THE ED MYLETT SHOW - A Hero’s Promise - with Israel Del Toro

Episode Date: April 1, 2019

I’m proud to introduce you to a TRUE  AMERICAN HERO… This is a story of unwavering heroism and strength! This interview will CHANGE YOUR LIFE and alter who you are as a person! Israel Del Toro is a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient and the BRAVEST man I have ever met. 80% of Israel Del Toro’s body was severely burned when an IED detonated while he was in active duty serving our country. Find out exactly how Israel’s tragic upbringing prepared him for surviving the most excruciating fight for his life. This is the MOST incredible story you have EVER heard and I am bringing it to you FIRST-HAND! From the physical pain from 3rd-degree burns covering over 80% of his body and less than a 15% chance to live to the emotional pain of waking up to missing limbs and a face he could no longer recognize, Isaiah has found VICTORY in his PAIN. Battling fear, pain, shame, and disappointment, you must listen/watch to experience the emotional transformation this extraordinary veteran experienced to become the celebrated, decorated embodiment of STRENGTH he is today!  Find out how Israel Del Toro, through his darkest hours, over 100 surgeries, being skinned alive,  has emerged to become The Ultimate American Hero. He has since received the Purple Heart, a Gold Medal at the Invictus games, He was honored with the Pat Tillman award at the ESPYS AND the FIRST 100% disabled veteran to re-enlist in the military! This life-changing interview begins here. Watch/Listen now to experience the essence of a true HERO!

Welcome to the Edmila. This podcast is for those who want to do more. See more and be more. Okay, welcome back to Max out everybody. Today is a program that you're going to want to share with everybody that you love, everybody that you care about. It's going to be one of the most inspirational hours you've ever spent in your life because of the gentleman to my left, true American hero, even though he wanted to admit that he is. The man to my left is Israel Del Toro. And let me tell you about him.

Israel is a purple heart recipient, has a bronze star, and has become kind of a worldwide known figure because he had an IED go off on a Humvee that he was in in the military and ended up having about 80% of his body burned and has turned his life into a testimony of what you can do when you go through a difficult event and turn it around and inspire millions of people. So, I'm really honored. Thank you for your service, number one. And most importantly, thank you for being here today.

So thanks brother. Oh, thanks man. Thanks for inviting me. It's good to have you. Those of you that are listening to this in the audio, I would challenge you at some point today to go see the YouTube version so that you can get an idea of some of the B-roll that we're feeding in and you can get a better flavor for some of the things that Israel's overcommon that he's been through.

So, thanks for being here, brother. That's my pleasure. Super excited, man. I wish it could have been nicer weather. I know. Well, you can come all the way here and it's raining and it's going to be snowy. So let's get into a couple of things here. You know, I want to, before the military, because I, you know, we've got to know each other.

We share a birthday, so there's a brotherhood there. And we've got to know each other now for the last six, seven weeks pretty well, and we've talked several times. But what I didn't know is that, you know, your childhood wasn't the easiest childhood, even before we get to what happened in the military. You're, tell us a little bit, tell the audience a little bit about, you had to grow up pretty young.

So you lost your dad and your mom, basically, in back-to-back years as a young man. So tell them about that. Yeah, you know, I lost my dad when I was 12, January of 88, and then I ended up losing my mom, July of 89. I had just turned 14. So yeah, I had a girl up real quick,

especially after I lost my mom. Cause I'm the oldest of four. And it's something, something that I took that my dad told me, which is weird, I was the last one to speak to him. You had a heart attack, right? Yeah, he had a heart attack. He was, well, for a long time,

my dad had respiratory problems. Like the last year and a half that I remember of his life, he wasn't working anymore, he was on a respirator. And he had gone to Mexico to see if there's anything for him to do. They can do anything for him out there. And he left after Christmas. And then he called.

This was in January. He called, talks to her, why not the last one to speak to him. And he tells me, you know, after I talked to him and right before we hang up, he's like, he tells me, he's like, he tells me, he's like, but he says in Spanish, like, promise that you always take care of your family. And I'm like, why do you say that? It was weird. And then, of course, the next day, we're coming home from school.

My mom picked us all up and two of my cousins that are older, you know, they're under 20s. I sit in there at the house waiting for us and you know, I'm just happy seeing my cousins. Yeah. And they take us into the house and they tell us to go to the room and they're talking to my mom and I'm lucky, they're in the dining room and I say my mom break down and I do instantly.

Right. I don't lost my dad. Oh, Jesus. So, you know, after losing my mom break down and I knew instantly. I don't lost my dad. So after losing my mom, that's when I really took the heart of those words of my dad, you know, you know, take care of my brothers and sisters, you know, because it was the promise of my dad, ask me to do. Your mom was a drug driver, correct? Drunked everybody.

She got hit on Memorial Day. She was on a motorcycle with the guy she was dating at the time. And drunk driver hit her. She wasn't aware of her helmet. She flew, hit, and then July is when she passed away. Juice. So this has not always been like the easiest road for you. I mean, you lose your dad, then you lose your mom. What do you, honestly, if you go back to that, because there's people listening to this have gone through some type of loss.

That they think significant, right? They just lost a relationship there and they lost a business they've had. You're this little boy, you're 14 years old, you've lost your mother and your father and back to back years of your life. Your dad's words are ringing in your ear to take care of your family.

