could.

evening, ladies and gentlemen, invite you to take your seats. my name is jim byron and i am honored to serve as the president and ceo of the richard nixon foundation. and it's my pleasure to welcome you tonight to the nixon library. i also want to welcome all of you live tonight on youtube and on x formerly known as twitter because we live stream of our distinguished speakers series events and we're proud to offer them as civics lessons that anyone watch online and enjoy. i want to welcome blake kernan, a member of the board of

directors of the richard nixon foundation. thank you for being here. and i want to recognize a few special guests. mike antonovich, longtime los angeles county supervisor. where's mike? there he is. and i want to welcome mazzie, francine and jo lynn and pat mahoney, who are members of the american civics campaign finance committee. so thank you all. i also want to thank all of our presidents club members, associates club members for their support, which makes this evening and all of our distinguished speakers series events possible. and if you're not a member, i would encourage you check out membership and check out our membership options by going to nixon foundation dot org this evening. i have the pleasure of introducing a true american hero. sam brown is a purple heart recipient and a small businessman who was the 2024 republican candidate for the united states senate representing nevada.

sam graduated from west point and was commissioned as an infantry officer in assigned to the third brigade, first infantry division at fort. in 2008. sam was deployed kandahar, afghanistan, only four months into his deployment. sam, on a mission when he received word that another nearby platoon had been ambushed. so he led his team into battle to provide support for his fellow. upon the engagement, a roadside bomb detonated under the fuel tank of his vehicle, leaving him drenched in flames. sam was medically from the military as a captain. he later enrolled at southern methodist university's mba program. looking to grow his resume and he launched a small business that provides emergency support to veterans outside of the va. and this company has provided life changing medical support to countless veterans coast to coast. his memoir is day finding hope

and purpose. after losing everything. and this is an emotional biography full of simple wisdoms, and it should be on your holiday shopping list. ladies and gentlemen, please me in welcoming captain sam brown. oh, thank you. thank you for that warm reception, jim. thank you for the introduction. it's a it's a true honor. be here tonight. can we have a little bit of fun? ah, yes. he goes down for a little bit of fun. we're making first something. this is my first engage man since losing the election for united states senate. so i'm very comfortable doing campaign speeches.

well, we'll see if i'm anywhere as good a speaker about own life. and and so that you guys to break me in. so let's have a little bit of fun. and just so you know, you've got burning questions. now. i did that didn't i? that was not on purpose. if you have burning questions, trying to remember, they are because i am going to do q&a and we can talk whatever you want, because now what i say doesn't really matter. i don't have a democrat lying about me. so. so we can talk about anything. we can talk about my life. we can talk about my family. we can talk about the campaign. i'm here for.

for all. and i hope that you leave in some way encouraged or inspired. so with this admission that i've never done book event before, um, we're going to, we're going to wing our way through this because not sure what you expect, but i have, i've been wrestling with how best to do this and i thought, well, let me just take a poll since since, you know, politics and campaigns full of polls. would anyone like for me to read part of the book to you your three hands. okay. so let me put the book away or do it when you re poll that you guys want me to read a little bit to you. okay. all right. all right. we'll do that. we'll do that. and so i was given as a as a politician, you should give them a certain amount of time to speak unless you're playing mind games with them and you really you really expect that they're

going to talk for longer. and so you tell them a shorter amount. so i'm given 40 minutes. we'll see. we'll see if i can hold to that. and i'm not going to read to you for 40 minutes, but but i am going to read to you the prolog of the book. by the way, has anyone here already read the book. one up front. thank you, ma'am. thank you. she gets she gets extra credit. so the reason i'm the reason i selected to read the prolog to you one is because. for me the purpose of the book was probably the most important thing more than the content it was the purpose. and if i if i just went kind of an interest to juicy, you know, chapter in the book and read to you, it would just be kind of a, a snapshot in. the overall story in narrative. and and i want you to leave, if nothing else tonight, a sense of

why i wrote this book. now, if you look at it, some of you have it in your hands, you'll notice this it's alive day finding hope and, purpose after losing everything. captain with amy brown. now, thankfully, amy is not here tonight because if was here, she's much more charming to me. you all would have no time for me. you would ask me to take a seat in the front row, and we'll have amy talk. but as a teaser to those who? who do want to get into this, amy has, a chapter that she wrote all on her own and then the rest of the book is asked kind of writing and telling our story. so this is coauthored by my wife, amy brown. but with let's just jump into the to the prolog here. starts off you're invincible. his voice came through clearly on my little cell phone even though he was on the other side of the world. i slowly paced in the gravel circle of the motor pool, grateful that the sun was low

