American Hero: Don't Call Me A Wounded Warrior. I'm Not a 'Sob Story.'

With four missing limbs and an award-winning smile, Travis Mills is a sight to behold. It's no wonder those who know Mills describe him as "tough as they come."

The United States Army Staff Sergeant who became a quadruple amputee from the war in Afghanistan joined Glenn's radio program to share his fascinating story on Monday.

"I was a staff sergeant in 82nd Airborne Division. Very proud paratrooper," Mills said.

He told Glenn when he first woke up to find out what had happened, he didn't want to call his family. When he finally spoke with his wife, among his first words to her were "Leave me."

"It wasn't because I didn't want to be with her anymore or anything, I didn't love her. I actually just didn't want to be a burden on her," Mills said. "I was embarrassed, upset."

The journey Mills took to becoming "tough as they come" didn't happen overnight. Listen to the hero's conversation with Glenn or read the transcript below.

"Leave Me"

GLENN: United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills is with us. Travis Mills is a quadruple amputee from the war in Afghanistan. And the author of the book Tough as They Come.

And you can tell already you're as tough as they come. I saw a short video of you, where -- I mean, you've -- you actually -- when you had your legs and arms blown off, you actually told your wife -- you had a new daughter.

TRAVIS: I did, yeah.

GLENN: And you said, "Leave me."

TRAVIS: And it wasn't because I didn't want to be with her anymore or anything, I didn't love her. I actually just didn't want to be a burden on her. After getting everything blown off on April 10th. The 12th, they cut my left hand off the rest of the way. Then the 14th, I woke up for the very first time. And that's my birthday. So my 25th birthday, I woke up for the very first time to find out what happened. I didn't want to call my family. I was embarrassed, upset.

STU: You didn't want to call your family?

TRAVIS: Didn't want to call my family. My wife. I just felt like I let everybody down. I was really good at my job. It was my third deployment. And the Taliban wasn't supposed to get me, and they did. And I was angry at that fact. But I was also embarrassed and upset.

But then I finally called, talked them a little bit on my birthday. That's the person that woke me up from my medical sedation because I was actually awake until the operating table on the 10th. And the doctor said, "I don't know how you're still awake. You need to go to sleep." So 14 hours of surgery, nine doctors, and seven nurses worked on me. Two doctors actually -- or, two nurses pumped air in my lung for two hours straight -- or, I mean, nine hours straight to keep me alive. Thirty blood transfusions.

But, yeah, I made it to the hospital on the 17th and went to immediate surgery. My wife, the very first thing she had to do was sign a paper. She was in charge of my medical care. So she had to sign a paper to cut off two more inches of my right leg because my sutures ripped open. I was bleeding out. Like, he's going to die if we don't take him to surgery. You're in charge now. She's just like, oh, just pull the plug. And I was like, what?

No, it's a joke, obviously.

No, no, no. But, yeah, so then the 18th, she came me into Walter Reed, which is a wonderful facilitate. And I didn't think I had much self-worth. And I said, "Look, there's no reason for you to put yourself through this, financially. Anything we have is yours." Not that I have a lot. You know, I was a staff sergeant in 82nd Airborne Division. Very proud paratrooper. And I said, "The house, the money, the cars, it's all yours. Anything I make -- you know, keep the same bank numbers. You can have the account numbers, and it's yours. And you can go." And she's like, that's not how this works at all. I'm going to be with you.

And, you know, between her and my little girl, the support of my family -- of course my parents and everybody. But my little girl who looks up to me, who I thought was going to be scared. You know, her dad now, no arms, no legs. He has tubes out of every limb. Pick lines out of his neck. Stuff all over my chest, like little monitors. And I thought, boy, she's going to be just so scared of this monster. And she came in. It turns out, when you have no arms and leg, you're really short now, and you have a hairy chest, you're the world's best teddy bear. She's just playing with me. Squeezing my nose. My wife is like, oh, look at them play. And I'm like, get her off my nose. I'm trying to swing --

But, yeah, once my wife was going to stay with me and my daughter was going to look up to me and I was going to be the dad I was expected to be, I just went full force in recovery.

Bluetooth Legs

TRAVIS: And I'm very thankful for Walter Reed. The technology out there -- you know, I walk. Wherever I go, I walk. I drive a truck. I mean, with my feet, prosthetics, I'm actually so stubborn. I didn't get hand controls put in my truck, and I drive with my feet

GLENN: Well you don't have any hands, so...

TRAVIS: Yeah, it's true.

GLENN: Do the thing with your hand where you can --

TRAVIS: Absolutely. I can do this all day. It doesn't even hurt. No, it doesn't hurt.