What were you thinking then? Did you make a conscious decision like I'm gonna take care of my family? Yeah, I made a conscious, like you know, when my dad was everything for me. He was my hero. I followed him everywhere. So when he asked me to do that,

I was like, you know, I gotta do it. So when he asked me to do that, I was like, you know, I got to do it. So, you know, I was the oldest, and now my grandparents didn't care about it. I was like, you know, there are two generations behind. All of us were athletes. I'm, you know, me, my sister, my brother, my little sister, you know,

she was still six or seven years old, so she didn't get into sports, but the rest of us were. So my grandparents were, my grandpa was very old-fashioned. He believed that the girl stays in the house, cleans the house, cooks, cleans. And so my sister wasn't a lot of play sports anymore. So I had to be that, a lot of time that in between,

for my grandparents and my brothers and sisters, they're like, hey, grandma grandma grandpa, try and understand. So I had to do that a lot. You grew up quick, I would imagine. I did it. For a long time, I thought I was cursed. I really did, because any time I had a high in my life, something probably right back down.

You know, like when my dad passed away before that that I went to the school that finally all my friends were at and then you know my dad dies. You know about to start high school graduate in eighth grade. My mom gets killed. So and that's just the beginning you know later on there's even more incidents that happen in my life and I'm like why this happened to me. I wonder if in hindsight if any of those things prepared you for the ultimate difficult incident that happened to you?

And I believe that. I really, I believe that now that, you know, the big man up there probably had a plan, you know, throw all these obstacles in front of me, because he probably knew what was going to happen and to get me prepared to overcome this major thing that was going to happen to me when I got there. It's interesting because I always say, it's easy for me to say, but that's actually not easy. It's easy to say and not easy to believe, but I actually believe things in our lives happen for us and not to us. That's so difficult, especially when the circumstances are extreme of losing a parent and then losing another one. But in hindsight, it's almost always true. So let's fast forward a

little bit. You get into the Air Force and tell us about your role in the Air Force a little bit because you were a badass or a badass, but tell them what you did in the Air Force and then lead us to what happened in 2005. Well, when I joined the military, I'm the first of my family to join. You know, what's the I'm the first one my family joined, you know, what's the odds with the first one to join and then the first one get hurt. But when I came in, I wanted to do something challenging. Not to take away that all the other career fields

in the military are challenging, but I just, I wanted to be that dude when I'm old in a rocking chair and maybe a stoke in my mouth and my grandchildren and Gregoran Shun asked me, Grandpa, what'd you do in the military? I wanted to be able to say, I get a lot of mothos in the military. I wanted to be that dude.

You know, watching Rambo, in the 80s, who did not want to be Rambo, long hair bandana, you know, muscle head, who they want to be, when I was younger, I might have had the longer hair, but I don't have that stuff tonight. Right, right, right. So I wanted to do something like that. So when I was in basic tech peak recruiter,

that's my career field tech peak, which is the other tech square control party came. and this guy just was all bagged out, Ranger, a pair trooper, he had all these badges, he had his prey on, he just looked like Rambo. And he just told us what you could do in this job, jump out of planes, you know, go to, you know, school, school, halo school, a sniper, you know, call it an air strikes, you know, you are the man in the ground. I'm like, dude, I want to do that really. So, you know, they interview you and they got to take a PT test, you know, physical training to see how you do well.

And I got selected and then I headed off to tech school and you know graduated, got my brain and got to my assignment and started getting qualified to become that guy to call in their strikes. And to me, time I went to other you know, schools, qualifications that are needed. And then I became a fully qualified JTAC and from there, you know, of course, I deployed to multiple locations. And then eventually I ended up in Afghanistan where I got hurt. Yeah.

But. So you, everyone just should know this too, because my introductions trickle throughout the interview. But you're talking about a senior master sergeant as of this year, right? You're talking about it. I made it last year. Yeah, last year.

Last March, yeah. So you're talking about a man who's accomplished so much in his career there as well. And we'll talk a little bit later about a purple heart and a broad star. But take us through, it's I think it's December 4th, right? 2005. That's a day that certainly some change happened in your life. So share with everybody what happened that day. That day we had been in Afghanistan. We're in the Southeast quarter in the Hummer Province of Afghanistan, one of the more dangerous areas.

And I was out there with a scout team. And our mission was to capture or kill this high value target out there and destroy supply route that the Taliban was using. Like I said, we had already been out there a couple days. And the day I got hurt, our team had split in two. Half of my team was up on the mountain and my team was overwatched. And we're coming back, like I said, we're already out there for a while back to pick up the guys up on the mountain. And we're driving in an up armor home vehicle. And the weird thing about it, that was the first time in country I was in an up armor

home vehicle. Usually I was in a soft skin, I was on a dirt bag, ATVs, you know, put foot that day I was in an uparmorhavi. And we're driving and we cross this creek and two no more than two about 200 meters that we cross this creek So I feel an intense heat blast on my left side. I'm like holy crap. I just got hit and people talk about Their life flash in front of them when stuff like that happens and I never believed that. But when I got hit, all these images started flashing.

It was like boom, boom, boom, boom, picture, picture, picture of what? Of different events in my life. But the three, the sick ones that I remember, the first one was me and my wife finally going to get married by the church. After our third attempt because every time we tried, I got deployed and stuff like that. That flash flash flash. Next one is me and her honeymoon in Greece. But the last one was me I've made my son.

