serious disease but a life with it doesn’t always have to be.
I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point, I stopped putting on a costume and going trick-or-treating for Halloween. Years passed, and with the arrival of my children, I found myself…
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I’ve written several times before about how unpleasant it was to catch giardia while serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, but I wasn’t the only person to get sick from drinking contaminated…
I think cold weather affects me every bit as much as hot does. The difference is that instead of turning into a weak puddle, I stiffen into a rock. It doesn’t get that cold…
We’ve begun a brand-new year, and normally that would mean resolutions, but as I’ve said before, I’m not exactly a resolution kind of guy. I don’t have anything against them and I do intend…
For someone like me, who is retired and has three preteen children, the days surrounding Christmas and New Year’s feel like a liminal space. With no school or job to be at and…
I’m losing control. I don’t mean that I’m out of control or spiraling in that direction, but I definitely feel like I have a lot less of it these days. That’s a real problem…
My wife and I both have medical backgrounds. She is a registered nurse and has actual credentials that have to be renewed periodically. At one time I had a card that said…
When I attended the selection process for Army Special Forces, I had a number of obstacles to overcome, among them a psychological evaluation, a handful of physical tests, long-range land navigation, and assessments of…
As this is published, I’m surrounded by family. Some are cooking with passion and purpose. Some are critiquing and giving advice that always seems to start with the phrase “Now what I like to…
Ever since I learned how, I have enjoyed reading. My tastes have changed a little over the years, as has the way I read. I like the feel and smell of a real book,…
About a decade ago, I got caught up in the home brewing craze. I don’t know that I qualified as crazed, but I had a lot of fun with it and felt that since…
The first time you try something should not be the moment you absolutely need it. During my time in the military, I often applied this concept to both performing a critical task with my…
I had a run-in with a nasty, mostly waterborne parasite years ago in Afghanistan. I managed to catch it by, you guessed it, contact with infected water — not by actually drinking it, but…
The company I keep has changed over the past 10 years. I used to associate with people who were much like me. We had a similar way of thinking and faced many of the…
My wedding band is made of tungsten and rose gold. It’s heavier than most, but I’ve had it on for 15 years today, so most of the time I don’t notice that it’s there.
Due to the nature of my work in U.S. Army Special Operations, or maybe just because of the nature of me, I had a couple psychological evaluations over the years. Don’t worry, I’m…
I stopped driving nearly five years ago. That was probably six months or more after I should have. By that point, I was doing it mainly by using my truck’s cruise control and occasionally…
Migraines are quite an experience. People who have them wish they didn’t. I occasionally do, but I’m hesitant to compare myself with others. I’m even reluctant to use the word “migraine” to describe…
I recall one of my college classes from years ago, when the professor covered a subject that was rather difficult to understand. At the end, she paused, looked around the room, and asked if…
One of the courses I helped teach in between overseas tours was U.S. Army Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat. While urban combat is governed by official doctrine, it is not composed of…
Age is just a number, right? Most of the time, I don’t mind getting older, but it does occasionally bother me. One scenario is when I have to swipe more than three times to…
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