Paige surprising Josh with baby #2 at Jordan-Hare Stadium, April 2016. (25)
Josh graduating from Auburn, May 2016. (26, 27)
Receiving our home from Homes for Our Troops, June 19, 2016. (28)
Josh, Paige, and daughters Harper (the Walter Reed baby) and Payton (the Jumbotron baby), 2020. (29)
Josh with Purple Heart Medal. (30)
AUTHORSʼ NOTENO ENDINGS
PAIGE
First of all, thank you for choosing to read this book. I had two reasons for writing it: first, my fleeting memory. I have two daughters who will one day ask their parents what really happened to their father. I had a great fear that my mind would have deleted painful memories, resulting in my children and future generations not knowing the stories of the Earthpig platoon in the 1-23 Infantry Battalion. Second, I finally found a way to end it. I have tried to write this book about a dozen times over the last five years, and maybe just like you, I thought “the story” was what happened to my husband and me from the time he was injured to the time he got out of the hospital. What I learned was that some of my more important life lessons came the minute we walked off the campus of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. I wandered away from God during this time and called it independence. I was fooled into thinking about what I wanted instead of what Jesus had done.
When my husband was injured on May 31, 2012, on his tour in Afghanistan, I learned a lot about who I really am. As Josh says, “You learn a lot about people when the bullets start flying.” Well, I have never been shot at, but I am very familiar with making decisions in the heat of chaos. His injury sent us into a world of stressful disorder twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for several months at Walter Reed. During that time, we made the crazy decision to start a Facebook page called “Prayers for Josh Wetzel” so that we could publicly document the chaos, which is a big contributor to the reason this book is in your hands. Online, we tried to keep an encouraging and positive attitude, but the honest truth is that “Prayers for Josh Wetzel” was the G-rated version of what was going on in our lives. Don’t get me wrong: We did our very best to remain hopeful at all times, but there were very frightening events that could not be made public at the time.
I have also always been an avid journaler. If I went into my childhood home now, I could probably find ten or twelve of those little diaries with the padlock on the front that date back to the second grade. Even though I have written and documented my whole life, I never viewed myself as any kind of writer until now. I think where I struggled was knowing where and how a book would end. Just writing about what happened outside of the G-rated version of things at Walter Reed would be enough to fill a book, hence why I have started and stopped writing a dozen times, but even when the path wasn’t clear, I wanted to make sure I didn’t just write it down, dust my hands off, and say, “There it is; that’s what happened.” There had to be more of a point than just telling a great story. Many stories like Josh’s are told with footnotes like “Your dad made a great sacrifice for his country” or “The Wetzels went through a lot when Josh was injured.” What was important to me is that the introduction had an added predicate: “The Wetzels went through a lot when Josh was injured, and they showed the world what it means to live for God.” Interestingly enough, I feel that the “living for God” part actually came the day we left the hospital and entered the real world. So, after the near-death experiences, sicknesses, and post-traumatic stress, I had to get a few years of fighting, bad choices, and wandering in the wilderness of the civilian world before it all came full circle, which makes it much more relatable than some might assume. We took away lessons and principles that made us view everyday life and everyday people very differently. I also want to submit myself to a concept found in Revelation 12:11: “They triumphed… by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the work Jesus did and the pain that we go through not only made sense of our lives but propelled us to victory? What if, through the tears, agony, and defeat, we actually found what we are made of and thus found our why? That’s the predicate for me: People read the story, then find their own why.
JOSH
For me, this story had to be told because I am an ordinary guy who happened to live through extraordinary circumstances. Most of the time I have a good attitude about life, but trying to make the most out of what I have left is something that requires the ability to look back and reflect. It’s not my pattern to look back on life. I typically keep my eyes forward without worrying about the past. But sometimes you miss significant things if you don’t pause and think about what God might be trying to show you. It has helped me create game plans around making sure I don’t fall into shame when I don’t feel capable of something (like writing a book with my wife). It has reminded me of all the hard stuff God has already walked me through. And it has helped me watch out for those same things in people I love. I want vulnerable leadership to be part of