You know, me teaching them play ball because I play ball on my live baseball. And then something clicked. I had to get out of this truck. And I popped the door open, got out. But when I got out, I was on fire from head to toe. Head to toe. And it's funny when I finally told my son this,

how I got hurt, because for a while I never told him. And it's amazing how kids try and put things together. They know it. So when I told her I was on fire, you watch them, I was like, so daddy, you were like the human torch on the fantastic four and I'm like yeah kind of son. I just gonna fly Now, but you know kids like that are very resilient But you know when I got out of the truck up and I said I was on fire from at the toe But I knew that creek was behind me. So I turned run

But the flames overtook me, and I collapsed. And I'm laying there thinking I want to die. And I'm thinking, I've wrote my promise to my family. They'll always come back. I've wrote my promise to my son that I'll never let him grow up without his dad like I did. But worst of all, I've wrote my promise to my dad that I always never let him grow up without his dad like I did. But worst of all, I broke my promise to my dad that I always take care of my family.

So I'm lame there, you know, just burning. And then that's one of my teammates. You know, Tee and I gonna die here, helps me up and we both jump into the critiques that we should flames. And the reason why he jumped was when he was helping me, I let him on fire for a little bit, I was like, my bad dude, you know,

and as we're laying there, I look at him, I was like, man, this sucks. And he was like, he tried to be funny, bro. I was like, no, man, I was like, I just got blown up. I was on fire. I had to jump in a freezing cold creek in the middle of December in Afghanistan.

And I don't know if it was just me trying to calm the situation subconsciously, because as soon as I got hit, my team that were going to pick up got hit with a crossfire, and now they're calling for help. I was like, we need gunslinger. That was my cause line at the time for cash, with close air support. So even though I was hurt, I had to figure out what to do. You know, those words of my dad take care of family, has evolved. It's not just my brothers and sisters, my wife, my son. It's now anyone that needs to help,

my teammates, they're my family. So I had to figure out what to do. My radios were destroyed, my backup radios were destroyed. Luckily, there was another vehicle behind us. And I said, I tell anyone of the other team members, hey man, repeat everything I say, so we can get some help for our teammates. At the same time, my medics tried to take care of me,

and I'm like, no dude, I'm okay. Yeah, my leg hurts a little bit. But I looked at myself, all my body parts are here. I probably have some cinch hair, cinch eyebrows. All I had to cut off these shorts I had out underneath, we call them Ranger panties. They're running shorts. I was like, cut them off cause the last exverting me.

And I was like, take care of our other teammate that was the gunner. He got blown out and the truck had run over his legs, Bailey. And it was funny when the medic came to visit me in the hospital. He was like, dude, why should you try and call an air strike button? It was tough. And at the time it wasn't funny but now thinking about it, it was pretty funny watching you try to do that. And as I'm repeating the same the words that we need to get help, by the time the last phrase came out that the other team ever had a repeat, you know I started getting scared. You know I'll

never stand in front of everyone at the time of that. I was like this brave guy that wasn't scared you know just went out and did his mission. I got scared because I started having a hard time breathing. I was the pain I guess was suddenly and all the adrenaline was finally leaving the body. And I wanted to rest. And I was like, man, what's taking this helicopter so long to get here. You know, the aircraft were coming to help my teammates,

but now I'm thinking where's the medevac? And I was getting scared. And then I told the medics, like, hey man, I need to sleep. Let me, or not sleep. Let me rest. Let me close my eyes for a little bit. Because even though I thought I wasn't that badly hurt, he knew I was.

He knew if he let me fall asleep, I'm not going to wake up. So, you know, when we're out there, we're teammates. We talk about our lives, what had happened to us, and stuff like that. So he knew that I had lost my dad, and I had always made that promise. I knew that. Yeah, because we talked about it. When we're sitting there and not anything going out,

you BS, you know, your brothers. And then I said, I'll never let my son grow up. I was that like I did. So, you know, when he's trying to motivate me he's where to come on DT fight don't don't fall asleep stay up stay up and I was like man I'm just tired let me sleep and then he starts come on DT fight first son wow you said you'll never let him grow up with us that like you did come on do fight and he's making me yell at fight first son, fight, fight buddy.

And then he says the weirdest thing. He's like, come on DT, fight first son so you can teach him to be a Pimp. And I'm like, I'm thinking to myself that he just really just say that. Scramble shoot. Yeah, Scramble's your head and then he says it again. I was like, so there I am, but naked in Afghanistan.

You know, at the top of my lungs, I got to fight for my son teaching me a pep. That's real. But, you know what, you do whatever you can to keep your teammate going, wow. And that's what kept me going till the helicopter came. And I remembered I'm trying to carry me.

I'm like, oh hell no dude. I walked into this fight. I'm gonna walk out. So I got up, how long? Did you really? Yeah. Got into this fight. I'm gonna walk out. So I got up. How did you really? Got into the helicopter. I'm taking myself. They got I'm just gonna be able to relax now. I remember the flight landing in our forward operating base going into our field hospital seeing a couple of my other teammates there

seeing what how I'm doing, seeing the doc cut off my watch, and telling me you're going to be okay. And that was December 4th, 2005. I wake up March 2006. So I thought I've heard the most incredible stories on the show, So I thought I've I thought I've heard my the most incredible stories on the show, but that is the most incredible story. And it's just the first chapter of the story. But you guys all need to know something just interject. He doesn't talk about this. This isn't something you're going to go here everywhere. And I have to go back.

