Tough as They Come: A Memoir

239 Pages·2015·13.21 MB·English

by  Travis Mills

Copyright © 2015 by Travis Mills Group, LLC
Foreword copyright © 2015 by Gary Sinise All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Convergent Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division
of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Convergent Books and colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mills, Travis, author. | Brotherton, Marcus, co-
author.
Title: Tough as they come / Travis Mills, Marcus Brotherton ; foreword by Gary Sinise.
Description: New York : Convergent Books, 2015.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015022590 | ISBN 9781101904787 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Mills, Travis. | Afghan
War, 2001—Personal narratives, American. | United States. Army. Airborne Division, 82nd. | Disabled
veterans–United States–Biography. | Amputees–United States–Biography. | Soldiers–United States–
Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military. | RELIGION Christian Life
Inspirational.
Classification: LCC DS371.413 .M55 2015 | DDC 958.104/7–dc23
ISBN 9781101904787
eBook ISBN 9781101904794
Cover design by Jess Morphew
Cover photograph by Michael Turek
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Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Foreword
Chapter 1: A 15-Minute Helicopter Ride from Kandahar
Chapter 2: Born in a Small Town
Chapter 3: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof
Chapter 4: Gunner in a Humvee
Chapter 5: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Chapter 6: Firefights with the Taliban
Chapter 7: Rooftop Grenades
Chapter 8: Heavy Firefights in BMG
Chapter 9: Our First Home Together
Photo Insert
Chapter 10: My Last Deployment
Chapter 11: April 10, 2012
Chapter 12: Pain
Chapter 13: The Coma
Chapter 14: The Floor in Front of Me
Chapter 15: To Walk, to Race
Chapter 16: Our New Home
Chapter 17: Never Give Up. Never Quit.
About the Travis Mills Foundation
Acknowledgments
About the Author
To all my fallen brothers and sisters of the 82nd Airborne Division
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be
discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you
go.
JOSHUA 1:9
These days I do a lot of public speaking, and there are two things I say to any
audience right up front. I wanted to say those things to you as well.
The first is that I don’t hold the value of my service in the military above
anyone else’s. I don’t think I served better or harder or greater than any other
soldier. I’m just thankful I was able to serve my country. If you were in the
service or are serving now, no matter what your job is, I want to tell you I’m
hugely thankful, personally. If you aren’t a veteran, but you support our military
service members, then thank you for that support as well. Sincerely, it means a
lot to me.
Second, even though I’ve been wounded badly, I don’t think the challenges
in my life are any greater than anyone else’s. Sometimes after people hear my
story they say, “Man, I don’t know if I could ever press forward like that, and
overcome challenges like you have.” But I say everybody faces challenges in
life, big and small. My problems are no greater than yours. Simply put, yours are
yours, mine are mine, and we’re all in this together.
I’ve been fortunate to work through my situation and lead a positive and
fulfilling life again. I hope this book will motivate you if you need to get through
a challenging situation. The key is that you’ve got to believe it’s going to get
better. Keep going. Keep persevering. You’re going to get through tough times.
Never give up. Never quit.
In his book The Price of Their Blood: Profiles in Spirit, wounded Vietnam war
veteran and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown writes, “For
every life unraveled by military battle, there are a dozen tales of individuals who
have managed to triumph over the harrowing experiences of war and ruin.” After
his service at the Veterans Administration, as executive director of the Disabled
Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation, Mr. Brown went on to create the
American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in our nation’s capital, the first
and only memorial honoring disabled veterans. Jesse certainly lived these ideas
himself, and this quote is etched on a glass panel as part of this tribute to injured
U.S. service members from all wars.
These words perfectly describe my friend, United States Army Staff
Sergeant, Travis Mills.
Serving with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan during his third tour of
duty, while on patrol on April 10, 2012, Travis was critically injured when the
blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) took portions of his legs and
both arms. He is one of only five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan to survive his injuries. One would think that losing both arms and
both legs would slow a person down. But with Travis, it seems to be just the
opposite. He truly is one of those individuals who have managed to triumph over
the harrowing experiences of war and ruin.
I met this incredible young man shortly after he arrived at Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center and, like everyone who meets Travis, I was
immediately struck by his amazingly positive outlook, his humor, his
confidence, and his sense of gratitude for having survived the blast. While I am
sure he has had his more challenging, discouraging, and darker moments in
private, in public he never fails to spread joy and light to everyone he meets, and
I know that his love for his wife, Kelsey, and daughter, Chloe, and their love for
him, are motivating factors for him to get up each day with a new attitude to
look forward, not back, and to take on the world.
Like the amazing Jesse Brown and his lifelong devotion to fellow disabled
veterans, Travis is working to use his means to take care of a new generation of
service members injured in battle. Whether speaking on behalf of his own
foundation and his effort to build a retreat to assist wounded service members
and their families, or traveling to raise awareness and funding for other military
charities, Travis is constantly serving and honoring the needs of his brothers and
sisters in arms. Personally, I am inspired by this resilient warrior, am proud to
know him, and honored that he is an ambassador of the Gary Sinise Foundation.
In the pages that follow, I know that you also will be inspired by Travis’s
story—a story of hope and resilience. It is a reminder that no matter what life
may throw at us, as long as we “never give up, never quit,” as Travis says, we
can achieve anything we set our hearts and minds to. He is quite simply a great
American and an example for us all.