enough in the sky that i could step away from shade of our small combat outpost where the other guys were winding down. i grant, i don't know about that, brother. it was the first chance i'd had to touch base with daniel in a weeks. my younger brother and best friend daniel was following in my footsteps, completing his own military training at fort bragg only instead of port pursuing a leadership role as an infantry officer. daniel was training to be a marine corps special medic formerly known as a special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman. sorry. it was a perfect for him from the time he was a kid. wanted to help people. he wasn't afraid of trauma, blood or gore. he had a calm temperament and high and invaluable qualities in. a medic who may be tasked with saving life under fire. but as a special operations medic, he also got to fight. in fact, he would a war fighter first and a medic when necessary. daniel always wanted me to divulge everything about my deployment, and i had to fight to keep details confidential. it was a new form of competition

and defied our to find our youth together. each of us trying to win. tug of war. so what have you been up to? he asked at the start of the conversation. we're off the airfield now, interacting with some of the people in local villages, i said, intentionally being vague. any taliban around? he asked, deliberately probing for more specific. there's been some guy activity, i said. and in the contest, countering his probe with vagueness, nothing too close, though. i grinned and turned the conversation. tell me more about what's going on. when your medic training at fort bragg. i expect leading your class. as daniel began updating me about his own experiences, as i listened attentively to his of the leaders. one of the reasons that i made the leadership choices i did in my own platoon was because i wanted support and love my guys in way that i hoped people would do for daniel. i noted what he said about leaders that he liked and bristled when he described officer or a senior noncommissioned officer who led

with insults or arrogance. i didn't have long. daniel, i've got to get going. i said. it's awesome to hear voice and hear how things are going. your team is going to be so blessed to have you after training. okay, wait. he stopped me. i've got one more thing to say to you. nothing's going to kill you. you're invincible. i tried to deflect the comment. even so, he repeated himself. i'm not worried. you're invincible, i laughed. well, if you say so it must be true. i better get going. love you, bro. i'm so proud you. love you, too. proud of you, too. i hung up the phone and thought invincible. well, i'd better be. can't him down. my boots crunched on the gravel as i headed back to the outpost. it was my favorite time of day in the kandahar sunset before the chill of the night set in. but after the blistering heat of the day had subsided, i took a deep breath. feeling satisfaction and contentment. i'd always felt. talking with daniel. it was last conversation i had

with him before the ambush and the explosion and the flames. for most of our lives daniel had been the invincible one. even though he was younger than me, he was tougher though you could have never gotten me to admit it. as kid, we grew up in a rural area, arkansas, where our nearest neighbor was out of sight and earshot. whenever weren't in school, daniel and i roamed around on our property, playing, soldier, hunting or fishing, coming up with various ways to compete with each other. one time we were when we were still young kids, we were playing on our trampoline under shade of a big oak tree. the trampoline was heartbroken, missing a third of the springs and even the ones that were left were badly. we didn't care. it still worked well enough us to play cracked the egg or have bounce battles about 40 feet away. one of the dogs started barking at a bush at the bush hog. the grass tool hooked up to our tractor. another dog ran up and stiffened, then joined the barking. then i stopped bouncing.

tumbling over each other. we crawled to the edge of the. what is it, boy? i yelled. what's over there? whatever it was, it couldn't be good. the dog snarled, like they were facing a threat. i, the older brother. the biggest, the fastest and strongest. but i was afraid to go there. i ordered daniel fish to figure out they were barking at. as aside, i'm now a father with three children. a 13 year old son and 11 year old daughter, and a nine year old son. and it's fun to the cyclical nature of things such as the oldest son oftentimes tells the youngest his younger brother what to do dutifully hopped off the trampoline and ran right over up to the dogs. oh, no he yelled, then began running back to the trampoline. it's a poisonous moccasin. it was like two feet away from me in the shade of the bush hog. i hated snakes. i still do. one of my first memories from childhood was seeing a snake slither under the gap between