The instant this happens, I think it's amazing that you have these conscious three thoughts about your dad and your son. Like I think that's amazing that you have these conscious three thoughts about your dad and your son. Like I think that's incredible. I cannot get over the fact that after you've been burned this badly, you're laying their naked that you're still calling out orders. You think you have chaos in your life? You think you're having a bad day at the office? You think you've had a bad week?

I hope you just heard this story. Those of you, the young people that are listening to this, that are going through a difficult time at school or something's not going good, or maybe you're being bullied, or there's something with your grades. Yeah, that's bad, but it compared to what, right? And so, he says, it's December 4th, he wakes up in March, right? So now there's the wake up, right?

So this event takes place, I don't think someone could tell the story better than you just did. What is it like now when you wake up in March? Talk about the condition you're in, what your thoughts are, when you open your eyes, what do you see, and what are you thinking? When I finally wake up, you know, the doctors are there and I remember my wife being there, one of my other teammates being there. Because when I got hurt, my teammates from all parts of the world can't be by my side,

but most importantly, be there for my wife and for my son. So she was never left alone. Because my wife didn't speak very good English at the time, okay. So they got her a translator, when my teammates translated for her and all that. But when I woke up, the doctor started asking me,

do you know where you're at? I was like, have you got any sense? No. It's like, do you know the date? I'm like, December or something? They're like, no, it's Mars. And I'm like, no, everything's okay. They start telling me what happened.

The worst part about it, about everything that I felt bad about is when they tell me when they notified my wife. I was thinking the same thing. Because they notified her December 5th. That happens to me in my wife's birthday. And I'm like, great, that's an amazing birthday gift, I just gave my wife. But I like this before Israel where everything that's happening, you're thinking about the impact on other people,

because you're on fire, you're blown up, and you're thinking about your dad, and your son, and other people. And then when you wake up, you're thinking about your wife's birthday. Were you always like this? Yeah, I guess I've always had been, you know? Yeah.

Yeah. Again, I truly believe in those words my dad told me. Take care of family. And that requires me sometimes to sacrifice things, which in all my other years, I hadn't done say anything about, but I gave up a full academic scholarship at the University of Illinois after my sophomore year when my grandma got cancer.

My grandfather, Odee, had a stroke my freshman year. I was like, you know what? I got to help my brothers and sisters. And my grandparents, because they can't do it. But so I've always thought that way, because I really do live by those words of my dad. Amazing. You're burning death essentially in this river at the time. You could have died and you're thinking about your brothers and on your team. I mean, I think it's just amazing to me. So, gosh. So, it's your birthday, you're thinking about what a terrible birthday gift I get. Yeah, you know, terrible birthday gift I get. But I had already always prepped her. I always told her, you know, if you get a

phone call, something probably had happened. But if you get a team showing up there with a priest, then I'm with my parents. But when I wake up, but like I said, she was prepared. She knew, okay, what's happened? They tell her and of course it gets comes by my side. But when I wake up, you know, they start telling me, yeah, yes, it's on the Toro. We only give you 15% chance to live. 15, 15. 80% of your body has 30 degree burns. You almost died in those three times. And yeah, now you're awake.

You still got a long recovery. You're going to be in here for another year and a half. You may not walk again. You're going to be in a restorative for a rest of your life and your military courage for your own children. And they're waiting to see what I'm going to say. And I couldn't talk because I had a trait to help me breathe. And I'm looking around, I'm noticing, okay, why can't I move?

I was like, I was like, why am I looking like I'm missing body parts now, because when I went to sleep, I had everything. And then, like I said, they're waiting to see what I'm gonna say. And I really can't, we don't wanna repeat the colorful words I wanted to say. I'm just like, but I told him he can go to fucking hell.

Yeah. I was like, I'm not going to accept that. I've never accepted what other people say should be my diagnosis. I didn't accept it when, you know, when I was younger, a kid growing up on, you know, a side side of Chicago without parents, I should have been a gang banger drug dealer, but I was neither. Gradually in high school, same thing. I was like, maybe you should try junior college.

No, full academic scholarship to University of Illinois. So why am I now going to accept these doctors diagnosed with myself? After that every day I freaking pushed every single day. Were you want to ask you, when the incident happened, you described that situation, you said there was adrenaline. When the adrenaline went off, was the pain incredible? And secondly, what was the pain like physically when you woke up? and secondly, what was the pain like physically when you woke up? When the journal started going away, I didn't feel too much pain. It was more, I was having a hard time breathing, and I was tired. When I woke up, that's when I felt the pain.

When you're severely burned, what kills the burn patients isn't the burns. It's an infection. So what they have to do, so you don't get any infections, is that you literally get skinned alive. And after you get skinned alive, they got to keep the room at a 97 degree at all time. And anyone that comes in there has to be called from head to toe. I went from a 200 pound muscle head 215 pounds and I couldn't lift my arms

So I had a I do I did have down days, but luckily I had friends there I had my family there because no one can do it on their own. They can't you have to have help No matter how strong you are you think you are you need help. And the day you're talking about my darkest day, because people ask me, did you ever wish you wanted to die? And I say, no, not once, except for this day. And like you said, I do call it my darkest hour. When you're so really burned, they covered a mirrors, because they want to ease you into your transition

what you look like now. And I knew I didn't look the same. I was like, I could look at my body. I was like, okay, I'm missing fingers, you know, I'm stuff like that. But I'm thinking, well, maybe my face may kind of look the same. Because again, I didn't see what the burns did. I was like, you know, I probably have sinched stuff.

