“He lost a lot of weight, got frostbite, hurt his shoulder and thigh. But he is smiling.” – Bob Stevens
Running Toward Trouble
“There had been one man. One off-duty SAS operator who had been the first responder to the scene, and then for a long time,
the only responder. It was him showing up that had driven the terrorists to cease their systematic executions and retreat to their fallback positions. This lone man had literally pressed pause on the murders of innocent civilians with his willingness to intervene.” – From Terrorist Attack Girl: How I Survived Terrorism and Reconstructed My Shattered Mind, by Meyli Chapin.
I had just finished reading this statement from Meyli Chapin’s book when Bob Stevens told me that he and Amy, his wife, were on their way to Georgia. They were on their way to attend their son Parker’s graduation from US Army Ranger School.
“Hopefully he’ll graduate,” Bob said in a nervous, yet excited voice.
“I’m not worried about him graduating at all,” I confidently responded.
Bob and Amy had been proudly telling me of Parker’s graduation from West Point about one year earlier, so I knew the purpose, character and strength that is
his.
“I have been training for this my whole life,” - Christian Craighead, from “Terrorist Attack Girl.”
Parker has been training to become an Army Ranger his whole life. I knew it, because Parker knew
it.
“Please send me a photo of Parker at his graduation from Ranger School,” I asked Bob. “I’d like to frame it and put it on my desk, right next to my photo of Marine Corps India Company. These photos will remind me daily of those who allow me to live the amazing life I enjoy, because of them.
The day before yesterday I received the first Parker photo from Bob with a note saying, “He lost a lot of weight, got frostbite, hurt his shoulder and thigh. But he is smiling.”