the front door and the floor sliding its way into the kitchen. scarred me for. life though, in some ways that scarred a lot. and just if you're curious because you probably have not seen door that a snake could slither under my my mother and father built the home we were raised in and so not not everything sealed up perfectly and in fact our door was something was by my father but i hate snakes. um. daniel jumped back onto the safety of the trampoline. we got to get farther, he said. well, i'm not getting off. i said, i wasn't about to risk getting bitten by a poisonous snake. you go inside and get him again. without questioning. daniel jumped off the trampoline and ran inside. he came out quickly, tagging father's father's hand toward the. father raised his 22 aimed and shot. that was the end of the threat from the snake. but it was only one of the many times when daniel showed to be

braver than me. daniel was sent on his first deployment. when i was still early in my journey of recovering brooke army medical center. like me, he was sent to afghanistan. and because of me, he went there on a blood mission bent on revenge. daniel looked for every opportunity to be in combat, making it his personal mission to cause as much destruction possible to the people who had nearly succeeded killing his brother. he went back to afghanistan on a second deployment. he went back on his third. each daniel was looking for a fight. his weapon of choice was the mtu forte. bravo, one of the biggest machine guns in individual can carry. and very unusual for a medic, since they're also responsible for all the medical equipment. in addition to the normal load and ammunition for their weapon. but true to his nature, he was never afraid. he overcame every challenge. protect the men around him. always ready for a fight with the people who were responsible for nearly killing me. and threatening his team. during three deployments, daniel was exposed to countless

grenades, mortars, recoilless rifles and the constant concussion of the 7.6 millimeter machine gun rounds, he shot off those thousands. thousands of rounds had a cumulative concussive effect on his brain. the taliban did get him in one fiery blast or an instantly fatal shot. but his thirst for and combat exposed to events that wounded him in ways that could not be seen outwardly in passing. by the time daniel arrived home, his third deployment, he was a different person. he was deeply wounded, broken. his brain and personality were marred by what he privately confided me, was the only thing i ever knew him to fear. cte, the neurodegenerative disease caused repeated concussions. it caused his mind to break down trapping him in a hellscape couldn't wake from. over time, it got harder and harder for daniel to distinguish between his family from what his family would recognize as reality and the nightmare in his

mind that he couldn't escape. and that nightmare, daniel, was confronted with enemies. they told him that he had a choice to make. either he kill himself or if he chose to live his family be murdered for than a year he lived under the threat. over and over he reached for rationality telling himself it wasn't real. and even though he was receiving an input in his mind, it wasn't true. but it got harder. and harder to separate truth from the nightmare. as his brain continued to break down, in the end, he lost his ability. recognize that threat to his family. that is the threat to his family only existed in his living delusional nightmares. he believed that everyone he was in imminent peril and. only he could save us. daniel was always an active journalist. towards the his injuries got shorter and shorter on july 27th, 2022. in a messy scroll he wrote. so said prayer to jesus christ to to me and ask for forgiveness of my sins.

on august 1st, five days later, daniel took his life believing. it was the only way to save his family. he as a hero to me, my family and, so many others, because the twisted reality of his deteriorating brain. he gave up his life in exchange for hours. for years people have told me that my story them hope that it reminds them of what the human spirit is capable of. people have said that they find new strength to persevere after hearing what i've overcome and for i let those comments pass by as simply nice compliment or encouragement. in my mind i deserve very little for enduring and i believe that the strength found has come entirely from god. guess one.

i've been told by some of those same people that i should write a book. i dismissed that idea for long time writing book to me seemed like a vanity project. i can't imagine a politician being interested in a vanity project unless this particular now that i've become a public figure, a politician, and no less a book seemed like a desperate to show off an obvious ploy for attention. but the recent loss of my brother and best friend shifted the equation for me more than ever before. i see the importance giving people hope who feel hopeless more than ever before. i feel an urgency to inspire others to keep going, to persevere, to. i've sought to relay my experience as accurately as i can. although some points have been condensed for narrative clarity. also, the accounts i share,

especially around combat, are told from my perspective. but i acknowledge that the fog of war a real phenomenon. and there may be other and memories that slightly differ from. i remember. i've conveyed my memories of what transpired because ultimately it was that interpretation of, my experiences that helped me form the meaning i've described in this book. finally, i'll note that some names, titles and details have been changed to protect privacy. in some ways, we all an alive day in a moment in life that signifies the crossing of a threshold. a day when we are forever altered from who we were before. for some, that may come in the form of someone we love. being ripped away from us. for some, it may come in the form of an illness and apparently body is found to be corrupted with disease, vulnerable to death. for some, it's the loss of innocence. the day when a child's life is first marred by abuse, or when a marriage is found to be stained with adultery. in each case, a death occurs.