But I think I kind of look the same. So the day I saw myself, I was going to a restroom and my wife was helping me and garrering my therapist who I come a guardian angel. This six-foot six-bowl white dude, I mean it was amazing. And they were helping me and I slipped and I was about to fall. They grabbed me. But as I grabbed me, I don't know who grabbed the towel after marriage, falls off and I see myself.

And I break down. And I tell them, I should have died. You guys should have let me die out there. I should be buried with my teammates. You know, the ones I've passed before me. I was like why did you let me live and And it wasn't a vanity thing. It wasn't that at all. It was man If I'm a dirty old man at the time and if I think I'm a monster You know what's my through-year-olds are gonna think you know think, you know. He was my everything. He was my strength. You know, he was my spark.

So the thought of him being terrified of me and not trying to be around me, crushing me. And I told him, I should have died out there. I should have died. And of course, Gary and my wife they're trying to console me. It's like, DT, you can't give up, dude. You don't know how many people you inspire. How you just don't give up. Every day you tell people to get you up, get you stretching, going through some of the most intense panic human go through. I was like, you don't just aspire to staff, but you inspire all these other

wounded guys in the hospital. And I was like, I don't care. I want to die. And it was like for 40 something minutes, I was just in the bathroom sitting, just wishing I was dying. I wish I died. And I was like, you tell us still, you know, it's been freaking a couple of years, but it's still thinking of it. Sure. It hits me. But then Gary says, like, because he knew why I was, I wanted to die, you know, because I was saying, my son's gonna be terrified of me. And he says, D.T., all your son wants is a dad back, dude.

That's all he wants. Trust me. I was like, no, he's going to be terrified of me. And it took another 10, 15 minutes to get back on the horse, but that thought was always back in my head. It's like, the first time I see him, was he gonna be terrified of me. Yeah, so.

What was it? I appreciate you telling everybody that too. What was it like when he first saw you? So, like I said earlier, I woke up March of 2006, and after those grim diagonal stuff, Talvey, I'll be here for another year and a half. Not walk again, be honest for us, my life.

Two months later, I left that hospital, I'm gonna have to go. Oh my gosh, she was two months later. Yeah, two months later, I left that hospital. And you're such a frickin' bath. So you had one hour of that moment, basically. In the entire time, and it's a dramatic moment, still here we go many years later,

it affects you in that moment. Why do you think, by the way, that it makes you emotional like this right now? Do you think it's because of you going back to what you felt then, how scary it is to think that you thought those thoughts. It was going back to that moment. The fear of that, you know, I son. It was all still about family that moment. The fear of that. Yeah, my son was all still

about family for you. Big terrified of me. So was he? Well, two months later. So you get out of there. You're out of there a year and four months sooner than they told you you basically would be. I walk into the house and when I walk in, you know, I could walk but I couldn't walk this distance because what was hurting me with my conditioning. I could maybe walk a hundred feet, but then I'll be exhausted, I have a stout, you know, get going again. So I walk in and I'd look like a freaking mom

because I had bandages over it. All you see is my face and I had a ball cap on. And I remember friends being their teammate to mine, a lot of my family, and my wife calls out to my son. That says, whetto, that's his nickname. It's like, you know, Bob, he's here. And he comes running now and I hear his little feet

hitting the floor and he sees me and stops. And I'm like, oh shit, he's scared of me. All the everything that I felt was coming. I was like, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do? Then he just looked at me, tilted his head to the side, that's his body, I'm like, yeah, buddy. And it comes up and gives me the most amazing hug I've ever had. And the most amazing feeling I've ever had

besides seeing him born. And but Gary was right. All my boy, why is that back? That's all he wanted was that back. He cared what I looked like. He knew that was that and he just wanted me back. Brother. That's it. Yeah. I've never done an interview where I don't know what to say. Like I literally don't know what to say.

I think that's just amazing. I think just amazing moment. Thank God, right? Thank God. Yeah, kids are resilient, dude. They really are. We kind kinda think they're not, but they really are. They just try to have things to what they know. Yeah, certain men are resilient too. Certain men are resilient. And by the way, he's drinking jack and coke just so you guys know, if you're wondering what he's drinking.

It's what real men drink. Whiskey, whiskey. I drank the keel up before the show, but he went jack and coke. So I, some men are real resilient. We don't, I think, I know what's happening in the world right now listening to this, and I know how people are responding. But even with how deep we've gone, this is not just, so you're listening to this in an

hour. This was every minute of every second of this man's life. He was going through this pain, mentally, emotionally, and I can't help but think back to what your dad said to you. I can't help but think back that that had some divine intervention involved, and that it was preparing you for, I mean, very few children go through their entire life

by losing their parents at such a precious age like you did. And then what happened, I mean, very few children go through their entire life by losing their parents at such a precious age like you did. And then what happened, I didn't know about what happened in college with your grandparents. And then this. So, I want to know, I think people would be interested to know, first off, what about now physical pain. The only real physical pain I have is this hand. It's more like nerve pain than I get. So if it wasn't for this, I probably wouldn't be taking any pain med at all. Because I don't take any of the heavy pain meds. I'll take a gabapitin and tram

it all. They're not big addictive pain. But it's like delighted, percussed, all that. I wanted to get off that right away. I was like, I don't want to be honest. I was like, I'll tolerate the pain, so I don't have to be on it. But this is only the real pain. I mean, is it correct?

