The will to survive and win
The recent odyssey of Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr.
By Chris Carter
A recently released promotional video for the U.S. Marine Corps states: “The Marines are trained to push forward no matter the odds” … “It’s not just about physical toughness, it’s about cultivating a mindset that embraces resilience and perseverance. This relentless drive is what sets [Marines] apart.” The narrator adds, ‘Even when the situation seems impossible, [Marines] embody a spirit of no surrender that resonates both on the battlefield and in life.”
Hubris? That’s debatable depending upon who one might ask, but it’s a two-centuries old cultural constant that seems to be proven out by the very action and example of American Marines, and we’re all familiar with the adage, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Take for instance my good friend of many years, W. Thomas Smith Jr., a retired S.C. Military Department colonel, a bestselling book editor, a special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in South Carolina, and perhaps most importantly – especially if you ask him – a U.S. Marine Infantry leader.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, Tom (as I’ll refer to him throughout this article) served as a deployed USMC rifle-squad leader. He later served on a SWAT (special tactics) team at a nuclear power station. Years later, he traveled to Iraq during the height of the war; was first embedded with British contract security forces running special operations on that country’s dangerous main supply routes, later with a U.S. Marine Regimental Combat Team in the Wild West between Ramadi, Fallujah and the ratlines along the Iraq-Syria border, and finally with a U.S. Army cavalry unit operating out of Baghdad.
Since the war, Tom has been involved in a variety of successful, sometimes high-risk ventures, adventures, and military and business pursuits which have earned him the praise of peers and others from various quarters.
But in April, Tom turned 65, and 12 days following his birthday, he suffered a serious stroke – one of several – which led to his being hospitalized for several days.
“It was and is the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with physically,” Tom said.
His speech was slightly impaired, though most of those closest to him would never notice. His ability to think, especially simple math calculations and critical thinking skills, were slowed, and he lost some fine motor skills in his left hand making it difficult to type. And that’s especially challenging because he’s a professional writer.
But doctors say those deficits will return within months, and Tom has defiantly refused to quit.
In the hospital, Tom was begging the doctors daily to let him go home. They ultimately did, but only after being assured that he would be staying at his mother’s house and that he would be taken care of. He stayed at his 89-year-old mom’s for nearly four weeks. And she, in excellent health and shape, regularly cooked his meals, made his bed and washed his clothes. And together Tom and his mom enjoyed watching old movies, re-runs of the Andy Griffith Show, sports talk shows, and a lot of WNBA basketball.
Here’s where the Marine comes in.
Within 48 hours of his release from hospital, Tom was out driving, going to pick-up meds, visiting friends, even driving his mom to the store for groceries, the bank, or a nearby Chick-Fil-A restaurant.
Less than a week after his stroke, Tom posted the following on Facebook: “I won’t pretend this hasn’t been rough. It has. Zillions of tests. MRI, several CT scans, ultrasounds, and two procedures so far where they had to put me to sleep once for both. But better all this happened to me than to anyone else. Seriously. I’m an old USMC rifleman, and we Marines know how to negotiate all challenges and battle back from all adversity. THAT, my friends, is NOT hubris: IT’S FACT.”
Hubris? There’s that pesky word again.
Tom was also working almost immediately.
“I didn’t feel like it,” he said. “But I had to for my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.”
Not full days at first, but fully packed half days, accomplishing much, getting published, attending meetings, and meeting what he describes as “an endless parade of outpatient doctors’ appointments.”
Tom has been praying, as he always does, regularly, not only for himself, but for others, and he recites Bible verses out-loud from memory. “It’s a way of grounding me,” he says. “Keeping me close to God without Whom I am nothing. And the actual reciting of Bible verses is like a mind-to-mouth workout if that makes sense.”
Tom has been also going to the gym at least three times a week, and within two to three weeks of his hospital release, he was bench-pressing 225 lbs. for several reps, not as many reps as pre-stroke, but reps all the same and he is now up to eight reps in a single set which is literally a benchmark in the NFL Combine. And those guys are athletes in their early 20s whereas Tom is a stroke victim in his mid-60s.
“The biggest problem has been chronic fatigue,” he says. “I still get tired very easily, but it’s a combination of the stroke(s), my body fighting to recover, and my body adjusting to the new medications.”
That’s not all. In recent weeks, Tom has been directly involved in several countergang sweeps (raids, surveillance, and special crime suppression operations) with the Midlands Gang Task Force led by RCSD, the Columbia Police Department, and other local, state, and federal agencies.
“These operations often lasting for many hours and until the early post-midnight hours of the morning are physically hard, but helpful actually in terms of pushing my physical body and my mental abilities to their perceived limits and then some,” Tom said.
S.C. Black Belt Hall of Famer and Columbia-area fitness instructor Bruce Brutschy says, “Tom’s progress at work, in the gym, and elsewhere has been absolutely amazing.”
According to Brutschy, “It’s all because of how he has shifted his way of thinking. I remember coaching Tom as a friend prior to his stroke as to the importance of not competing with previous ‘best workouts,’ but now especially in his post-stroke workouts. But to compete only with your last workout, keep a written record of what you’re doing. He has done precisely that, and the results have been phenomenal.”
Brutschy adds: “Tom’s success is because he’s looking out of his windshield instead of his rearview mirror, and that is key!”
The previously mentioned USMC promo video also states: “The United States Marine Corps is built on a foundation of courage, determination, and an unwavering will to win. For Marines, the idea of backing down doesn’t exist.”
Hubris? Hardly.
– Chris Carter is a former semi-pro football player and U.S. Air Force veteran whose articles have appeared in Ops Lens, Human Events, Canada Free Press, Deutsche Welle, and NavySEALs.com among other publications.