the life that was is no more. but the reason i've titled my book alive day is because we have a choice in those moments. will we choose to survive and find hope? will we keep going and let the painful journey usher us into a new identity is defined not by what we've, but by what we've overcome. my own hope in telling this story is to help you understand that the depth of your own resilience when we face the toughest circumstance is there is a way through it. and in surviving the fire of an alive day, those moments can end up being genesis of an extremely meaningful and powerful. that meaning doesn't arrive overnight. it requires that we engage with the struggle for life. but by getting through those trials, we not only memorialize the death of who we were before we also celebrate the birth of who we can become. i've also written this book for my brother. i thought initially i should make this book centered advice. here's how to persevere here.

here's how to claim hope. a memoir felt insubstantial by. but as i spoke with people who have navigated other challenges in life or mental illness, i was encouraged to let my story simply stand for itself. perhaps people walking through the darkness don't need to know how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. in my brother's case, that may have just added pressure to the weight he was already carrying. perhaps they just need to know they're not alone. hear this. you're not alone. you're not alone. you can keep. there's and meaning behind the trial. your end, your story may even deliver the hope that someone else needs to choose life when all seems lost. i wish you were reading daniel's story instead of own. the stories he tell about the people he interacted with, helped and encouraged could fill volumes. he was an incredible storyteller. i always felt like he lived ten

lives to my one. his potential to impact the world, i believe was greater than my own. i have web and mourn for my brother. i grieve the loss of his impact which was stolen from him because of his wounds. i grieve the loss of my best friend. the person i looked up to most in the world. but i also, because i know this is simply an extended goodbye. we will have an eternal reunion one day in the presence of our creator. and writing this book, i seek to honor him based on my own experience. surviving physical pain is significant, easier than enduring internal anguish. the human body can physical pain. it's when lose hope that darkness can overtake. the thing that defeated isn't the pain itself. it's the hopelessness. yet even as daniel was losing, he found ultimate peace through jesus. and in my own story, the hope that kept me going. wasn't that it wasn't strength that came from myself or from any temporary goal. it was in believing that the life i fought for would have

purpose and meaning, which went beyond last breath. my life day happened in the dark, in the desert. my mouth was full of dust and ash. my skin was and melted. yet in a moment, my soldiers had extinguish the flames. realized that the death, which had felt so certain, was delayed. i was alive. i would live. and that prompted a searing realization. i was saved for a purpose. the life live is not my own. the truth is, none of us are invincible. but we can trust. that the pain we endure prepares us for a purpose that goes beyond or limited days. one that extends into eternity.

the alive day happens. can anyone else relate to that? there's seldom a warning sign that something traumatic or tragic is about to occur in our lives. there's there's not an exit ramp that warns us about this this imminent threat to life as we know it. the one that creates the death, that defines who we were. but so often we get stuck there. we get stuck in the death of that moment, and we never realize the birth simultaneously curse. it's, you know, detailed graphically in the book. but i'll just tell you briefly about my alive day. it was in kandahar in 2008.

september was a hot, hot. we were out on a mission to provide security. for four international convoys. they were there moving these turbines to this dam to try and create power for afghanistan. and our platoon was providing security and we knew that there was a high level of of threat for roadside bombs, ambushes. but we had to go anyway. and so it was no surprise when an ambush kicked off the, kind of got another engaged and i got the call on the radio that they needed support. and what we do as as americans do, we do as as humans. what do we do as united states army is we run to the sound of guns. now, clearly, not everyone does that. you know, life is full of people who will cower from a threat

like that. but it's who we aspire to be and it's who i needed to be that day. and so i gather half my platoon and we begin to move out in our vehicles to to this to the of the ambush so we can provide support to this platoon that was under fire. and that's when the roadside bomb went off. i remember distinctly was i was on the radio. i was sitting in the front passenger seat. i could see out the front. i had a vehicle leading the way and i was on the radio directing them where i them to go when everything went silent, it was a bizarre feeling. i could just see this orange ball of flames engulfing the inside of our humvee. i could hear and i could feel myself sinking into the seat. as the vehicle was launched into the air. my, you know, my inertia was

pushing me into the seat, but i never felt vehicle land the next thing i realize i'm standing outside of this. and all i know is my face is on fire. i can't i can't see else those flames i initially saw inside the vehicle followed me out. my face is on fire. it turns out, burning basically from my knees up up. the first thing i did was realize that i had encountered bigger than myself. at 24 years old, i was a you know, i was a young infantry officer. i'd been through ranger school, an airborne school, had the right badges and tabs. i'd gone to west point. i graduated fine there. i'd been an athlete competition challenges had never come up against something that i, i couldn't overcome. but in that moment, as i stood there, i saw this vehicle fire. i knew this was bigger than me.