GLENN: Yeah. So he can turn his hand all the way around. So when you're steering, you --

TRAVIS: Well, I'm locked on a try pin (phonetic), which is like a suicide knob here, here, and here. I just rock around with it. I have pump systems. So I hit a button and it will do left turn, right turn, horn, kind of everything. My legs are Bluetooth, so they have a driving mode in them. So I use a remote. Lock it in. And it locks at a 25-degree angle. And I just press down on the gas and the break, and I drive a truck.

GLENN: Your legs are Bluetooth?

TRAVIS: They have Bluetooth connectivity. They don't play music or anything.

GLENN: What exactly does the Bluetooth technology do?

TRAVIS: Well, it locks it to modes.

GLENN: So if I had my iPad, I could make you dance or something, just as a joke.

TRAVIS: Depends on what song you put on. I dance -- but, no, they come with their own remote. They're waterproof. They're microprocessors. Every time I'm standing and I move, over 300 adjustments get made every second to make sure that they work out. They take away 30 percent of muscle needed to walk. I mean, they don't walk for you, but they help out when it kicks back.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Wow. So this technology -- you see people who have lost their limbs, you would have been in a wheelchair for the rest of your life ten years ago?

TRAVIS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I've had a lot of Vietnam vets. Which I'm very thankful for the vets. And I had a lot of people from the Vietnam era say, boy, we just didn't see people come back like you. It's too bad that you had to come back this way. And I said, "Well, think about the battlefield medicine that's come so far that guys that wouldn't have made it home in that war came back in this war."

GLENN: Well, I mean, honestly --

PAT: That was one of the things they said during the Bush administration, against the war. Look at all these guys that were coming back maimed. Well, but they're alive. I mean, you'd rather be alive, right? At this point.

TRAVIS: Absolutely.

I had the opportunity -- the documentary we had. We had the GI Film Festival winner. Tough as They Come. I wrote the book because of the documentary doing so well. But in it, I mean, I just -- I get asked, you know, would you do this all over again? Serve in the military? I would. I would. I had a bad day of the work. Case of the Mondays. I wouldn't get blown up again. You guys are lovely, but if I could be there any second, I still would be there. But through this process, this ketamine coma which is revolutionary, having no more pain, I don't take any medication. And --

Phantom Pain

GLENN: Explain -- because phantom pain is wild. Phantom pain makes you feel like you still have hands and legs, but you don't. And then --

TRAVIS: Yeah, it's painful too.

GLENN: And it's painful because it feels like people are stabbing you or they're on fire.

TRAVIS: Yeah, they were worried that I was going to actually get too immune to the -- I was getting so immune to the drugs and everything, the Oxis and what not. Dilaudids. And they were like, he's just going to OD, and it's not going to be his fault. He's just getting too immune. So they had three different case studies. And I signed a paper. Like, yeah, let's try this. Yeah, let's try that. And finally, they said, well, we have this ketamine coma. It's been done one other time in the US.

GLENN: What is it?

TRAVIS: They do a mathematical equation for how big you are. They give you so much ketamine per hour.

GLENN: What's ketamine? I don't know.

TRAVIS: Actually they call it Special K on the streets.

JEFFY: It's a tranquilizer.

TRAVIS: It's a tranquilizer.

STU: Leave it to Jeffy to know.

GLENN: No, seriously, so they gave you a horse tranquilizer.

TRAVIS: They did. And they gave me 600 milligrams an hour for five days straight, and I was knocked out. And when I woke up, it's such a hallucinogen, anything that was on TV, I was in. So Seinfeld, Kramer from Seinfeld hung out for three hours one day. Just talked with me.

GLENN: That sounds like --

JEFFY: Is that a problem?

TRAVIS: No, not anymore. I mean, we just hung out, you know. Hey, what's up? And then there was also like Ghengis Khan. Somebody was watching something on the history channel. And Ghengis Khan and me were fighting. Arrows flying. Zipping through.

JEFFY: Wow.

STU: You fought on Ghengis Khan's side?

TRAVIS: I mean, I didn't choose sides.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: You just happened to find yourself on that side.

TRAVIS: Come on. It's cool. It's part of my story.

GLENN: All right. So then you were hallucinating for how many days?

TRAVIS: About four days, it was real heavy. The last one I had at 10 days, where I thought someone was stealing my little girl, like taking her across the field. And I was yelling at 3:00 in the morning. "I'm going to get you. Give my kid back here. My daughter." And there's more things I said, but we can't because we're on TV or radio. But I was echoing through the hallway. But it was such a great thing that five months after that, six months into my recovery, I quit taking all medication. And the pain is gone.

Everybody asks me, like, how is the VA care? VA has been great to me. But I don't go.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Only the phantom pain is gone?

TRAVIS: All my pain. I don't have any.

GLENN: You don't feel any pain?

