As Memorial Day approaches, retired Navy SEAL and wounded warrior Jason Redman reflects on his military career — how a near-death experience impacted his view on faith and life — and the significance of observing Memorial Day.
“Throughout our history, it has been our military members who are willing to fight and sacrifice to preserve that freedom,” Redman told the Washington Examiner. “So, as citizens, I think it’s important to recognize that, and to also honor that. Live a life worthy of the sacrifice of millions of Americans who literally laid down their lives. Memorial Day is that day to think about [it]. If you know anybody in your community who may have made that sacrifice, take the time to honor it.”
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Redman served 21 years in the Navy. He spent 11 years as a SEAL and 10 more years as an officer, where he led combat operations in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Military career
Redman comes from a military family and said that from a young age, he wanted to join the Navy SEALs.
“I grew up with stories of my grandfather – he was a decorated B-24 pilot in World War II, [he received a] distinguished flying cross, [and had] multiple air medals. My dad went on to serve in the army. My great uncle was shot down in the Pacific in WWII. So, I just had this love of service. My dad told me about the SEAL teams when I was young, and from a young age, about 15, I was like that’s what I want to do, and that’s what I went after.”
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On Sept. 13, 2007, Redman and his assault team were attacked outside Fallujah, Iraq, where Redman was shot eight times, once in the face.
He discussed how becoming a wounded warrior gave him a “tremendous appreciation for life.”
“I think for most of us, we walk through life, and we probably take many things for granted,” Redman said.
“We take our freedom for granted — which I notice a lot here in our own country — we take our health for granted, we take time for granted, we take opportunities for granted.”
”I think when you face death like that in a chaotic environment – if you make it as I fortunately did – it just gives you a tremendous appreciation for the opportunities we have, and it also makes me very grateful, and more appreciative of the sacrifice that my brothers made, who didn’t get to come home, which is obviously why Memorial Day is so important.”
Significance of Memorial Day
Redman explained what Americans can do to ensure younger generations recognize the importance of observing the holiday.
“I think it’s really important, this being the 250th anniversary, that people pause and hopefully recognize the journey we have grown as a nation, and that the opportunities were born out of the sacrifice of our military members going all the way back to the beginning of the country with the Continental Army … Google ‘fallen military members’ and look and study some of their stories. They’re amazing stories. Individuals that I served with, such as Lieutenant Michael Murphy or Petty Officer Mike Monsoor, both guys were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for what they did on the battlefield. Read those stories and tell your kids about them. Think about them, and the freedom we have.”
The former Navy SEAL said he plans to attend a candlelight tribute held by Freedom 250 this Memorial Day to honor the sacrifices of fallen U.S. military service members.
“Hollywood loves to tell amazing movies from ‘Band of Brothers’ to ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to Black Hawk,’ to ‘Lone Survivor’. They’re not just movies, they’re real stories about real heroes, and this candlelight vigil will be about some of those individuals, like Medal of Honor recipient Rocky Versace, a Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient … Green Beret Jason Beardsley will be hosting it.”
Wrestling with faith
Redman shared how his faith was strengthened after facing a near-death experience during the Iraq War.
“Military life is hard and fast, and I have to say I probably lost my way for a while. When we went out on missions every night, I recognized that I might not come home. That is the reality, and then of course, I was severely wounded and almost didn’t come home.”
“That night on the battlefield, lying there bleeding out, pinned down — that gunfight was a 40-minute, very intense firefight — I was pinned down in front of my guys, bullets literally traveling directly over me. We ended up calling in the closest fire mission ever executed in the Iraq war. I was hit eight times between my body and my body armor, including around the face, and I called out to God in that moment, and I said, ‘Hey, I need your strength to go home. I need your strength to see my wife and kids again,’ and I had it.”
“I had this power, I felt it. Doctors said it was a miracle I survived from the amount of blood loss I sustained. I owe my life to my teammates. I owe my life to the Air Force AC1-30 gunship and to God giving me that second chance and that power to come home.”
“Today, I’m a walking miracle,” Redman said. “I’d love to tell you, ‘man, I never have doubts, I’m like 1,000,000% convicted.’ But faith is a journey, and it’s hard at times.”
He encourages active service members to “lean into” their faith, while adding it’s OK “if you have those doubts.”
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“I always go back to the disciples. These were the guys who walked with Jesus … when he died on the cross, they were afraid, and they doubted. Jesus told Peter, ‘You will deny me,’ and [Peter] denied him three times before the morning … so, I would just say, if you have doubts — I have solace in knowing these guys walked with Jesus and had doubts.”
In 2013, Redman retired from the Navy. He has since written four books — three of which are New York Times and Amazon bestsellers — given more than 700 keynote speeches, and teaches individuals how to become leaders through his course, “Overcome Mindset.”