that this wasn't just a fight for a rib ribbon or, a medal or a or a grade or or some badge. this was a fight for my life, and i had no control over it. and so i. i finally realized who i was on a universal scale. i am nothing but a mere man. what my brother told me about me being invincible wasn't true. i very quickly discovered that i was facing death. and in those next few moments, having that realization first thing i did before i even threw myself the dirt was i threw my arms in the air and surrendered to my god. and screamed out, jesus, save me. now we all heard stories about, you know, there's there's no atheists in a foxhole and. i don't know if that's true or

not, but i can tell you for me, that moment it wasn't a foxhole, but it was a it was a hellscape of southern afghanistan. and i was dying. and there was only one place i knew to go. and that was to ask for some reprieve. my creator. there was no miracle, though, no miracle of a mighty wind rushing down from having to blow the flames. i had to try. i tried to stop, drop and roll. it didn't work. i was so tired. diesel fuel, where the ied had gone off the roadside bomb. for some of you, you're going to say you retell the story. you know, the iud went off. it wasn't an iud. it was an ied as an improvised explosive. so just remember that, there's nothing like, you know, being at a campaign event or something and and some, you know, very well-intentioned, wonderful lady comes up to me and says, sam, i'm just so sorry that iud took

you out in afghanistan. oh, but in that moment, as i tried roll out the flames and realized that the diesel fuel actually burning off of me and i couldn't roll them out, this is when i. i had to really grapple with how much longer was my life going to go on. and i wasn't exactly accurate when i said i only knew one place to cry and there was another place that i cried out to. i think some of you will not be surprised by this, but when i. well i can only speak as a 24 year old young man. i don't know if this happens when you're older, but for for a young when he when he believes that death imminent, he will also cry out for his mom. and so i lay there screaming for god. i was screaming for my mom,

realizing was nothing left for me to do to save my life. and i had these three, what i call my three final thoughts. how long does take to burn to death? what's the transition from this life to the next going to be like? and then i gave up the will to live was my last decision was giving up the will to live because in that moment, death was going to be reprieve from the pain. i feeling. but as i as i mentioned in the prolog there pain is one thing a loss of hope is another. when you lose hope, that's what actually snuffs your life out. you see, believed in my mind and not able to visually confirm my belief. i believed everyone in my vehicle been killed. that all the rest of my guys in my platoon. in the other platoon engaged in this ambush and that they wouldn't be able to come extinguish the flames before the flames took my life. and so i gave up the will to

live and and soon as i made that decision. i heard the voice of one of my soldiers. it was kevin jensen. kevin wasn't just one of the guys in our truck. kevin had been in the truck with me. he was my gunner. his position was just over my left shoulder and the turret of the top of the humvee. and kevin, the most powerful words i've ever heard in my life sir, i've got you. and i could hear his feet as they were pounding their way to me. and i had hope because i wasn't. kevin began to smother the flames and others joined him, and they eventually got it put out. and it stood me up and i was alive. but i wasn't just alive. i was reborn. september 4th, 2008 is my alive

day. one version of me died. that moment, and i now celebrated 16 alive days. it's something when you understand the power of those moments in our lives and adore the opportunity that it opens if we're willing to go through it, there's something that can be unstoppable. and so what life has kind of looks like over these last 16 years is, it's not all glamorous. it's not you know, some of you probably saw on fox news or newsmax or you different kind of campaign events. and there's a lot just exciting and it's, you know it's there's there's a lot of energy and there's, you know, a lot at stake. something like a senate campaign. but there was years of grinding. countless surgeries, a loss of of identity and when i say loss

of identity, what do you think of for you? if you were to lose your identity, what would it be? maybe some of you or a doctor, you have arthritis. too bad you can't practice anymore. you can't be a surgeon or. yeah, you know, maybe, maybe it's it's it's a mom whose children, you know, have grown and gone out. and your identity is it's you're you've lost that identity as a who is nurturing or taking care or, you know, running the household, whatever it is. it's different for, all of us. but for me, it was it was multifaceted. in a moment, i lost professional identity as a soldier because my guys eventually to lock me up on that helicopter and and fly me off the battlefield was the last time i was ever in that sort of leadership. but from the time i was, you know, five years old, i knew my destiny was to be a soldier. and at 24, to have that go up in smoke was tough.

