INTRODUCTION
MEET THIS HERO
Very few people leave me speechless, but when I met Israel Del Toro—“DT,” I found myself completely without words. He is the most unforgettable person I have ever met, a hero among heroes. One thing that makes him so special is the fact that he doesn’t know that he is. DT didn’t even want us to use the word “hero” in the title of this book.
He’ll tell you, “I’m just a guy who had a bad day at work.”
In this memoir, you’ll read about that day, when Del Toro was a special ops paratrooper on a tour in Afghanistan and his Humvee rolled over a buried roadside land mine and exploded. By the time he gave his last command, he could barely breathe. More than 80 percent of his body was severely burned, and he lost all his fingers on his left hand. Doctors gave him a grim prognosis: they said he would never walk or breathe properly on his own. He faced only a 15 percent chance of survival and the likelihood that he would spend the rest of his life on a respirator. When he woke up from a coma that lasted four months, DT wanted to die when he first saw his own face.
He almost died three times. He had no idea President Bush had come to see him and spent twenty minutes at his side. He had no idea that his wife, Carmen, had spent eight hours or more every single day at his bedside in the hospital. He worked hard, fought through the pain, and got better every day.
This man proved everyone wrong with a miraculous recovery.
Not only did he leave the hospital in record time, not only did he learn to walk and breathe on his own again, but Senior Master Sergeant Israel Del Toro, Jr., became the first airman ever to reenlist in the military after being deemed 100 percent disabled. He is a recipient of the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Pat Tillman Award for Service. He has broken world records in javelin, shot put, and discus, and he won both gold and silver medals when he represented Team USA in the Invictus Games, a competition created by Prince Harry for wounded servicemen.
This man encompasses the truest meaning of some of the most powerful words: Heart. Courage. Love. Honor.
Humans are capable of heroic acts they cannot imagine, but not everyone is willing to be that hero. Everyone can turn their lives around, but not everyone is willing to be so disciplined to keep after it day after day, month after month, year after year—and then to become an advocate for others beginning the journey. Maybe everyone can do what DT has done, but not everyone would have. DT is one of the most resilient among us, and the most resilient can indeed change the world.
He went into the military because he wanted to be able to someday say to his grandchildren, “Let me tell you my story.” Oh, I guarantee his great-grandchildren will hear this story. Two hundred years from now, people will be telling the story of this man. There is a pride in his family—and in our nation—for generations to come. I believe this man is on the precipice of becoming one of the greatest forces for good and change on the planet.
DT’s story gives us this perspective: our dreams—and our tragedies—show up in ways we never pictured them, and the ripple effects of our lives have an impact in ways we cannot imagine. Who you’re becoming and what you’ve done will impact far more than you know. You can change your family tree in your quiet way, and the difficulty you’re going through is the very thing that will build your legend and your legacy. If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes, read DT’s story for motivation, inspiration, and a dose of perspective.
Millions of people will read this book, hear this story, and nod their heads in agreement about this man, Israel Del Toro, Jr., senior master sergeant of the United States Air Force, the man who changed the world. In this book, he will finally tell his whole story, but I wanted to brag about him for just a moment before you dive in.
DT, we are proud of you and thankful for you. You did what your dad told you to do, brother. You’ve taken care of your family. Your impact reaches further than you know. Give yourself some daggum credit.
Ed Mylett,
global speaker, world-class entrepreneur, top-rated podcaster, bestselling author, life and business strategist, influencer on YouTube (594k) and Instagram (2.3 million)
CHAPTER 1
2005
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.
As staff sergeant in the Air Force, I was a trained observer and expert marksman on the ground, coordinating ground troops and calling air strikes in the most dangerous situations. Our mission was an air assault operation into rugged terrain behind enemy lines, a bowl-like valley tucked into the rough mountains of Zabul. We were to locate our target, capture or kill the enemy forces, and destroy the supply route the Taliban was using. Wherever the intel was—which usually meant the most danger—that is where the Air Force sent me. The hunt was on.
The first week of December, we arrived in the valley, right next to a small town with only one road. All the town’s traffic came through this one road, and we traveled along it to bring in our dirt bikes and Humvees, one regular and a gun truck. We set up our base of operations in a villa in the valley, and then, with the company of the Afghan National Army, we went into the town to talk with the elders, asking if anyone had seen anything we should know about.
I was confident we would find our guy, but a couple of days had passed and we had not found our target yet. We knew we were close. Unnervingly close.
Do you know that eerie, hair-raising feeling you get when you just know someone is watching you? That is how we felt. They could see us, even though we could not see them. Our Afghan interpreter heard chatter through radios: “We see the Americans.” The Taliban were watching us from the mountaintops.
We needed to get out of the bowl of the valley and seize the advantage from the mountain. We planned our strategy, dividing our scout team into two groups. One group would leave in the late afternoon, travel through the night, and explore the mountains on foot. They would stay overnight and capture the enemy as they came up the mountain in the morning. The other half of our scout team—the team I was on—would be on overwatch to observe the terrain and support the guys on foot. If anything went down, we would see it first.
I was the only noncommissioned officer; the rest were privates. My teammates and I were on a rigid schedule of two hours of sleep, one hour of watch, taking turns through the night with heat-vision glasses, watching for anything at all. It is a curious blend of tense and peaceful out there, waiting in siege under the most tranquil sky. In that total stillness, I could see every star. Just like Forrest Gump tells Jenny about the sky in Vietnam: “I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped and the earth began.”
Another night passed, and we did not have our guy. We had not accomplished our mission.
In the morning, our guys on overwatch went back down to the trucks, and we drove into town to meet with the Afghan National Army. I remember eating breakfast with the elders of the town. They served us goat meat and what we called “sand bread,” because they knead it in a sand bowl. When you eat sand bread, you can feel grains of sand in your teeth for days.
Suddenly, our lieutenant saw movement on a small hill nearby. He spotted these guys watching us from above. This was our chance. I threw on my lucky hat, and we hustled into the trucks. Lieutenant took the first truck, and my guys and I took the second, racing after the lieutenant even before we knew what he had seen.
Copyright © 2023 by Israel Del Toro, Jr. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