TRAVIS: No pain.

GLENN: But if I punched you in the face, you would feel that?

TRAVIS: I mean, possibly.

STU: He's very weak.

GLENN: I'm not going to try. I'm not aggressive really by nature.

TRAVIS: As the book states, I'm tough as they come, so I'm not so sure if that's going to hurt.

A Recalibrated Warrior

You know, it just really came down to a choice. I told my wife to leave me. She didn't. It came down to, if I was going to get better. I was going to feed myself. I was going to do things. My recovery, I want people to know, I'm not a victim, nor am I a sob story. Please do not label me as a wounded warrior. I cannot stand the term wounded. I'm not wounded. I have scars. They're pretty awesome. But, you know, in the book, I state I'm a recalibrated warrior, if anything. But I just like to be called Travis. I take my daughter to school every morning. I take my wife on dates. We go out and get ice cream. And I'm the one driving. I'm the one unbuckling her from her car seat and putting her in the car seat. And what a great day we live in where I can do this stuff.

And I'm so thankful. So, you know, I'm fortunate with what I'm doing. I got the podium to stand and tell people, like, don't sob. Don't feel bad for me. And let's keep pushing forward in life.

(BREAK)

"My Body Overheats"

PAT: So, Travis, you have both legs. Prosthetic. And then the arm on the left side. Why not the prosthetic on the right side too?

TRAVIS: I used to be a magician. I made it disappear.

PAT: Wow. That's impressive.

TRAVIS: No. My body actually overheats. Because when you lose your arms and legs, your heart when it beats, it pushes the blood normally to your fingers and toes. Mine goes to my residual limbs. So it comes back warmer. So my body overheats that way. When you release heat from your body as head, hands, and feet, missing four of the five, so my head always sweats. And, you know, I had a liner that would go on here. It would just kind of sweat off throughout the day eventually and fall off. And real rigid and hard. And then one more thing is your skin is porous. Even though you got pants on, when the wind blows, you can feel it. Well, mine, I have three layers. So a third of my body is capped off. So it just made more sense not to wear it. And it makes it more comfortable when I don't wear it.

PAT: Oh, you do have it? You just don't wear it?

TRAVIS: Oh, I have it. I use it for extreme sports or whatever, if you want to call it. Or adaptive action activity. Whatever. I go snowboarding. I wear it for that.

GLENN: You go snowboarding?

TRAVIS: Well, I go falling down a hill usually. But I pick myself back up. I go downhill mountain biking. I went out in Colorado. I was on a four-wheel bike.

GLENN: Okay. Shut up. Seriously. Seriously, don't you feel like a slug? Here's a guy with no arms and no legs, yeah, I go mountain biking, and I go snow skiing. I barely get out of bed in the morning.

STU: I complain. We don't have an elevator. We only have stairs to go up to the second floor.

GLENN: And everybody in this building complains.

STU: Oh, yeah. All the time.

TRAVIS: Like really?

GLENN: So it's really uncomfortable being in a room with a guy with no arms and legs who is in better shape than I am too.

TRAVIS: Don't say that.

GLENN: Yeah, I actually -- I don't remember what I was watching, but I watched something where somebody had lost their ability to walk, and it was about their treatment and everything else. And how they did that. And it took them a year and a half to learn how to walk again and really get back to somewhat normal. And I thought to myself, "I don't think I'm that dedicated." I don't know if -- I don't know -- and you wouldn't know until you get there. Were you at all worried -- did you have a time where you were like, just, I'm not going to do it.

The Mental Game

TRAVIS: You know, it wasn't that. It was more -- the mental game was the worst part for me. The physical was easy. I used to be 6 foot 3. 250 pounds. Work out all the time. The military obviously was strenuous. And I was part of the 82nd Airborne Division. So, you know, best of the best, literally. If anyone has any rebuttals on that, please don't write in because there's no reason to. You're wrong.

So the physical wasn't the hard part. It wasn't the working hard that was going to get me. It was the mental part of, how can I still be a dad? How can I take care of my family? Can my wife ever really still love me? And am I going to be a burden? And once she didn't leave my side, she's like, no, we're going to get through this. I mean, my wife sat by my bedside 20 hours a day when I was in a coma. And she knew I was going to wake up.

GLENN: You're a damn handsome man. Maybe that's what it was. You're just a damn handsome man.

TRAVIS: Actually, at that time I wasn't. Oh, I went from 250 to 140. I lost 110 pounds in seven days.

GLENN: Wow. But how much of that was your arms and legs?

TRAVIS: Well, no, I was pretty small too. But a lot of it was that. But I got pretty small too. Lost a lot of weight. And then, don't worry though, Philly cheesesteaks, got me right back where I needed to be. I might not be the same 250, but, boy, am I there -- no.