but also lost my personal identity. you know, we look we look in the mirror and we see. but for years when i looked in the mirror, i didn't recognize that guy because what the flames did and the scarring that occurred over over that healing process created my words, not putting this on anyone else. but when i looked in the mirror i saw a monster. what you see today is a lot of time, but it's also a lot of surgery. you know, we're we're in the we're in the land of. celebrities and beautiful people and. i you can laugh at this. i'm warning you can laugh at it. i joke that i'll never judge anyone who ever wants to have any sort of plastic because i've had more surgery than i kardashian okay. so but the face you see today is

was a long time in coming in. and now i recognize myself as this man. but when we lose our identity strikes deep. but at the end of the day i hope is the one thing we must fight to keep from being extinguished. i, i found hope and faith. it's just it's part of it's part of how was raised. but it wasn't really an intentional decision in that moment when i told you i screamed out for god on the battlefield, it was more of a of a desperate conviction. and i'm not here to put my on anybody, but i'm here to tell you that for me, my faith was the conduit hope that i had to have to survive, to hope that would that would get me those those years of recovery hoped it would allow me to to be open to the fact that maybe this monster of a man could find someone who

would love him despite his scars. because, yes, some of you were wondering, well did his wife that he mentioned earlier that she's just stay with him throughout? no, i met amy in the hospital. she worked in the burn unit icu. she was an army critical care dietician, an incredible woman, a woman who loved a man who couldn't love himself. there was hope there was hope that. gave me the courage to be willing to be for a spouse. it was hope that i discovered they ultimately put me on a path to running for the united states senate because i have discovered the power of hope. now, i know there was a president a president that made hope, a keystone of the campaign a couple of years ago. and i'm a little bit annoyed

that i was such a big part of that campaign because i feel like it taints my my hope a little bit when i talk about it. but hope isn't just a political slogan. it's real. and what i saw over these last few years here in our country was that people were losing hope. people were were afraid. the in their lives that they couldn't control were going to drown them. and so as a as you know, humble father, husband, small business owner, i did a ludicrous thing. and i said somebody to go run for office who understands. some of the challenges that many of us face. someone needs to be a voice for the people who have been crushed

by politicians. and it was it was trustee. there is purpose and everything that even allowed me to what i thought would be one of the greatest hindrances of running for office is my own scars. i thought in my mind, i thought that this that my scars would be would be a detractor to my campaign. and what i found as i as i through these last couple of years is that my scars are not necessarily a detractor, but a symbol to people. i was so encouraged, as i became this public figure, as people would come up to me and they would share with me how me doing what i was doing did give them hope. the thing i had sought out to do was being accomplished. now i know we're all extremely

disappointed that i'm not senator elect sam brown today. some of supported me in that endeavor. there are some here in this room tonight who even were able to vote for me. some of you were. many of you were prayer warriors. we all wanted a certain outcome politically in this this last month. but i can tell you that when i've gone from this place of the alive day, i describe to you my hope will not be extinguished. losing a senate race is is not the most significant thing that happened to me in november because my mission is eternal. my mission endures forever. my true mission is be a an

ambassador of the hope. i found of being a united states senator was the way that i was going to be able to do that. and then that was fine. but that was just a vehicle. writing this book something that i amy and i kind of struggled. i wrote a little bit of the reason why. it was it was a tough undertaking. do in the midst of a senate campaign, some of you have been around politics to know just how demanding that is. but we wanted this to to happen from the campaign. i actually totally segregated the book writing part of my life for my for my campaign life, my political advisers didn't even know that i was starting this project. and when they asked if they could read the manuscript, i told them no, because i wanted this to be pure. i wanted the purpose of this book to be unmarred by politics.

