Jack Daly
AUTHOR

Jack Daly

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JACK DALY
Biography

Jack Daly is a #1 best-selling award-winning author, retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, and former Naval Intelligence officer. He began his Navy career as an enlisted sailor and was commissioned as an officer through Officer Candidate School — a Mustang officer in Navy parlance, a path that shaped his understanding of how institutions handle the people they ask to take risks.

He served in aviation, amphibious, and surface warfare, communications, and intelligence roles from 1983 to 2003, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Among his operational assignments was the April 4, 1997 mission documented in Blind Treason — a counter-intelligence surveillance flight over the Strait of Juan de Fuca in sovereign American airspace, monitoring the Russian merchant ship Kapitan Man. The vessel fired a directed-energy weapon at the helicopter, burning the eyes of Jack and his mission partner, Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Patrick Barnes. It was the first documented Russian energy-weapon attack on U.S. and Canadian aircrew in U.S. airspace.

The U.S. government did not respond. It covered up. For twenty-nine years, Jack carried the laser injury, the institutional silence, and the documents proving both. The Department of Defense Inspector General has found him eligible for the Purple Heart; the U.S. Navy has refused to award it explicitly because doing so would acknowledge the attack occurred. Captain Barnes died on April 15, 2026, still suffering the injury.

Jack's first book, Laugh Out Loud — Your Personal Prescription for the Best Medicine on Earth (2024), won the Global Book Award Gold Medal and reached #1 on Amazon in Miracles & Spirituality. Written to help veterans and others contemplating suicide, the book reflects his lifelong commitment to using his voice in service to people who need it. Blind Treason continues that commitment in a different register — institutional truth-telling.

Repeated disturbing reports of daily military and veteran suicides prompted Jack to try to find a way to help those struggling or troubled emotionally. Add the COVID-19 pandemic and strife worldwide; the need proved even more significant. Based on his own experience, Jack found a proven tool that worked every time he needed it – laughter – thus the writing of Laugh Out Loud the 2024 GLOBAL BOOK AWARD - GOLD MEDAL WINNER - SELF HELP-HAPPINESS
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  • Laugh Out Loud cover art
    Preview

    • Laugh Out Loud

    • Your Personal Prescription for the Best Medicine on Earth
    • By: Jack Daly
    • Narrated by: Jack Daly
    • Length: 1 hr and 24 mins
    • Release date: 29-09-25
    • Language: English
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