NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER QUIT VIDEO - TRAVIS MILLS

✪ With an incomparable sense of humor and a fantastic attitude, SSG Travis Mills gives us several life lessons with his inspiring story. No matter how scary or impossible the situation seems, forget the past, forget what didn't happen as you wanted it to, always push through life, at the end you will discover the best option is the one you are living. Speaker: Retired United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills of the 82nd Airborne.

Video Script::  

I'm gonna tell you a secret about myself you didn't know before today here it is I don't wash my hands after I use the bathroom I know I wash my hand I wash my hand are you kidding me right me out I know you see I tell jokes of disarm the situation Oh me slapper for our first employment and went overseas for 15 months while I'm over there I meet my medic who's a good friend of mine and we're hanging out with this myspace printer press pops up and there's a picture right there I don't know that lady so I go to hit the client cuz I'm like that's a dating site no way wouldn't you know it same last name as my medic you didn't tell me about no cousin that he had looks like that he didn't have a cousin looks like that that's his little sister oh yeah yeah she thinks I'm pretty cute can't blame her so I hit accept and start chit-chatting with this girl online right and I don't know much about her I'm 20 she's 18 when we decide we should hang out never met her before so what are you supposed to do I flying to Dallas to pick her up well the next morning were standard goodbyes in between her sobs she says I love you you know and I'm not an idiot you know I'm not a Marine I'm like hey you know hey I love you too we got married then we got an apartment at Fort Bragg got a dog I had in our deployment went overseas for a year this time came back four months later my wife and I find out we're gonna have a baby which is exciting you know because a lot of guys came back four months later their wife had a baby and they're like yeah and they're like oh my gosh she's a miracle and you're like it's not it's not like he's just he's just premature that baby's 12 pounds you know I mean so I'm skinny it's good my wife and I had the baby it's my wife knew there was a brotherhood there's a calling so I'm like I have to go overseas guys that come across this great nation that believed in me serve under me and I decided that I'm gonna go well month in half in we get a phone call from the village elder he says hey we got some roadside bombs in the village guys come check them out so we do that we go out and we went over the ground not once but twice nothing underneath it alarmed oh so I took my backpack 125 pounds off my shoulder I go sat on the ground when I bag hits the ground though you see underneath it was a bomb when the bomb went up took my right arm right leg off automatically I get thrown left side of my face right I roll over my back I see the aftermath of what's happened in my head I keep replaying the movie Saving Private Ryan where the medic at shot in the stomach he yells for his mom and fear and then he ultimately dies and I keep telling myself do not freak out so in my head I'm telling the medicate it's fine whatever happens happens tourniquets got on me get me on the helicopter to the hospital and as they're wheeling me through the hospital I'm still conscious that go hear it and awake and the nurses I keep trying to sit up and they keep pushing me down I'd say quit touching me I'm fine leave me alone and they say look sergeant Mills I don't know how your stomach or now Communion go sleep me knock me out last thing I say the nurse I look over at her is my little girl am I ever gonna see her again because she was six months old at the time so they knocked me out pushed me in 14 hours of surgery nine doctors and seven nurses worked on me two nurses for nine hours pump air in on my lungs you know April 14th of 2012 they woke me up for the very first time when I came to only person in the room and my brother-in-law and I looked over at Josh and I said am i paralyzed he said no I looked at him again I said Josh I can't feel my fingers and toes so tell me the truth am i paralyzed he said man you're not paralyzed but you ain't got him anymore immediately in my head I was embarrassed ashamed I got hit how can I be a you know a father and a husband and the biggest thing that went through my head was why didn't I just die how is this better than me just dying I didn't want talk to my parents I did not want to talk to my wife and face reality finally josh says look man can only imagine what you're going through but you got call your wife and your parents so I called my wife she answered said hey what's up fine love you bye I don't have this conversation I call my mom and dad before I could get the phone hung up my mom yells hey Travis happy birthday by the way because that day was my 25th birthday three days later I arrived at Walter Reed my wife came up to me as I pushed me in on the stretcher and I looked over and I said hey Cal she don't got to do this whatever we have in the accounts yours the house is yours and financially whatever I can do to help you and Chloe the rest of your life I will do that but take everything we have in well this isn't what I would choose for you and she said you know I've thought about that but handicapped parking oh I want it I want it yeah so so she stayed she said now she said that's not how this works we're here through this together no my daughter's in there looking at me I think she's gonna think her dad's a monster I mean look at me and all of a sudden she starts laughing giggle yeah dawns on me I look like every single toy she's ever been given ah short arms short legs fuzzy chest I'm a teddy bear but for these two I'm going to get better so I started my recovery the first thing I had to do is start setting some real goals so the first thing I wanna do is ever be able to feed myself after that you know it was time for me to start walking again I knew it could be done I had to get going and start walking so seven weeks and four days just shy of two months I took my very first steps at Walter Reed it was very painful when I got my legs down they said you might walk one lap at the military advanced training center which is about as big as is amazing so I walked three laps that day just to prove I could so I also had a goal I'm my birthday when I woke up I was able to drive six and a half hours home in North Carolina so I could see my men we hug and Daniel Bateson the medic that actually saved my life I never dwell in the past I used to always wonder what if I didn't step there how can I go back in time I close my eyes and I'd wish and I pray for it not to happen but it's not the case so instead of dwelling on the past I reminisce the past I had 25 great years I've had six wonderful years since you can't always control your situation but every day I wake up thankful that I'm still here with my family I still take my daughter gymnastics I still enjoy time with my wife I'm still able to do things I realize life's gonna be forever changing there's always going to be something that you have planned out and all of a sudden have to have a new direction embrace that change and no matter what's scary or seems impossible always push through because it's gonna get better if you make it that way you