and so it's was great that. i get to stand here knowing that i lost a senate race, but that my purpose endures and i hope that you all have a chance to read this book if you find anything redeeming it. i hope that you share it with. others. this isn't about making me famous. this is about saving people's lives. and before i go to. to. i just. you know, this happened pretty quick. this event. i just want to i want to thank the foundation for for inviting me, for making this possible. this this came on quick, though. and as such, i had really no control over where i was doing my first non campaign event, my first book event, my first

public event here. and it just so happens that daniel's widow, christina, with us tonight and i just want to acknowledge her. thank you for being just such an inspirational part of my life and, for loving my brother and for loving and for being here. i just love you so much. thanks christina. christina is an inspiring woman. she. she. she was dealt a very, very hand. and our entire family was. but the that you have continued on on your own mission just gives me so much joy. and i'm just so proud of you. and i know daniel is proud of you, too. so with that, i think chris we

will do some awesome questions. and again you guys, i have done my part. now, you it fun. well, thank you, captain brown, for coming and giving that inspiring talk. we are going to take we are going to take some questions here for one, two upfront. so i trust plenty of hands will rise here in just a moment. i want to ask the first one now you you share an incredibly story you know enlisting and you're quite a quite a young age going on to serve your country. i have walking the audience here. i saw quite, quite a few young faces. and i wonder if, you might be able to share some some words of wisdom. i guess, for anyone thinking about enlisting in serving the country, what would you share considering? what you've experienced in the united states army? yeah, that's a that's a great

question. well, i'll tell you this. i think there's you know there's there's few things that are on the same of of selfless service and then signing up to in the military. um, but you have to realize when you, when you do that, that you are subordinating yourself not only to your superior officers or noncommissioned officers, but you're subordinating yourself to a mission and to a nation that may ask of you to give up your very life and there are righteous and noble causes out there. i have no regrets in my service to nation, and it started right after 911. um, i have no no regrets about what went through as a result of

my service to nation. but i would also say that serving in the military for some people it's not option. other people that might not be the best of their gift or their skills. and so what i would just encourage, regardless of how old we are is to have a service mindset that that no one knows better than you what your gifting is and whatever it is you do it to your fullest measure. don't, don't hold back, don't don't say well someone else will shoulder this burden with me or for me or you'll wait someone else to take that first step. when? when we and i truly believe we've all been created for a reason for a purpose. and if we know that is or we suspect we know what that is, we are only cheating ourself.

but we are. we are. we are denying our own creator the pleasure of us live our life to the fullest potential and so service can be done in so many more than just in the uniform and i have discovered that and in some ways service and politics can be even more deadly than than the battlefield. our first one from the audience, you said. what is your question? yes, thank you captain brown, it's really an honor to. hear you tonight. i was curious as someone who's, you know, had other experiences with violence and whatnot, although not in the military context, if you could tell us about some times in your recovery that you lost hope and gained it back? yeah, that's great. great question. thank you. i went through a through a particularly dark period as i was going through facial reconstruction and. and, you know, our our identities is so tied up in what we look like and and basically

to a long story short, because this was months of surgery. you know, now we've we've seen they've done these incredible surgeries where. you know, they can basically take an entire face of someone who's passed away and transplant it. but that was not an option for me. and so my facial reconstruction was piecemeal. um, i don't know the exact number of surgeries, but, but many, many surgeries. and, and what they would do is they would essentially cut off the scar tissue and then they would to graft skin from an unburned part of my body onto site. and when were doing the largest segments of my face which were my cheeks, um, the, the surgeon discovered that the, the veins or the arteries think it was veins. so we're supposed to carry the blood to those grafts. weren't where they expected them to be. and so grafts ended up going on, on onto my face without a good blood. and one of them essentially

completely. and so i had this énorme graft on my face. it was pitch black. and and i just i remember sitting there thinking like, i i'm monster when i look at myself in the mirror but what if i turn into even bigger monster and i had no control over that. there was nothing i could do that will my grafts to take. well. and so that was a really dark period for me and ultimately i had to come to peace that. i am not i not the man in the mirror i'm the man who my heart is. and that i, i could still find purpose regardless of what i look, i'll share. see here, this is a very intimate thing and i don't i don't know if i've ever said this publicly, but i'll tell you really where i ended with this is that.

i you know, there's this we do battle drills in the military, you know, react to ambushes, react to roadside, you know, whatever. and i created this battle drill for life and it was kind of start off well, you know what? if this graph doesn't go, i essentially kind of lose my face. it'll always be just horrific. and then i know i'm married, you know? so what if i lose my wife, what if i lose my kids and you kind of go down this this waterfall of things that you really value in life and what i what i discovered was that i needed to mentally be okay losing. everything that i value so long as i have breath in my lungs, then i still have a purpose and and i think that by going through that exercise, um, it allows and allowed me to kind of be okay with whatever the result. and that's how i moved past that