STU: Philly cheesesteaks are essentially medicine.

TRAVIS: Oh, easily.

GLENN: It really is.

STU: It's almost antibiotics.

GLENN: We haven't talked about how this happened to you.

How It Happened

TRAVIS: Oh, absolutely. So April 10th, I was walking along. On patrol. Normal day in Afghanistan. Third deployment. I actually had orders to take me somewhere else, to Fort Hood, and I didn't want to go. So I cancelled those to go on this deployment. And I told my sergeant major, I'm 82nd. Like, do I have to really go? And he said, no, no, you're a paratrooper. We can keep you here. After that though, you might have to go somewhere else. I said, if they pull me again, I'll go.

GLENN: Do you regret that?

TRAVIS: I don't. No, I can't -- I can't justify one bad day at work, one unfortunate mishap to, you know, look at my whole military career.

GLENN: That is pretty amazing -- I mean, I've had bad days at work.

TRAVIS: Well, a case of the Mondays, you know.

GLENN: I keep my arms and legs. It's different -- it's an amazing attitude you have. Anyway...

TRAVIS: So we're walking along. Everything is going great. All this is at TravisMills.org. Like the trailer and the documentary and everything is there and the book. And what we offer.

So I was walking along. And we came to a short haul. We had the minesweeper out front. And Brandon, he's the private. One of my soldiers. He swept the ground, up and down. Not once, but twice. The minesweeper didn't go off. Didn't -- nothing. Didn't alarm us. I said, okay. Cool. Took my backpack off. My backpack was about 80 to 100 pounds on any given day. I set it on the ground in front of me on this mound. And when the backpack hit the ground, I mean, the bomb went off. The IED explosive went off. Immediately ripped off my right arm, right leg. Disintegrated. Never found. Left leg was there with a couple of pieces of muscle and tendon, but hanging down. So like my foot was by my thigh. And my left hand was still there, wrist blown out, pinkie and ring finger mangled up real bad. But my thumb, index and middle were still there. So I reached out to my trucker mic after I rolled over. I hit the ground real hard, my left side of my face. I rolled over. And I looked at the damage of my myself. I said, hey, six. This is four. I just hit a bomb. I need your medic with mine as soon as you can get over here. My medic ran up to me. I said, hey, save my guys. Get away from me. Like, leave me alone. He's like, let me do my job. I said, look, you can't save this. I've seen a lot of guys go for a lot less.

And as sad as that sounds, it's just the truth. I wasn't suicidal. I didn't want to die that day. But I just figured if my guys had injuries that were lesser and they could be saved, instead of bleeding out because they're working on me because I was the most catastrophic, then let them go work on them.

And my medic said some choice words, and he said, "Let me do my job." And my platoon sergeant, my medic put on tourniquets. Within 20 seconds, locked off the arteries. And that's where Vietnam has changed. Vietnam had that quick clot, that sear your arteries and try to sear your blood in. Where tourniquets, you can put them on for up to 12 hours, and no damage will happen. But it just turned it right off, just turned the blood right off. Then I looked up on the helicopter. On the helicopter, I yelled at the flight crew a little bit because they weren't taking care of my guys. Because one of my guys was yelling out in some real bad pain. He had every right. Lost his right testicle. And I don't say that as a joke. I tell you that because he actually came home, got married, and had a kid, and named a kid after me, which was pretty impressive.

STU: Wow.

PAT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Either way, we made it to the operating table.

GLENN: You're worried about somebody else's pain on the helicopter. And I would imagine you were blinding pain.

TRAVIS: I wasn't. I wasn't in a lot of pain. I think that the shock or adrenaline kicked in. I was probably supposed to be knocked out, but I didn't. I stayed calm. I really sat there and thought, "You know what whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I can't change the outcome of this. The only thing I can affect is my attitude." And that happened on Valentine's Day in 2010. I was on a mission that was supposed to go six hours and ended up getting two grenade kills. Long firefight. Long drawn out day. Ended up being like a 28, 36-hour day, something like that.

By the end of the day, when we were coming back, our truck broke down. We had to wait on the side of the road. Get attacked, what not. At the moment, you kind of broke down, and you laugh or cry. I started laughing. And I said, "You know, the only thing I can affect is my attitude in this situation," and I've had that mentality ever since 2010 on that deployment. And I kind of kept that. So when I was laying on the ground, I thought, you know, the one thing I'm not going to do is go out like Saving Private Ryan, when the medic starts yelling for his mom. My guys are not going to see me afraid. I wasn't afraid of anything anyway. And I wanted them to remember me like, wow, he -- at least how he went out, he was like, "Hey, we'll see you guys. Thanks for everything. Keep fighting." And then going. It was a pride thing, I think.