I think everyone needs to hear this. You've had over a hundred surgeries. Yeah, I've had a hundred, don't know, 130 plus now, something like that. Everybody just processed this, right? And so you're, just accept this. You're a legitimate real time, big time hero. And I consider you, even though we get around each other

with each other quite a bit already, I consider you the most heroic person I've ever met and and by the way also because it's just beginning. In other words I just feel like we're at this particular chapter of your life. I have to ask you about some important things though. So because guys he didn't just like okay I survived this my son loves me. There's a lot more to this too. So what's it like? Just tell us for a minute, what's it like when in a purple heart? You know, it's a, here he goes, watch this. It's an award at, one doesn't want to receive,

because it means that you got hit. Yeah, you got hurt. You know, you're out of the fight maybe for a little bit or for me, you know, since that incident, you know, not out there with my teammates anymore. So it's tough when it receives, but it's also the oldest medal that the military had. It was created by George Washington. So it has that esteem that kind of honor, but still you still have that, it's like, man, I got this, but now I'm not out with my teammates anymore.

But I think everybody needs to know this. He's also, everybody, the first 100% disabled person to re-enter the military and is currently as of the time of this recording active duty military with a 100% disability, right or wrong. Okay, so please give yourself some data, go ahead. So in the history of the military, first dude ever to re-enter active duty in the military

with a 100% disability. So you get the purple heart and your back in the military. So let's just be giving you credit for that. Okay, look at him, put his head down. So this is true. Who gave it to you? Was it Bush? My purple heart, the, I don't remember it. Okay.

President Bush. Okay. He came to the hospital. You know, he, he, when he comes with the guys, he truly loves his guys. Yeah. He doesn't want cameras. He doesn't want anything.

He just wants to be there with the team mate. And when he came to visit me It was in December they don't know exactly what my wife told me You know he talks to her in Spanish, you know, he's like you know being there for her and then he wants to come see me and The doctors wanted to cover my face put a mask and I was like no And the doctors wanted to cover my face, put a mask, and I was like, no, I want him to see, you know, my husband, you know. And there's a picture out there of me and him, you know, when he meets me. And like I said, when you're in there, it's 90-something degrees, and you've got to be

covered from head to toe. He went in there, gave my purple heart, and stood there for 20 minutes just talking to toe. He went in there, gave my purple heart and stood there for 20 minutes just talking to me. He was my wife told me he was in there longer, some of your family members were when they came to visit you. He just stayed in there. And then when I finally, you know, when I woke up and I was like, hey, DT got a purple heart. I'm like, well, why did this happen? And I was like, yeah, President Bush gave me tea. He was like, oh, it's cool. I wish I remembered it so.

In June of 2006, they presented me my purple heart and an army accommodation, not all. Awesome. And my mother again, then. No, the chief of staff, the Air Force, it's time. Did you ever meet Bush post that? So I thought I saw a picture of you. After that? Yeah.

I've met him a couple more times after that. That's kind of a big deal. Did you meet President Obama ever? I've never got to meet President Obama. I got to meet Michelle Molot. You did. You know, she went to a lot of the competitions like the Invictus Games for Prince Harry

and she was there for a lot of stuff like that. So let's talk about that for a second. So now this guy, you say, well, you're good at this, by the way. This is your segment, let me write it in my next question. So this guy goes through everything that he's gone through and then he ends up becoming,

when's the silver medal at the Invictus Games for powerlifting in 2014, right? For is that correct? That is correct. I think so too. Yeah, 14. You want a silver medal? You should know when it is brother. That's a big deal. This guy with these medals is no big deal, right? And then in 2016 though Victus Games wins the gold medal in the shot put so talk about that for a second What's it like to go back and compete again? Having gone through it, you've gone through. I doubt when you're laying in that river, or actually probably better when you wake up and they go, hey, here's your life.

Trake, breathing deal, not gonna walk again, 18 more months in here, militaries over. Congratulations, I doubt you're thinking, you know, I'm gonna go win a gold medal at the Invictus Games here within a few years. This man also won the Pat Tillman Award at the Espis, which is where you first came on my radar. Stocker.

It's one of the most incredible four minute speeches you'll ever see in your life. What did you say? Stocker. Yes, Stocker, thank you. He keeps hammering me with stuff you guys, just so you know off camera. He's constantly doing this to me,

rightly, mediums, dude. I thought you were a lot bigger. I meant height wise, that muscle, I muscle, you're still look big, but you know, that's why your videos are very deceiving. I was like, use Photoshop. I was like, I'm thinking coming to here, I was like, there's a lot ahead of you. I want to see this big, freaking muscle-bound, man. I was like, I was like, I'm not going to be able to mess with him.

Would you be my ass? Would you please let the audience know that I'm still a very big man? Everybody just saying, you know what you see here. You are big. Yeah, thank you. Just not hype one. Just stop it. Yeah, just stop it.