that third blow to the right. now that you have experience in running and we just all have one question will you run again. that's that's a great question and it's a fair question. the short answer is, i don't know i don't i don't know. it's you know, right, right now. um, i'm still discovering what my next mission is. you know, i have the greater mission, which is from hope to people. but how gets kind of lived out on a day to day basis? i don't know yet. and so there's maybe there's a role for me in this and, you know, i is someone who grew up planning life, you know, like, oh, i'm going to go to a military academy, i'm going to be an army officer, i'm going to be in this unit and that unit. and i even had i had even planned all the way down to when i was going to get married in

life. and then the ied kind of all of that, um, i've really taken sort of the opposite approach of i see where, where does life lead me? where are opportunities to serve? and and, you know, will walk through that door when we come to it. but i'll tell you this, um, nevada does have another senate race for four years, so we'll see. fifth row back in the center, sir. hi, captain brown. you so much for my freedom. i'm very grateful. and i would like to know personally a little bit more about your small business in nevada and what you do to assist veterans. i'd like to details about that. if there's anything that we can do to support you or others in the area. so, so, first of all, i, i was i was proud to build a business when i got into campaigning, i sold the business. so someone else has got the business now.

but essentially what our business did was, we sold sort of a niche role for veterans. um, when you're familiar with kind of a hub spoke model of hospital with clinics in outlying areas whenever a veteran go to a clinic if it didn't have an onsite pharmaceutical support system there and if someone needed it emergency or urgent care pharmaceuticals. the v.a. didn't have a way of really engaging and getting that right away. so i i'm a i'm a patient of the va. my medicine is very scheduled. it comes in the mail. it's very easy. um, but my company basically filled that niche role of becoming conduit to the local market for the veterans and. those in those cases. and so the company i'm, i'm i'm it's a you you're both proud but also a little disappoint. i'm no longer participating in the company but i'm proud where it's gone. it's continued to grow and and do incredible things and grow the as well. so it was it was fun to be able to launch and and watch it

continue to do amazing things. after your love, sir. hello, captain brown. thank you so much for coming to speak here at nixon library after. this most recent election it's become clear that the american people have very little hope in our federal government. they see that serves a very select few and not the many. using your experiences of hope in your lifetime, how do we inspire hope to the people that the government will serve the many and not just the few? yeah, that's that's a great question. i think that's fair the one of the things that this this government needs to do. and when i say you know, the government we're talking about both the, you know, the executive branch as well as the legislative branch, they need to follow through on the promises they've made the people that's. you know, that's one of the one of the easiest ways to trust which trust is also an important

part of hope. and so when we've been telling the american, hey, we understand these your challenges and here's some of our solutions, or we're going to do this or we're going to do that, we've got a burden to follow through and and, you know, one of the things i learned as i kind of got to peek behind the curtain is government moves by, i think, intentionally slow. but we've got a window of opportunity here where i hope we can do some things really quickly. one, because the american people need that relief. but we also i agree, we run a risk of of losing credibility with millions of american who are desperate for this to perform for the american people instead of for special interest. that sam brownback back in the room. we have time for one last question. you, sir, what is your question

bigger than brown. my name's lance corporal larry smith. i mean, you both have crossed paths sort of spiritually. i, too, was also in kandahar just four years before you. my question is to you with, this election that has just and trump being the office, what you think of his as we have known the avengers team. what do you think of them i'm sorry what do i think of what trump's cabinet. i think oh, yes. well, i tell you what, i'm i've got a lot of a lot of you overused the theme here. i've got a lot of hope for it. i mean, we see we see a lot of of new people from kind of outside of the the typical system. i think it's a we need a cabinet that's full of people who aren't beholden to some of the things of the past and are willing to

go to work quickly. i think it's a you know, it's not a formal of the cabinet, but i think, you know what, elon and zach are doing is is really exciting as well. it'll be interesting to see know how that how that confer plays out because there will be conflict and i think it's warranted in many cases. but it'll be interesting to see how that conflict gets played out and can a non-governmental organization have impact that they hope it has? and so, you know, i think president trump won with such a strong mandate that i anticipate that the senate is going to move quickly to to give president trump the support that he's he's of the senate, his confirmation picks. and and then it will be their responsibility to to go execute what they said going to do.

ladies and gentlemen, excuse me captain brown. thank you very much. we will be neil be available up at our front lobby to copies. captain brown going to be up in our front lobby signing copies of the book. be sure you it up a live day. it makes wonderful christmas present. we'll see you up there in just a couple moments. thank you for coming.