Where Was God?

GLENN: How much does faith play a role? Or did faith play a role in this whole attitude and everything else?

TRAVIS: It did. It did. And also, it was kind of like, I'm not in charge. You know, I'm not driving the ship. It's just whatever happens happens. Now, when I made it to the hospital, I was angry. I got to Walter Reed. I didn't know why this happened. I pay made my taxes. I take care of my family. I have a wonderful little girl. You know, my life was going very well. I was going to come back as a recruiter. Become an officer. Finish my 20 years. Twenty-five years. Whatever it was going to take in the military and have a good life as a high school teacher and a football coach. And my sister-in-law brought a plaque, and it said, don't be afraid for your Lord God walks beside you. And I'm paraphrasing. I'm just trying to not take too long. And I got angry. I said, Mom, turn that over. I don't want to read that. It was the only thing I could read. I was laying in the hospital bed, looking over at the window sill. And my mom said, "I'm not turning that over. Knock that off." And it was a real question for me -- and that's just -- and hopefully that's not too brutally honest.

GLENN: Yeah. Where was God?

TRAVIS: Where was God? I actually asked, what, did he take a smoke break? I know it's not nice, and I get that. But I just want to be as true to the story.

GLENN: I don't think he smokes.

TRAVIS: No, I don't think so either.

GLENN: I can imagine him out in the front stoop because he can't smoke in the mansion because of the laws and everything else.

TRAVIS: That's why I said, did he take a smoke break? Did he turn around, then, oh, crap, now let's save him, after I just let this happen. My mom said, don't -- knock that off, Travis.

It took about two weeks. But then you have to realize, it's not -- you can't just be a believer when everything is going your way, when you're paying your taxes, and you have your house, and your life is going good. It's just, there's a mission, there's a plan out there. The only thing I can affect and the situation I got blown up and the situation I'm in today is my attitude toward everything. I can't affect the situation where I will it to be better. So people like, did you ever think, what if you didn't do this? I said, I could what if it all day, but what's the point in that? I can dwell in the past, or I can reminisce it. Hey, I had 25 years with my arms and legs. It was great. But I don't dwell on it. I mean, I drive my kid to school. You know, the first thing that happed this morning, my little girl FaceTimed me. Hey, Daddy, you're coming home today. I'm so excited. And that's truly just amazing. And I live in a world where I can do that.

"Shut Up, Slugs!"

GLENN: Do you ever -- you know, you listen -- I don't know if you listen to the show. Do you listen to our show?

TRAVIS: Every chance I get, to be honest with you. I travel a lot.

GLENN: Yeah. He has no idea who we are.

TRAVIS: That's not true.

GLENN: So -- so if you listen to us and you -- and you walk around -- do you ever just -- you're in the supermarket and you hear someone whining about their day or anything, do you just look at slugs like me and say, "Shut up?"

TRAVIS: So I really don't. Because you know, until you're facing my situation, you have your own problems. So in the author's note in the book, it actually -- before it was all finished, I said, "Look, I really want this to say this, exactly, and I won't sign off on the book to be done until this is done." And Random House was great. Don't get me wrong. They weren't like giving me any flak for it.

The first thing it states, if you served, thank you for your service. I did not serve any more. I didn't fight any harder or any longer. I had one bad day at work. I did the same thing as everybody else that raised their right hand and took an oath. Just I took the oath twice. I reenlisted already once at this time in my career.

The next thing I tell people, I do not consider my problems any more than anybody else's. We all have our own things. So I know people see me. And, yes, visually, I look different. Physically, I have a few limitations. Not much. But a few. But I don't know what everybody is going through. I'm not sure that there's going on in your life. I don't know what people in my crowd, when I speak throughout the nation, what's going on in their life. But I tell them, we're all on the same playing field. And hopefully with the things I talk about, goal setting, motivation, the health care, I talk about the technologies that are out there, and my perspective on life and how I get through it, it has somehow positively affected that and changed their outlook on life.

But, no, I don't get upset when people complain about things. I mean, if I see someone park in a handicap spot that's not handicap, I'm kind of like, oh, come on. But, you know, maybe they have something going on that day that I don't know about. Ingrown toenail or something. Whatever.

PAT: Oh, my gosh. You use handicap parking, as well as you get around? Can you believe this guy.

JEFFY: I know.

GLENN: You have motorized legs. We actually have to work on yours.

PAT: That's unbelievable.

GLENN: Crazy.

TRAVIS: I told my wife, she stayed for the -- like VIP parking. Travis, I got to go to the store. Come on.

I don't want to go to the store. She goes, oh, no. You're going to go. I want --

GLENN: Just sit in the car. Just sit in the car.

TRAVIS: VIP status.

GLENN: That's right.

