This is Later with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast. More of what you
here weekday afternoons on the Drive. Israel del Torro Junior was a senior Master
Sergeant in the Air Force served in Afghanistan as a Special Ops paratrooper. Injured
in action in two thousand and five, and his long recover recovery included a
lot. He has now written all about it and his advocacy for his fellow
warriors in his newest creation, It is called a Patriots Promise. Israel del
Toro Junior, Welcome, I mean, thank you for having me on.
It's a pleasure. Well, let's us start at the beginning of your military
career. What made you join the Air Force? Honestly, I was twenty
two years old. I was at home and I just I just felt like
I was a deep challenge, like I wasn't fulfilly what I should be doing,
and and I was at home. I committed a confirmed than I I
might have had a whiskey and coke on my in my hand, but much
so. And I was like, you know, why not? I was
like I grew up in the age of Rambo, who didn't want to be
Rambo? And you know when I grew up, you wanted to have the
long hair, tip of body. Well now I don't have the long hair,
and I sort of like to say, you have more of a dad
bob. But that's what really got me in. I just I just felt
like I wasn't fulfilling what I should be doing. And I enjoyed every moment
of it when I joined it. The book of the memoir that he's written,
a Patriots promise, protecting my brother's fighting for my life and keeping my
word. What was the word that you kept? So my dad January twenty
says he had called at home. He was in Mexico receiving to a medical
treatment, and I was the last time to speak to him. And the
last thing he asked me was promise that you always take care of brothers,
sister, saying your family. And of course, the twelve year old kid
at the time like, okay, yeah, whatever that and it makes me
repeat it again. Then I don't know if he knew that he wasn't going
to be here the next day, but unfortunately the next day Dad was done.
And that promise, it has shaped me who I am and how I
get through. And then yes, that promise has evolved to now being you
know, fighting for people to feel that they don't have a voice or they
need someone to help them overcome some adversity. And you speak of some of
your brothers in the faith who were wounded as well as you. Let's go
back to that story about how you were initially wounded in a humby. Yeah.
So I got hurt December fourth on a mission. We're on our way.
I think about our teammates when an ID exploded under underneath me, and
you know, when I got out of the truck, out on fire from
head to toe, but there's a creep behind me, so I ran to
it, but I collapsed and I'm thinking, well, there's there for me,
and then one of my teammates took me out. We jumped into the
creek, but it was a plant ambush because as soon as they hit,
I got hit my team and they were gonna pretty go. They got class
fire out there needing help, and I remember the medic saying, hey,
you're trying to take care here. I'm like, oh no, I'm okay.
I got to take care of my brothers, honoring that promised my dad.
As I take care of Bailey, who I got blown out of the
truck and the humby had rolled over his legs. So you know remember that
promise. Yes, my teammates were army. I was air forced out.
But we're down the range. We're all brothers and sisters. Man, we
all have each other's back and like brothers sisters be bus chops. But when
needed, we are there for each other. And I had to be there
for my teammates. And luckily one of my other teammate had a radio because
mine were destroyed. It's like, hey, repeat everything I say so we
can get some aircraft in here to help our teammates. By that time,
I was I started getting scared and I was whining asleep at the medic news.
He let me fall asleep. I wasn't a wake up and he kept
me up until the METABA came and I remember to fly to landing at our
Ford Operating Base, going in our field hospital. The doctor cut him off
my watch and be telling me I'll be okay. That was seven fourth or
five. I wake up much full six. Wow. Yeah, you were
out for a long time and almost died three times. Died three times given
a fifteen percent chance to survive and received eighty percent thirty three burns on eighty
percent of my body. Israel Dotorro Junior is with us. He's a senior
Master Sergeant in the Air Force and his new memoir is out. It's called
a Patriots Promise and it's available everywhere you get books. My Protecting my Brothers,
fighting for my life and keeping my word. I don't know that everybody
realizes the Air Force had its paratroopers were We'd like to say we're the quiet
professionals. My official title for my currus is a tag tea attached square control
party where the guys on the radios calling an air strikes man, and not
many people know about us. We were embedded with the Army, were embedded
with the Moraines or fagged, embedded with the Seals and all special operations out
there. Uh so, you know, most people don't realize that we Air
Force when we're out there, because we just blend in it. In your
memoir, you advocate for better care for the wounded. How so, so
when I was in the hospital, the burned patients out numbered people with missing
limbs empties easily to one. But yet we had very crappy therapy room.
It was tiny, small compared to the Amphi tee therapy room. And when
the hospital was building the state of the arts center for the Intrepid, they
wanted all the burn patients show up, but yet they weren't gonna have any
of us in there for therapy. So, you know, I told my
yes, I was wounded, but I was still an NCO in the Air
Force and at the role and NCO and it's like, you take care of
your teams. They think better for them, even if you may never see
the benefits. So I told it was like, we're not going to go,
and the leadership found out and they came down to talk to it.
And I probably should have used better tack the leadership, but I felt it
was like you just wanted us as prompts to show that we're there, but
yet you ain't gonna allow us to be in at that state of the art
therapy. You wanted to keep us in this the size of the living room,
and and they changed their mind, and you know, I ended up
being one of the first ones. And my attention was never to be one
of the first ones. I was trying to make it better for my guys.
But again. That's you know, I'm going back to that promise of
my dad take care of family, and those wounded guys weren't my family,
and I have to take care of them. Israel del Toro Patriots promised protecting
my brothers, fighting for my life and keeping my word. For those who
are reading the book, is there any call to action or anything you would
like the reader to do? Uh? No, you know, I just
I just wanted them to read it then and maybe you realize, you know,
you can overcome what's in front of you, that bad day you're having,
or you know you're just feeling like you want to give up. You
know, there's there's always hope out there. Uh, you just got to
find it because we all have that spark that drives us. And that's what
I hope the book does. Because I'm a realist. I know I'm not
gonna touch everybody, but maybe those one or two that really need it,
or someone knows something that need to need read of the book and they hand
it so and it helps them and all that pain and stuff and I ever
went through is worth it. And that's what I hope the readers get out
of it. And I laugh about it because there's also some some some funny
part. Today Patriots promises the memoir protecting my brothers, fighting for my life
and keeping my word Israel del Total. Thank you for your service to our
country and for joining us today. Thank you to thank for having me on
a pleasure. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews
Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to
seven and I Hearts Media Presentation