About True Ink Chronicles

Hi, Marcus Byrd here. Founder of True Ink Chronicles.

"Founder." Sounds professional, right? Truth is, it just means I built this site on GoDaddy, registered an LLC, and took a headshot.

I'm a retired Army Master Sergeant (E-8) who made it through four combat deployments and a Bronze Star Medal recipient—twenty years as a Tactical Communications NCO, then Defense Cyber Analyst. The job was simple: figure out what the adversary would do before they did.

Twenty years develop a particular way of thinking. As an NCO, I wasn't the most intelligent person in the room. I was the person who read the entire technical manual while everyone else skimmed. Field manuals. Army regulations. Cover to cover. Things that bored other people to tears.

Four deployments teach you how little control you have over outcomes, and how much you have over preparation. I made it home from all four: luck and preparation. I'll never know the ratio.

When I retired in 2022, I got a job as a defense contractor on Missile Defense Agency programs. Good pay. Familiar work. But I wasn't leading anyone anymore. I was doing a job.

Around the same time, I fought the VA for my disability rating. Took years. No VSO is helping me. Just me pulling medical records, reading VA regulations, building a case. In late 2024, the 100% rating came through. Same methodology the Army taught me: read the rules, develop your case, document everything.

Working as a contractor, I started noticing things. Companies are competing for massive contracts. Evaluation decisions. Protests. That's when I discovered GAO protest decisions are public record. All of them. Free.

I started reading them like I used to read field manuals. Just curious: how were decisions actually made? The more I read, the more I recognized the same patterns—systematic thinking. There was a logic to it—a system. And systems can be learned.

In January 2026, I made a decision that's either calculated or completely insane.

I decided to compete for federal contracts myself. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. $50,000 over eighteen months.

Let me be clear. I'm 48 years old. This money wasn't given to me. No lottery. No trust fund. This is money that could go to a lot of things. My wife and I have responsibilities. This is a real risk. But she supports this. And I see it as a strategic risk—the kind you need to take to build anything significant.

Then I decided to document the entire thing publicly. Everything. Research. Costs. Decisions. Mistakes. All visible in real time.

Why? Accountability. It's a military thing—if you figure something out, you pass it on. And I'm tired of people making government contracting sound either impossibly complex or of selling courses that promise it's easy.

I'm showing what happens when someone applies systematic research and documents what actually occurs.

I don't know if this works yet. Success means I've proved the methodology. Failure means I've spent $50,000 on an expensive education everyone gets to watch. Both are real possibilities.

But the research is solid. The timeline is real. And you'll see all of it.

Thanks for being here.

 —Marcus 

 "Always Put It In Ink"