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True Police Stories

"Courage is the ability to move; when all around you are frozen in fear
and no one would blame you if you did nothing at all." Capt. Click. Phx. PD

Authors Note:

Exactly who this warrior is, is kept confidential. This because of the type of work he is involved in. But his validity has been made known to this author and I will tell you he is the Assistant Chief in his police department and a Major in the U.S. Army National Guard
Special Forces.  So for this story, we will say...

My Name is Major Randy

I joined the Church at 20 years of age.

I was attending a community college and I met a young lady who seemed incredibly special and different. We dated and she exposed me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It wasn't long before I was taking the discussions and, at the end of the first discussion I received a confirmation that what the missionaries were saying was true. I didn't realize until after the fourth discussion that I had received this confirmation, but when they challenged me to be baptized and I asked how I would know, they explained how I would physically and mentally receive this confirmation. I realized that the incredibly powerful physical and mental force I had felt earlier was exactly what they were describing. I then received it again and knew, immediately, that I would join this Church and gain what I had been lacking for 20 years. I was baptized 5 weeks after I had begun the discussions.

           The life that I had lived prior to this time was completely opposite
                          to the life that was required of a Church member.
                                       I wish I could tell you that my conversion was easy,
                                                                     but it was not.

I knew that the Church was the true Church of Jesus Christ, restored to earth, but being a carnal young man who had experienced many of the temporal pleasures of mortality, I found it a constant battle to change. It was very difficult and I was challenged by the adversary many times. Once, too personal to tell, but in a way that could have cost me my life. Only after a losing physical struggle and humbling myself sufficiently to allow the love of our Savior to intervene, was I released. However, that still was insufficient to keep me from occasionally straying from the proper teachings and behavior of one privileged to know the truth and have the opportunity, the incredible opportunity, of Church membership. My conversion was a long road, with occasional detours, peaks and valleys, and is not yet complete. I still deal daily with keeping control on the reins of my mortality.

After about nine months as a member of the Church, I moved to the area where I live today. The Church was stronger here than where my conversion had begun and I met another young lady, a member of the Church. We dated for six weeks and she agreed to marry me. We were married in one of the Lord's Holy Temples and have been together for 24 years. She has raised a husband, two sons and two daughters. So far, our sons have served two foreign missions and one is a United States Marine reservist.

                                        I thank my Heavenly Father daily
                                    for the love of this incredible woman.
                                                  A woman who thinks more of me
                                                             ...than I do myself.

She is everything that a man could ever want from a woman. A truly devoted member of the Church who set her sights high and dragged her husband along for the ride.

My career as policeman began before my marriage. As a young policeman, starting out in uniform patrol like all new officers, I was exposed to many events and activities that were not conducive to keeping the Spirit about. Besides the negative influences of the job itself, there were the negative influences of my peers, men who lived mortality to its fullest and participated in very carnal activities. I found this a constant source of vexation as my mortal side tried to convince my spiritual side that I could participate a little without violating my standards.

What a lie that was.

For several years I struggled as I tried to grow in my priesthood and live in the world. Finally, I reached a point where I no longer desired to participate as I had begun to truly recognize the dangers. I was amazed at how many of these officers had been missionaries who had served honorable missions, had married in the temples, had had the privilege of using their priesthood for good, and, yet, had succumbed to the pressures of mortality. Now, as a leader, I try to find ways to stop this from happening. When a young officer who is LDS joins this department, I try to spend some time counseling him on how to maintain his spirituality in the face of the evils inherent on and in the job. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It all depends on what the young man decides and what he does.

While a new young policeman , I was able to satisfy another personal goal and become a soldier. I joined a U.S. Army National Guard's Special Forces unit that was not too far away and I was granted a years leave of absence from the police department for my initial training. I was a few years older than the average recruit and I found I was more dedicated to this way of life than the others who were around me. I had prayed fervently over this decision and already knew that it was a good one, one that was in my best interests in keeping with what the Lord wanted of me. Basic training was followed by AIT, by Jump School and by Special Forces School as a weapons specialist. Over the following years, in a career parallel to my law enforcement one, came additional specialty schools and missions. A second SF MOS as an engineer, Jumpmaster, HALO, OCS, Special Forces Officer Qualification, Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat, military leadership courses, Military Freefall Parachutist, countless missions to foreign countries on annual training periods of three to five weeks to train foreign military special forces units and participate in JCS operations. As a Special Forces Guardsman, I had the best of both worlds, law enforcement, which I loved, and military special operations, which I also loved.

My police career was moving ahead rapidly as well. In fact, the training and skills I was gaining from the military were working very well in conjunction with my police duties. After a short period in patrol, I was transferred to the Vice Bureau and began an undercover assignment. That was followed by an assignment back to patrol as a FTO, then Major Crimes Detective, then S.W.A.T. We had, and still have, an excellent team and it was a real opportunity for me when I was selected. Over time I would leave S.W.A.T. periodically, due to promotions, but I would always find my way back. As a Sergeant and as a Lieutenant, after brief periods in other assignments such as Major Crimes, Youth Crimes and Narcotics, I would get back to S.W.A.T. Over the period of my career, I was twice awarded the department's Medal of Valor for S.W.A.T. operations, including the rescue of a wounded narcotics officer who had been taken hostage during a buy/bust operation.

                                    I made entry, along with another officer,
                               killing one suspect and taking another into custody.