TRAVIS: No, I'm not -- I do listen to the show. I just didn't want to tell you guys I can do it every day. I'm on the plane quite a bit.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Yeah.

JEFFY: Of course.

GLENN: So are we. We're on a plane.

TRAVIS: I saw that. That's what happened last time you were out saving -- either way. Either way.

GLENN: We're here every damn day listening to this show.

TRAVIS: Okay. Thanks for your guys' time.

GLENN: You have Bluetooth legs. Let's work it out so you can listen to the show no matter where you are.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

JEFFY: Right?

STU: So going around the country, doing really stupid stuff like this, but also really important things with the foundation.

Giving Back

TRAVIS: Crazy things like this. The foundation. We started a 501(c)(3). I wanted to give back in some way, and we were going to send care packages overseas. And it just turned into --

GLENN: What are you doing now? What does it do?

TRAVIS: Well, I was able to learn how to kayak, canoe, boat, swim, fish, tube, everything.

GLENN: Shut up.

TRAVIS: And I thought -- well, this is part of the story. I thought, you know, we could really do this in a camp form up in Maine where we're going to live. And we did two proof of concepts where we brought up previously wounded soldiers and their families, and we showed them how to kayak, how to canoe, how to go out and do things and not live life on the sidelines. Be an active member in society. And most importantly, an active member in their family instead of --

GLENN: Really important for people in the service. You know, this happens to me. I mean, I'm not an active person. But almost everybody I know in the military. They're so active. They were so into sports. I mean, physical people. You lose that ability, and it -- it just eats at you.

TRAVIS: And I can talk someone through hitting a softball. Like my little girl, I can tell her how to hit a softball. I can tell her how to play volleyball. But I can't physically do it. Now, kayaking with the family, I can do. Downhill mountain biking, I can do. Going out fishing, I can do. Tubing, I go tubing all the time all summer. My little girl and me, we hop on. Got a tritoon with a big motor. So it goes fast, even though it's a pontoon.

So we did one proof of concept. It was four families came up. Then we did another one. The next year was six families. It was such a great, you know, feedback that we thought, we can do this and raise the money. And it turned from three to 5,000 a year overseas packages to $2.7 million project. We're not done with our funding. But we've raised about a million dollars this past year. And we're going forward. I will let everybody know. I don't pay the board. Myself included. I'm the president. I don't pay myself. And I will never pay -- I will never pay the board. If they want a paycheck, they can go somewhere else. And they know that. And they're okay with it. Well, they're happy about it because this is all about giving back.

So Everything can be found at TravisMills.org. I also have to let you know, just on a side note, my friend Reese, who is my best friend and business partner, he wanted to be here today. Loves your show. You met him. They're having a baby -- they're having a baby right now as we speak.

STU: Oh, wow.

TRAVIS: They are. Katie and Reese. So say a prayer for them.

GLENN: Actually, she's having it. He's just there.

TRAVIS: That's what I tell people. A guy says, yeah, we had a baby. I said, actually what happened was, she had the baby, and I got blamed for everything. A lot of things, she said I didn't even do. At that point in time, you don't rebuttal. You're like, you're right. I'm so sorry.

GLENN: The name of the book is Tough As It Comes. The website is TravisMills.org?

TRAVIS: TravisMills.org. Send me an email. Check out my LinkedIn. Please -- the best thing people can do to help me out if they want to help me out is just get involved with the website and see where that leads you. Because, hey, Kourtney Kardashian was beating me on the best-sellers list. If you think that's wrong, help me out. But either way. I just appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.

GLENN: You're great. You're really, truly inspirational and great. Thank you very much.

TRAVIS: Thank you.

Episode 6 of Glenn’s new history podcast series The Beck Story releases this Saturday.

This latest installment explores the history of Left-wing bias in mainstream media. Like every episode of this series, episode 6 is jam-packed with historical detail, but you can’t squeeze in every story, so some inevitably get cut from the final version. Part of this episode involves the late Ben Bradlee, who was the legendary editor of the Washington Post. Bradlee is legendary mostly because of the Watergate investigation that was conducted on his watch by two young reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Bradlee, Woodward, and Bernstein became celebrities after the release of the book and movie based on their investigation called All the President’s Men.

But there is another true story about the Washington Post that you probably won’t see any time soon at a theater near you.

In 1980, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee wanted to expand the Post’s readership in the black community. The paper made an effort to hire more minority journalists, like Janet Cooke, a black female reporter from Ohio. Cooke was an aggressive reporter and a good writer. She was a fast-rising star on a staff already full of stars. The Post had a very competitive environment and Cooke desperately wanted to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Readers were hooked. And outraged.

