A Patriot’s Promise

A Patriot’s Promise is released TODAY, on the Fourth of July. Already #1 in THREE categories on the Amazon market, it’s soaring to the top — as a hero’s memoir should.

Let me just tell you, this story sings.

On this release day, I’ve handpicked a handful of my favorite sentences from this book:

“I had heard that the Air Force had the best benefits and the prettiest girls, so I made a beeline for the Air Force counter. I asked a few questions, answered a lot more, signed my name, and agreed to the terms of service. A few weeks later, I headed off to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, just ten miles outside of downtown San Antonio, Texas. And that’s how you say, ‘Let’s go.'”

~ ~ ~

On Thanksgiving in 2005, The White Sox had just swept the Astros in the World Series, and I had received my orders to capture or kill a high-value target in the southeast quarter of Afghanistan. Everything was coming together just as I had been hoping for a long time.

~ ~ ~

The Humvee jolted and the ground shook beneath me. I saw a flash of white, and I felt an intense blast of heat on my left side. There was a shattering noise of broken glass, and there was flying debris all around. The air tasted like gunpowder, the smell thick and bitter.

We both jumped into the creek to extinguish the flames. I remember the sizzle sound as our bodies hit the water.

~ ~ ~

My wife had never been inside a hospital’s burn unit before, and this was a whole new world. So many long halls, bright fluorescent lights, and dozens of elevators. Such a strange energy there; the nurses with the clipboards, the low tones of people talking to one another, a TV playing in a waiting room. And the smells were so conflicting, bleach and urine and chicken soup.

~ ~ ~

I was wrapped in white bandages from head to toe. My face was swollen like a basketball, but it was the deepest red of a radish. The only parts exposed were the tips of my fingers and the tips of my toes. They were black as charcoal, no flesh. Just black bone.

~ ~ ~

The doctor was carrying a specimen cup, the kind you pee in at the doctor’s office. She saw a black-brown stone the length and width of her thumb. It rattled like a rock in the cup. My lungs were filled with stones like thai one, made of blood, mucus, smoke, and charcoal dust.

~ ~ ~

“A Purple Heart… What’s a guy gotta do to get one of those?”
“You have one.”
“What? I got a Purple Heart? When did that happen?”
President George W. Bush gave me a Purple Heart, and I was asleep in a coma. Damn, I wish I could remember that.

~ ~ ~

“I did what any guy would have done in that situation. I was there for my teammates, and I fought like hell. I only want to be known as a good teammate, a good husband, and a good father to my son. Everything else is extra. People like to call me a hero, but I’m just a dude who had a bad day at work.”

~ ~ ~

“If you ever want to know what you can do [for the visible and invisible wounds of soldiers], listen to their stories. Listen to what they say. We all need to open our doors to these amazing individuals, like Israel Del Toro.” ~ Prince Harry

Congratulations, Israel “DT” Del Toro Jr. Today is your day.

The whole world is listening.