Now let me tell you why this matters to me.
In August of 2011, I was serving in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL. Like most days over there, things were moving fast and plans were changing by the hour. I was slated to move from my outstation to supporting 2 - troop.
Just days before transferring, the troop I was supposed to join got tasked as a quick reaction force in support of troops in contact (a gunfight) . This is what became infamously known as Extortion 17. I dodged a bullet (actually an RPG) that day!
Had things shifted a day or two, I’d have likely been on that flight.
That helicopter never made it home.
Thirty-eight people were killed. Thirty Americans, of which seventeen were Navy SEALs. Some of them were guys I knew.
They didn’t get another day. I did.
Moments like that don’t make you dramatic. They make you serious. They make you understand that decisions matter and that someone always pays the price.
I’ve spent my life in jobs where failure isn’t abstract. Where leadership means owning the outcome, good or bad.
That’s why I’m running for Congress.
Not because I want a political career - I don’t.
But because I believe this country needs more leaders who understand responsibility the hard way.
This campaign won’t work without people stepping in early.
If you’re reading this, you’re early - and I hope you’ll be part of the team that helps get this off the ground.