When Cooke was asked to work on a story about the D.C. area’s growing heroin problem, she saw her chance to win that Pulitzer. As she interviewed people in black neighborhoods that were hardest hit by the heroin epidemic, she was appalled to learn that even some children were heroin addicts. When she learned about an eight-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy, she knew she had her hook. His heartbreaking story would surely be her ticket to a Pulitzer.

Cooke wrote her feature story, titling it, “Jimmy’s World.” It blew away her editors at the Post, including Bob Woodward, who by then was Assistant Managing Editor. “Jimmy’s World” would be a front-page story:

'Jimmy is 8 years old and a third-generation heroin addict,' Cooke’s story began, 'a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms. He nestles in a large, beige reclining chair in the living room of his comfortably furnished home in Southeast Washington. There is an almost cherubic expression on his small, round face as he talks about life – clothes, money, the Baltimore Orioles and heroin. He has been an addict since the age of 5.'

Readers were hooked. And outraged. The mayor’s office instructed the police to immediately search for Jimmy and get him medical treatment. But no one was able to locate Jimmy. Cooke wasn’t surprised. She told her editors at the Post that she had only been able to interview Jimmy and his mother by promising them anonymity. She also revealed that the mother’s boyfriend had threatened Cooke’s life if the police discovered Jimmy’s whereabouts.

A few months later, Cooke’s hard work paid off and her dream came true – her story was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Cooke had to submit some autobiographical information to the Prize committee, but there was a slight snag. The committee contacted the Post when they couldn’t verify that Cooke had graduated magna cum laude from Vassar College. Turns out she only attended Vassar her freshman year. She actually graduated from the University of Toledo with a B.A. degree, not with a master’s degree as she told the Pulitzer committee.

Cooke’s editors summoned her for an explanation. Unfortunately for Cooke and the Washington Post, her resume flubs were the least of her lies. After hours of grilling, Cooke finally confessed that “Jimmy’s World” was entirely made up. Jimmy did not exist.

The Pulitzer committee withdrew its prize and Cooke resigned in shame. The Washington Post, the paper that uncovered Watergate – the biggest political scandal in American history – failed to even vet Cooke’s resume. Then it published a front-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning feature story that was 100 percent made up.

Remarkably, neither Ben Bradlee nor Bob Woodward resigned over the incident. It was a different time, but also, the halo of All the President’s Men probably saved them.

Don’t miss the first five episodes of The Beck Story, which are available now. And look for Episode 6 this Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts.


UPDATED: 5 Democrats who have endorsed Kamala (and one who hasn't)

Zach Gibson / Stringer, Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

With Biden removed from the 2024 election and only a month to find a replacement before the DNC, Democrats continue to fall in line and back Vice President Kamala Harris to headline the party's ticket. Her proximity and familiarity with the Biden campaign along with an endorsement from Biden sets Harris up to step into Biden's shoes and preserve the momentum from his campaign.

Glenn doesn't think Kamala Harris is likely to survive as the assumed Democratic nominee, and once the DNC starts, anything could happen. Plenty of powerful and important Democrats have rallied around Harris over the last few days, but there have been some crucial exemptions. Here are five democrats that have thrown their name behind Harris, and two SHOCKING names that didn't...

Sen. Dick Durbin: ENDORSED

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High-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin officially put in his support for Harris in a statement that came out the day after Biden stepped down: “I’m proud to endorse my former Senate colleague and good friend, Vice President Kamala Harris . . . our nation needs to continue moving forward with unity and not MAGA chaos. Vice President Harris was a critical partner in building the Biden record over the past four years . . . Count me in with Kamala Harris for President.”

Michigan Gov. Whitmer: ENDORSED

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The Monday after Biden stepped down from the presidential VP hopeful, Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement on X: “Today, I am fired up to endorse Kamala Harris for president of the United States [...] In Vice President Harris, Michigan voters have a presidential candidate they can count on to focus on lowering their costs, restoring their freedoms, bringing jobs and supply chains back home from overseas, and building an economy that works for working people.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ENDORSED

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Mere hours after Joe Biden made his announcement, AOC hopped on X and made the following post showing her support: "Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November. Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let’s get to work."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ENDORSED

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Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is arguably one of the most influential democrats, backed Harris's campaign with the following statement given the day after Biden's decision: “I have full confidence she will lead us to victory in November . . . My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal, and political.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ENDORSED

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Massasschesets Senator Elizabeth Warren was quick to endorse Kamala, releasing the following statement shortly after Harris placed her presidential bid: "I endorse Kamala Harris for President. She is a proven fighter who has been a national leader in safeguarding consumers and protecting access to abortion. As a former prosecutor, she can press a forceful case against allowing Donald Trump to regain the White House. We have many talented people in our party, but Vice President Harris is the person who was chosen by the voters to succeed Joe Biden if needed. She can unite our party, take on Donald Trump, and win in November."

