Forward to “55 Rules for a Good Life”

[December 11, 2025]  One of the advantages of working in the U.S. Army is getting the chance to work for and speak to many highly successful leaders.  Good Leadership is one of the bedrock foundations that America insists we have.  And the reason is simple, life and death decisions are made and there is no room for amateurs.  In my book “55 Rules for a Good Life,” is a compilation of the many “rules” that helped our military be the best in the world.

The forward is written by a good friend, someone who has spent decades working with me, in peace and war.  His name is Adam Roth, originally an Infantryman and converted into a Combat Engineer.  Regular readers will note I did the same occupation swap.  He has a unique view of my book and this is why I’m highlighting his forward today.

Forward by Adam S. Roth, U.S. Army Colonel

In his book, 55 Rules for a Good Life, Brigadier General Doug Satterfield gives us a practical view of how to have a life for yourself that you can admire.  It goes something like this.  Choose your yoke (Satterfield uses metaphors) and choose the weight you have to carry to justify your existence to yourself, so at the end of the day, you can look at yourself and conclude that you helped set things right.  Satterfield tells a compelling and very ancient story, which is why so many people are attracted to his ideas.  I know this because I know Satterfield well.

He tells us that we are given neither a good life nor a bad life; rather, it is up to us to do with it as we will.  In his book, he simultaneously acts as a realist and a philosopher.  He points out that the way to live well – to have a good life – is to pursue truth (and let the consequences fall as they may) and willingly adopt all the responsibility you can bear (even when doing so frightens you).  His message is harsh.  If your back is bent from bearing your responsibilities, he would say you are on the right path.  And expect your path to be full of dragons (another of his common metaphors) that will devour you for unwise choices and do so unpredictably.  Our ancestors knew this well.  Through a conscious, purposeful, focused effort, we can develop ourselves and become someone who masters challenges and achieves a good life.

I find the traits exemplified most in America’s “Greatest Generation” were those imbued with hardship, doing without, and, most importantly, the absolute necessity of self-responsibility.  Satterfield understands this generation, and they taught him well.  They spent their childhood in the Great Depression and later fought the Axis Powers in World War II, setting the moral compass for many generations.  But as we got further away from those ideals, we started to erode as a society.  Satterfield captured many of the “rules” this generation used to achieve some of the most remarkable feats in human history.  For those lucky enough to have been raised by either parents or grandparents of the Greatest Generation, you understand.

However, the fallacy of the Greatest Generation was when fathers came home from WWII; they would tell their children that “they are working hard so you won’t have to.”  As we look at the current state of affairs in our society, work ethics, public discourse, political divisiveness, etc., we see that as a Nation, we have lost our way because we were handed the necessities of life from our Greatest Generation.

In Satterfield’s 55 Rules for a Good Life, he is able to take learning and teaching moments from the ancients and the moderns and share them with everyone wanting to better themselves.  From his experiences growing up from humble beginnings to his long-time service to our Nation in the U.S. Army, and later his experiences as a father, grandfather, and husband have all been tied into concrete items that one can consider for inclusion into their own self-improvement plan.

If you have grown up mistakenly thinking that “it’s all about you” and suddenly finding out in your first job, sadly, it is not the case; this book can provide new insights on how to take personal responsibility and pursue the truth required to shape your own destiny, and get on the good side of life; a life you can respect.

If you spend your life living as a victim, Satterfield’s book shows you empowering concepts that can incrementally free you from your situation and help you to develop a roadmap to your own personal success.

If you find yourself not finding value in your relationships with your family, your co-workers, and your friends, or being told that you appear “selfish,” “self-absorbed,” or “self-serving” but don’t have the context (or the tools) to be able to change that “label,” Satterfield’s book provides a “how to” in personal image redefinition.

If you did not grow up in a household that incorporated aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents who were able to provide intangible guidance to you on a regular basis and did not have the grounding to know where to start to “see what you were missing,” Satterfield’s book will give you a peek into those kitchen table discussions that were passed from generation to generation.

As someone who has commanded nearly a thousand Soldiers in combat, I can tell you that in my 30 years of military service, I was always looking for some way of helping the younger generation who seemed to not “get it.”  Often, they did not possess those life skills and life lessons needed to be a responsible individual in society (or our Army).  Doug Satterfield has found a way of capturing the “secret sauce” of that older generation and their inheritance to younger generations.  Doing so gives you a fighting chance in the harsh and dangerous world we find ourselves in and how to thrive.

Like the old U.S. Army recruiting slogan said, “Be all you can be.”  Better yet, be more than you can be.

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).