THE OTHER SIDE OF BADGE

For twenty-five years, Cal Mercer has walked through prison gates as a correction officer, learning to live with violence, trauma, brotherhood, and the constant pressure of a job most people will never fully understand. Now, with retirement only months away, Cal is forced to confront a question he has avoided for years: who is he when the uniform finally comes off? As his final shifts bring overdoses, assaults, blood exposures, and memories of officers lost along the way, Cal begins to recognize how deeply the prison has followed him home. His wife, Mara, and their children have carried the weight of his career too, often in ways he never fully saw. A friendship with fellow officer Ethen-a man whose own life was reshaped by addiction, consequences, and faith-pushes Cal to reconsider the habits, beliefs, and defenses he has relied on for decades. Slowly, through family, friendship, counseling, and a growing return to faith, Cal begins to understand that strength does not always mean carrying everything alone. The Other Side of the Badge is a powerful novel about corrections, family, trauma, faith, brotherhood, and redemption. It explores what happens after the radio goes quiet, the gate closes for the last time, and a man must learn that leaving the prison is not always the same as leaving it behind.