UPDATED: Former President Barack Obama: ENDORSED

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Former President Barack Obama wasted no time releasing the following statement which glaringly omits any support for Harris or any other candidate. Instead, he suggests someone will be chosen at the DNC in August: "We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. I believe that Joe Biden's vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond."

UPDATED: On Friday, July 26th Barack and Michelle Obama officially threw their support behind Harris over a phone call with the current VP:

“We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.”

The fact that it took nearly a week for the former president to endorse Kamala, along with his original statement, gives the endorsement a begrudging tone.

Prominent Democratic Donor John Morgan: DID NOT ENDORSE

AP Photo/John Raoux

Prominent and wealthy Florida lawyer and democrat donor John Morgan was clearly very pessimistic about Kamala's odds aginst Trump when he gave the following statement: “You have to be enthusiastic or hoping for a political appointment to be asking friends for money. I am neither. It’s others turn now . . . The donors holding the 90 million can release those funds in the morning. It’s all yours. You can keep my million. And good luck . . . [Harris] would not be my first choice, but it’s a done deal.”

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering his speech.

Here are the details of the “official” story. The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 years old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle and managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed. The Secret Service's counter-response team responded swiftly, according to "the facts," killing Crooks and preventing further harm.

Did it though? That’s what the official story says, so far, but calling this a mere lapse in security by Secret Service doesn't add up. There are some glaring questions that need to be answered.

If Trump had been killed on Saturday, we would be in a civil war today. We would have seen for the first time the president's brains splattered on live television, and because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0.

How does someone sneak a rifle onto the rally grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there? How is it that Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors, and no one seemed to notice? People tried to follow him, but, oops, he got away.

How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't be watched? If I were Crooks, my first guess would be, "That’s the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle because there's most definitely going to be Secret Service there." Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it? Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view of the rally would be the greatest vulnerability to Trump’s safety.

Moreover, a handy ladder just happened to be there. Are we supposed to believe that nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for caught him? How did he get a ladder there? If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why was the ladder there? Secret Service welds manhole covers closed when a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up to the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to take it away?

There is plenty of video of eyewitnesses yelling that there was a guy with a rifle climbing up on a ladder to the roof for at least 120 seconds before the first shot was fired. Why were the police looking for him while Secret Service wasn't? Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When Thomas Matthew Cooks pointed a gun at him, he then ducked and came down off the ladder. Did he call anyone to warn that this young man had a rifle within range of the president?

How is it the Secret Service has a female bodyguard who doesn't even reach Trump's nipples? How was she going to guard the president's body with hers? How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out a good four minutes too late, then looked around, apparently not knowing what to do? She then couldn't even get the pistol back into the holster because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.

Here’s the critical question now: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter’s computer? Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that the Secret Service almost didn't have snipers at all but decided to supply them only one day before the rally because all the local resources were going to be put on Jill Biden? I want Jill Biden safe, of course. I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have for security, but you can’t hire a few extra guys to make sure our candidates are safe?

How is it that we have a Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and spicy Doritos? Did you know that's her background? She's in charge of the United States Secret Service, and her last job was as the head of security for Pepsi.

This is a game, and that's what makes this sick. This is a joke. There are people in our country who thought it was OK to post themselves screaming about the shooter’s incompetence: “How do you miss that shot?” Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't turned his head at the exact moment he did, it would have gone into the center of his head, and we would be a different country today.

Now, Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that much?

How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler who must be stopped at all costs?

These questions need to be answered if we want to know the truth behind what could have been one of the most consequential days in U.S. history. Yet, the FBI has its hands clasped on all the sources that could point to the truth. There must be an independent investigation to get to the bottom of these glaring “mistakes.”

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Kevin Dietsch / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff, Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Image

It feels like all of the tension that has been building over the last four years has finally burst to the surface over the past month. Many predicted 2024 was going to be one of the most important and tumultuous elections in our lifetimes, but the last two weeks will go down in the history books. And it's not over yet.

The Democratic National Convention is in August, and while Kamala seems to be the likely candidate to replace Biden, anything could happen in Chicago. And if Biden is too old to campaign, isn't he too old to be president? Glenn doesn't think he'll make it as President through January, but who knows?

There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds the current political landscape. Trump came out of the attempted assassination, and the RNC is looking stronger than ever, but who knows what tricks the Democrats have up their sleeves? Let us know your predictions in the poll below:

Is Trump going to win the election?

Did the assassination attempt increase Trump's chances at winning in November?

Did Trump's pick of J.D. Vance help his odds?

Did the Trump-Biden debate in June help Trump's chances?

Did Biden's resignation from the election hand Trump a victory in November? 

Do the Democrats have any chance of winning this election?