Out There (Dispatches from My Personal Wilderness)

Out There recounts one man’s search to lead an authentic life, an adventure that takes him all over the world and through some of the biggest societal changes of recent history. From a distance, this could be a typical American story: boy grows up in a religious home, joins the military to defend his country, returns home to attend university, then becomes a firefighter. That would be typical if it weren’t for the fact that he’s gay and was open in places that historically excluded people like him.

As a nineteen-year-old from a fundamentalist family, Lance Garland worked hard to qualify for Navy SEAL training, then sailed across the Pacific on a warship where he met his first boyfriend. After his partner was sexually assaulted by a superior, the two men became witnesses in a court-martial that was complicated by the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. After he was discharged from the Navy, Garland discovered time in nature as a way to heal from the experiences of his youth. While sailing, backpacking ,and climbing in the Pacific Northwest, he navigates the challenges of becoming a first-generation college student, equal rights activist, and the first openly gay fireman in the Seattle fire department.

Out There is a memoir of a man out in the wilderness, both physically and socially, on a journey to find a place to call his own. It is for anyone who has felt like an outsider or hasn’t found their place yet.