The following is an excerpt from the foreward of my Amazon best-selling book Mighty: 7 Skills You Need to Move from Pandemic to Progress. May this be a tribute all who have served in our country’s armed forces. Thank you and enjoy!
____________________________________________________________________
An 18-Year-Old With No Plans
Jeff Struecker was an eighteen-year-old high school graduate with no plans for the future. He just knew college was not an option. A friend convinced him to speak to an Army recruiter. During the enlistment process, Jeff asked, “What’s the toughest job in the Army?” After explaining the type of people Army Rangers were, the recruiter said,
“Listen kid, you have no idea what you’re asking for, and before you go any farther down this road, I want you to make sure you know what you’re about to get into.”
The reason Jeff wanted to join the Army Rangers was sobering. He wanted to go to combat and wanted to get shot at. You see, Jeff did not grow up in a church home, and he had an overwhelming fear of dying. This fear, which lasted for years, came from confusion over what happens the moment right after you die.
Growing up, he would often ask his parents about that moment, and they would say, “Jeff, after you die, you go to heaven. Everybody sits on clouds and plays a harp and everybody gets into heaven.” Jeff would think about those answers, and it left him empty and scared. He knew there was an eternity out there, and he didn’t know what to expect. This fear would often awake him during the middle of the night and lasted for years.
A Young Couple Moves In Across The Hall
When Jeff was thirteen years old, a young couple in their twenties moved in just across the hall in the apartment complex his family was living in. Jeff not only became friends with the couple, they took him under their wing almost like you would a younger brother. After a few months, the couple took a courageous step and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him. They explained to him who Jesus was. They talked about sin and what Jesus did on the cross. They said, “If you turn your life over to Jesus, He will radically change your life . . . He will give you eternal life and you will never have to worry about what happens when you die.” That night, Jeff prayed to receive Jesus and asked Him to change his life and remove his fear of dying. And Jesus did just that.
This article is an excerpt from Mighty. Click the image to order your copy today!
Now five years later, we return to Jeff’s question about the toughest job in the Army. He proceeded to sign up for the Rangers because Jeff knew he would get shot at, and he wanted to truly know if he was ready to die. Fast forward to 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The now Sergeant Struecker is part of the 75th Ranger Regiment and squad leader responsible for ten men. He is an experienced combatant, but the level of conflict in Somalia was nothing like he has seen before or since.
Special forces almost exclusively operate at night because they have a significant technological advantage. However, on Sunday October 3, 1993, two high-profile targets were discovered to be simultaneously located in the same building. Though not optimum, the time to move was going to be during daylight hours. The plan was for the soldiers to be lowered by ropes from Blackhawk helicopters and then secure the building. Sergeant Struecker’s team would then drive up in three humvees and extract everyone involved and bring them safely back to base. But nothing ever goes according to plan.
Blackhawk Down
Private First Class Todd Blackburn missed a rope and fell seventy feet to the streets below. Struecker’s team had to then fight their way to him, load his stretcher on a middle vehicle, and then the unit’s three vehicles would need to fight their way out of those streets and back to base. As they turned down one road, they were being assaulted by rocket grenades, hand grenades, and gunfire from every doorway, window, and rooftop. It was the worst assault Sergeant Struecker would ever experience in his military career. Getting back to the base was no longer the unit’s top concern. It was simply getting to the next block.
When they finally returned to the base, Sergeant Struecker was advised a second Blackhawk had been shot down. The first Search and Rescue Force was already in the city streets. Regardless of the horror and danger they had just been through, Sergeant Struecker would have to go back out to help his comrades in harm’s way. He then sent out a request for anyone who could assist. The response was overwhelming.
Cooks, intel analysts, supply clerks, and ammunition personnel all said they had guns and were ready to go. However, one of his men said, “Hey Sergeant, I can’t go back out into those city streets tonight. I know if I get on those humvees with you, I’m going to die. I’ve got a wife at home and I know I’m going to die . . . I just can’t do it.” Sergeant Struecker pulled him to the side and said, “Look man, I’m scared, too, but I don’t want you to think about yourself as a coward simply because you’re afraid. You know the real difference between a hero and a coward? It’s not fear. It’s what you do with the fear. That’s the difference. I need you on those humvees, and the guys on those city streets need you.”
The Most Terrifying Moment
The most terrifying moment of Sergeant Struecker’s life was handwashing the already bloody humvee as he prepared to go back out. He knew it was a suicide mission. But he pledged his life to his friends, and he remembered the Ranger Creed that states “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.”
Overcome by fear, he prayed, “God, I know I’m in trouble. Tonight’s the night I’m going to die, and I need your help.” Sergeant Struecker then felt God saying, “Jeff, did you really trust me when you were thirteen years old? You said you believed but did you really? Because if you trusted me, I can take care you. I have you right in the palm on my hand. You don’t have to worry about what happens next. I will take care of whatever happens to you next.”
Sergeant Struecker still thought he was going to die, but things would only come down in one of two ways. One, maybe he survives and goes home to his family in Georgia. Two, if he were to die in the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, before his body hits the ground, his soul would be with his Father in heaven. No matter what happens next, he could not lose. What Jesus Christ did on the cross 2,000 years ago was radically impacting his life right then in Mogadishu, Somalia.
After The Fight
The moments after the battle concluded were some of the most important moments of Sergeant Struecker’s life. After safely returning to the hanger on October 5, 1993, before he could get back to his cot, fellow soldiers needed his immediate attention. They wanted to know what happened to their friends who had just died. They also wanted to know what would happen to them in similar circumstances. These were the exact same questions he was asking as a young child.
Sergeant Struecker began telling his fellow warriors about Jesus. He explained he could fight like he did because of his faith in Jesus, and his fellow soldiers needed that. Sergeant Struecker would soon go on to become an Army chaplain. As soldiers would head into combat, he would tell them, “I know (what you’re facing) because I’ve been there. On the battlefield, it’s different when your eternity is settled and your faith is in Jesus Christ.”
For the last several decades, Sergeant Struecker has been both preparing for the enemy but also preparing his friends for eternity. Sergeant
Struecker eventually planted a church just outside of Fort Benning, Georgia, so he “could reach America’s warriors helping them get ready for eternity because some of them are going to meet Jesus face-to-face while they’re young, and it’s going to be because of a bullet on the battlefield.”
7 Mighty Skills
This content came from a speech Sergeant Struecker gave to the men of Piedmont Church on October 4, 2022. That date just happened to be the twenty-ninth anniversary of his return from the streets of Mogadishu.
Jeff Struecker is many things:
- A skilled warrior
- Passionate
- Resilient
- A trusted teammate
- Content, at peace with himself, and loyal
- Brave
- And a man of great faith in Jesus Christ
Take a look at that list closely. It has more importance to you than you think. Sergeant Struecker’s qualities may seem idealistic and old-fashioned, but after closer review, these traits are needed now more than ever. Understanding the implications of those seven qualities will be the difference between you achieving your full potential as a leader or not in a post-pandemic world.
If you are going to move from pandemic to progress, it will require you having these seven qualities. It will require that you become mighty. But the good news is that becoming mighty is possible for everyone, including you.
This has been an excerpt from my Amazon best-selling book Mighty: 7 Skills You Need to Move from Pandemic to Progress. To purchase copies for you and your team, click HERE or on the image below.
