John Cain Carter
Roughly 35 years old. Texan expat and former Army Ranger and a rancher. Tall and lean with short-cropped dark hair and sharp features. A bush-pilot, flies a taildragger. Brilliant with horses and knows livestock in a way that most ranchers never fathom. He knows that what is best for the land is ultimately best for his cattle. Land Stewardship is his true profession and cattle are just a tool within that. He was raised by tough, hard men and he learned to relish that toughness. This philosophy was further instilled in him during his time in the Rangers. _"You gotta live hard to be hard."_ and_ "Hard times don't last, but hard men do"_ and many more of these -ism's formed the foundational outlook of his early adult life. His father was a wildcatting geologist who often took him on his excursions across the south Texas badlands. His heroes and mentors growing up were cowboys and ranchers, World War II and Vietnam vets. His older brother Will, older by 10 years, was a permanent fixture in his upbringing and he often accompanied his brother and men much older than himself on cattle roundups and brandings. If he ever showed weakness or softness of any kind during these times, his brother would knock him around and tell him he was embarrassing both of them. So he learned to hide those weaknesses, to never show vulnerability and for a while that made him stronger, made him feel as if he were invincible, but his sensibilities were still very much there and they emerged as a spiritual battle within his heart, a fight between the guilt he felt for things he'd done and the love he had for life and the people in his life. This internal strife was nothing less than a pitched battle for his soul and the battlefield was not Iraq where he went off to war, but in Brazil, in Mato Grosso where he thought he would find peace.