What? By the way, this guy said, let me tell you how I first said, I'm gonna interview him. Can I tell him a story? We probably shouldn't say who it was. Yeah, you can tell. So we're at the Super Bowl. This guy since a few of us, just unreal.

But we were at Super Bowl and. This guy since a few of us, just unreal, but we were at the Super Bowl, and he was a big, huge room full of like a lot of really well-known people. I don't know how many people were in there, a thousand. God, yeah. I was huge. And there's one party.

Yeah, there's a huge pre-party, pre-souable party. And it was the tailgate of the Super Bowl. And he comes up on the stage, Sage Steel, who's an amazing journalist for ESPN. She has a great job. But she introduces him, and she basically introduced you by saying, hey, you're blowing up right now, right? And tell him what you said in front of the entire crowd back

for it. You know, I have no stage feeling like, she's on the board of the Pat Tillman thing. And so we've known each other for a couple of years now. She's amazing. Great, great one. And when we even only showed it for a couple of years now. She's a big fan. Great, great one. And when she says anything in my head, she just really just said that.

I was like, I was like, well, I'm gonna get her. So she says it. I was like, kind of say, just kind of insensitive. Say that to a guy that blown up my bomb. And she, I mean, the crowd lost it. The crowd lost it. The DJ was dying. That's the thing. And say, she's like sage like oh my gosh I can't believe I just

that's the best moment so tough stuff now a couple tough ones this is one of those interviews where if I could literally go 25 more hours I would just keep going but real simple question probably not easy to though, what did you learn through all this? Like what's the takeaway? About yourself, my life about anything. What I took away from all what had happened to me is like that my team was there, my family was there for me. They didn't let me be by myself. They were there when I needed, when I was at bad times. So I saw it after I finally got out,

started to get stronger. I saw it as my mission out to be there for my teammates. Do I miss being an operator being out there outside of wire you know con and narrow strikes yes but I knew all these service members or anyone else out there in the hospital they're my team now. I had to be there for them how my team was there for me so I started going to the hospital talking to guys on the hay man. I know this sucks right now. I was there. Trust me.

But find your spark. Find your fire inside you that will drive you. It can be anything. You may not think you have what you do. And just stay positive, man. I was like, I tell them, I'm not going to tell you I didn't have bad day. Of course, you're going to have bad days when don't let that keep you down. I was like, you got this.

We'll be here for you. So I saw it now as a giving back. So a lot of what I took away from my whole experience is like, be there for your teammates. Be there for people that need it. Do you think you ever would have thought, I think, humans are capable of heroic things they don't think they're capable of? So if I had asked you two days before this incident, could you... I would have never thought this. You know, I still...it still... them found me that people... that this is my life.

Not that I regret, I wish it. It's that people see me in a different light than I inspired and I'm motivated and I'm like, they don't know what's special, man. I was like, I just do what any other guy would have done in the same situation. Be there for my teammates, try to get him motivated, get him going, get him to the helicopter. You know, people like to call me here, I'll like to say I'm inspiring that I'm motivating, but like I said at the SP's man, I was like, I'm just a dude that had a bad day at work. That's all I am, and I'm no one special, man.

Probably what makes you the most special is the fact that you don't know you are. Because here's the truth, not everybody. Everyone's capable of doing what you've done, but not everybody would have. And that's the difficult thing in life. Everyone's capable of turning their life around, which would be, you know, I'd mess this whole thing up if I didn't let people,

one thing I told you that I think you do is I think it gives people perspective. I'm not going to impact everyone. I know that. But those one or two, they're really having a hard time. They're really giving up. And I mean, really giving up on life. And I think they're at the darkest hour. And sometimes here about me or here in my story or have heard me and reach out, like, sir, I was about 10, did. And I heard how you went through it

and how you came out ahead. And I was like, give me strength. Yes. And that's when it really hits me. I'm like, well, yeah. And then I'm thinking, you know what, all that pain, all that stuff, that I went through, it was worth it.

Because I got to help that one person, that really needed it. And coming back to you, just keep him to my dad's words, take care of family. And sometimes people think I do what I do for just a military. I don't, and I do what I do is for anyone that needs it out there.

A civilian, someone had a car accident, someone that's going through marriage, someone that had a business thing. Like you said, take care of your family. It's for anyone that. Yeah. Well, that's what I want people to know. Sorry, you just give me a little choked up, not that choked up. Take care of your family. It's for anyone that. Well, that's what I want people to know. Sorry, you just give me a little choked up, not that choked up.

But what everybody to know is, I think this man is on the precipice of becoming one of the greatest forces for good and change on the planet. And you can bring him in, I'm doing it. You can bring him in to speak to your group, do an interview on the stage or to communicate with them And so you can if you need to reach through me to get to him you can do that But you can also go to Israel's Instagram or Twitter So tell them how to find you on both of those my Instagram is IDT21 Okay, and then my Twitter is I dealt all our 21. I dealt all 21, okay.

