Naval Aviator’s New Series Follows a Soldier’s Struggle to Choose Between Loyalty and Survival
On October 16, 2026, Merritt Island, Florida-based author Ray Deptula announced the two-book Those Damned Yankees series. The former U.S. Naval Aviator and Political-Military Officer, who served 24 years, introduces protagonist Jack Halliday, a young man who joins the British Army out of desperation before ultimately fighting for both the British and Continental armies during the American Revolution. The series follows the actual sequence of Revolutionary War events as an epic coming-of-age story about belonging, friendship and discovering where home truly lies.
Deptula stated his intent to call attention to the parallels between the American Revolution and the present day, noting both political-military dimensions and the personal story of a young man entering military service because he sees no other way to survive. He added that this experience is something he can personally relate to and believes many other veterans can as well. Deptula emphasized that the series rests on one simple truth: those who fight their nation’s wars are typically those least able to avoid it, and that the motivation to withstand hardships comes not from political ideology but rather from the love of your comrades.
A Dog Before a Soldier, the first book, follows teenage Jack Halliday, who after three harrowing years on a slave ship joins the British Army in 1774 out of sheer necessity. Sent to Boston as part of the security force to help suppress a growing rebellion, Jack fights in key battles including Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Long Island and the capture of Philadelphia before deserting the British Army and seeking refuge in Annapolis, Maryland. There, he is taken in by a wealthy landowner who ultimately asks him to act as his surrogate in the Continental Army alongside an enslaved man named Custis, welcoming Jack into the family and promising him the landowner’s daughter’s hand in marriage.
Can’t Find My Way Home, the second book, finds Jack and Custis serving with the Continental Army after enduring the harsh winter of 1780-81 at Washington’s army encampment in New Jersey. When spring arrives, they are swept into the Battle of Camden, where Continental forces are decimated by the British, along with American hopes of ridding the southern provinces of Britain’s new foothold. Separated from their army and lost in the volatile South, the unlikely pair must survive together in a world where trust is scarce and Custis’ value as property continually tests Jack’s moral compass, their desperate struggle to find safety and return home inspiring the book’s title.