So we'll put them both up on the screen on the YouTube. Those you that are driving in your car, please make sure that you're following him because here's this incredible in life. I consider you the most unforgettable person I've ever met. And ironically, it's interesting, but I want people to, sometimes your biggest thing that you think is your detriment is also one of the things

that makes you the most memorable. The truth of the matter is that your story is incredible, but also the visual impact I think too, like, I was going to be honest with you. We've been talking about the fact that you've been burned, but since we've been talking on the phone together, since we've known each other, since we're doing this interview, the only time I actually remember it is when you tell me. Isn't that interesting? I had someone else on my show Nick that I said the same thing to. It's like, when someone's got such a big presence about them, you forget it. But what's the most incredible thing in life, everybody, is that our dreams end up almost

always showing up and our tragedies in ways we can't picture them. And so when you got into the military, your hope was, someday I could sit around with my grandkids and say, let me tell you about my story to remember. Here's what's so incredible. Your great-grandchildren will be being told about you by your grandchildren without you even needing to be there. Your story is so incredible that 200 years from now, people in your family will be telling the story of their great, great grandfather, D.T. of Israel, of what he did. They're gonna be, you won't even need to tell the story.

Is that incredible? You know, that's a fact. That's all cool. I look at it. All I wanna be known as, like, I was a good teammate, a good husband, and a good son. Father's my son, that's all I want to know.

And you took care of your family. That's all, that's all, everything, anything I want to do. But what is fluff, but listen to me. I think it's important, man, because you only hear these things from someone like me. When your dad said, take care of your family, little did you know that that was going to be family members that you'll never meet. It's not just your son. So the ripple effects of the great

things we accomplish in our lives, maybe it's even going to dawn on you right now. The ripple effects of the great things we do in our life can impact people in ways we can't even imagine. Who you're becoming and what you've done is going to take care of your family and it's not just your wife and it's not just your son and it's not just your brothers and sisters. It's members of your family that may never even meet you man and so to that extent you've so deceived into your family. So when your dad was saying that he may not even know that that's what he meant yet this is so big and so incredible and you are, but I just want you to understand it. And you're terrible at accepting compliments.

So you're telling me, I wonder if you're the most famous del Toro than Benicio del Toro? I can't tell you that you're gonna be the most famous, but I can tell you this, you will have made the biggest impact of any del Toro until your son comes along and does something even great, right? Until your great-granddaughter comes along and does something even greater. But you've done something, you did

what your dad said. You've taken care of your family, you've taken care of them in ways. There's a pride in your family, man, for generations now, that they know they come from you. And that wouldn't have happened if you weren't the man you were and what you went through. And even though that's not easy for you to accept, millions of people right now that are listening to me are nodding their head in agreement. And all of you listening to this that are nodding your head that are tearing up right now, you can change your family tree forever too.

You can care for your family and your way and your quiet way going through. And what is amazing is that what you don't understand is the difficulty you're going through is the very thing that will build that story, that legend, that difference in your family about you. And I know we all have simple goals, but sometimes God chooses very simple people, man, to do extraordinary things in life. And I don't think this happened to you by accident. I was an accident that happened, but I think it was predestined to happen. I think when you were this little boy

who lost his daddy at 12 years old and then lost his mom right after that, I think all of this was building up to this moment for you to be able to take care of your family and away maybe even your dad never knew. And so I just wanna tell you that as your friend, this dude retires by the way April 27th 2000 and

19 which is coming up here soon I'm honored that you've invited me to be there and I'm gonna be there too and I want to speak on behalf of millions of people and tell you Thank you and We're all proud of you and grateful for you And I know that that matters most for you at home But just know that that impacts reach beyond your home today. Thanks, I appreciate it, man. You're amazing, dude.

Thanks brother. You're amazing. Thank you for being here today. I want you to still stay strong and finish strong. I have to stay strong and finish strong, you know. Alright, anything else you want to add to everybody? I have. You cover what you want.

You know, like I said, I'm very grateful that you give me the opportunity to come. You know, tell this and hopefully help someone out there that I may feel like they're having a bad day and they can hear what I went through and how I overcame because that's the whole goal of this. To be able to continue the words of my dad, take care of my family. So like I said, everyone out there's my family.

I don't want to be there. I don't want to need it out there. That's right. We're all a little bit of your family now. And so thank you, brother. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that.

I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that.

I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to have that. I don't want to's his actual story, which is the biggest impact. I think you should be following him on Instagram and Twitter.

And if you want to bring somebody into your organization, your company or team that can inspire them, I'm telling you there's nobody better that you could bring in than him. And then in terms of the max out universe, you guys all know this. Every single week I try to bring you somebody who's maxed out their life. If this gentleman to my left isn't a personification of what maxing out means, I don't know anyone walking on the planet that is. And so I wanna challenge you to share this program with people, it's the number one program in the world for a reason and also remind you that I wanna engage

with you closer. So we're building a community, we're building the max out universe here, Israel's now a part of that group. And so every day on Instagram, I run the two minute drill. And the reason that I do that is so that I can engage closer with you. That means is every day on Instagram, when I make my post in the main feed within the first two minutes, if you just make a comment

with the hashtag maxout attached to it, every day I pick a winner. Every single day from the people that post within the first two minutes on my main feed, winners get coaching calls with someone like Israel, they get to meet him or myself, they get maxout gear, my book, all kinds of we're going to do a private jet secret trip here soon on my jet with winners. So make a comment within the first two minutes and you're part of the community. I read all of them. Takes me a while. I read all 2,000 of them every day.

I can't comment to all of them. And then if you miss the first two minutes, make a comment every day on all my posts. At the end of the week, we add up people who just make a comment every day, no matter what time it is, we pick a winner from that group as well. So I appreciate your support everybody I know you love today's program please share it with the people you care about God bless you and continue to max out your life. you