By this time in my career, I had been involved in a number of shooting incidents, none of which caused me any grief. I personally believe that my ability to deal with the emotional aftermath of these shootings, or lack of it actually, was due to my complete faith that I was doing the things that Lord needed me to do and that I was His instrument. I had learned the value of prayer and daily scripture reading and I knew, from many calls and scenes where I truly felt the presence and the power of evil from the adversary and his minions, that I could be led astray if I didn't strengthen myself daily. So I did. As it turned out, I now know that the Lord was strengthening me, over a long period of time, for the biggest challenge I was yet to face, that of serving in combat against the enemies of our nation.

I was called to be a Bishop, very suddenly and without any advance warning. I had recently completed the FBI National Academy, returning home after 3 months in Quantico, Virginia. That began a period of trials, tribulations and opposition like I had never felt before, even penetrating into my own family. I began to realize the incredible burden of feeling and being responsible for the welfare of others. Nothing in my department and military leadership training had prepared me for this.

             There were many events that transpired, too sacred to mention,
                           that caused me to truly know and affirm both the power of evil
                                                  and the power of the Priesthood.

I am not one to cry, ever, having been raised in the belief that it is unmanly. However, over the next three and a half years, I found out that I had the ability to cry. I also found incredible moments of incredible spiritual power and incredible moments of experiencing pure evil. I also found that I was not immune to either.

For whatever reason, I had known since being called to be a Bishop, that I would not complete the normal term of five to six years service. That became fact when September 11, 2001, occurred. As I watched that horrific event unfold, I received a powerful witness that I would be utilized in the fight against this great evil. In the winter of 2001, while serving as a commander of a National Guard Special Forces unit, I was activated along with my soldiers and in the days and months to follow we found ourselves in Afghanistan, engaged in direct combat operations against the enemies of freedom, democracy and our God.

                              Over the course of the one year of active duty,
                   I, as commander, would lose several soldiers killed and wounded.

I would also participate directly in the killing of many terrorists. These were challenges that I had never envisioned that I would face. Yet, face them I did. In order to get through these trying and challenging times, I came to rely totally on my faith. I can honestly say that I was never deeply afraid. Nervous and anxious yes, but never fearful. Some people have posited that it was due to my age and maturity but I believe it was due to my faith. Early on in the campaign, I was feeling quite troubled about various events and responsibilities, so I got down on my knees, privately, and I turned everything over to my Heavenly Father. I asked Him to guide and direct me in all that I should do, could do and would do. I promised Him that I would pray often and that I would rely on Him to subtly, or not so subtly, lead me where He would have me go, no matter what. If it meant killing, so be it. If it meant dying, so be it. Following that prayer, and for the rest of my time in combat, I always felt at peace with events and their outcomes. In order to strengthen myself, I also read the scriptures continually. I took special power from continually returning to sections 43 through 63 of the Book of Alma and reading of the experiences of that great warrior-saint, Captain Moroni.

                        One special, sacred event that I will share with you,
                                             involved the power of a priesthood blessing.

As a Bishop, I had developed an incredibly powerful love for my Stake President. Upon my activation, I went to him for a blessing. He gave me an incredible blessing and, during that blessing, he voiced that there would be angels to the left and right of me, protecting me in accordance with my Heavenly Father's will and my Savior's love. One day, as we were moving into a village compound where some Al Quaida were reported to be hiding and preparing attacks against Americans, we were ambushed with AK-47's, PK machine guns, RPG-7's and hand grenades. The close-quarters battle was intense, starting with the downing, mortally, of two of my Afghan soldiers who were up front. Several of my U.S. soldiers were wounded in the first few moments as well, some of whom were directly beside me. As the battle unfolded, I moved rapidly, doing the things that a Special Forces leader does, engaging the enemy as I did so, getting my downed soldiers out of the kill zone and covered, getting medevac on the way as well as close-air support. I had several enemy grenades land and detonate near me and many times felt the nearness of enemy rounds fired at me. As I was moving, close to the enemy, in order to facilitate the removal of the two downed Afghan solders, and as the engagement was thickest at this point.

                    I marveled, momentarily, that I hadn't been hit.
                          Suddenly, I felt, and can fully attest and testify to you,
                                     of the presence of angels, on my right and on my left,
                                                   protecting me from harm.

With that sudden testimony came great peace, and I was able to move about that battlefield that day, and others after that day, with the knowledge that everything was in God's hands and that he cared. I could still be killed and I still had to do my part, in accordance with the training and the skills that He had provided me over the years, but I knew that He was there. That was all that mattered.

                                        I would be involved in more battles
                                 and I would lose more soldiers,
                          but I would never, for reasons known only to Him,
                                                           lose the presence of angels.

I know that this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the true Church of Jesus Christ and that it was restored to this earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith exactly as it has been reported in his accounts. I know that God lives, as He has always lived, and that He loves even the least of us His children. I know that Jesus Christ is my literal brother and that He leads, guides and directs this Church in accordance with our Heavenly Father's will and through the hands of modern-day prophets like our prophet today, President Gordon B. Hinkley.

                   I also know that as long as I stay close to the Spirit,
             I will be afforded the chance to complete my mission on this earth
                            before I return to my Heavenly Father, whenever that may be.

                                                 In the name of Jesus Christ,
                                                                             Amen.

                                     Major Randy, U.S. Army National Guard
                                                                     Special Forces

 

If you are or were a police officer, soldier, fireman
or wife, mother, father of such or some other branch of emergency personnel
and would like to share an unusual testimony building experience with others,
please contact us for details at

Samuel@ldscops.com

or use the link on the front page of this site at

www.LDSCOPS.com

Thank you and God bless,

Samuel-LDS

"Think About it..." mailed to your home for only $14.95   S&H included

Read "Think About it..." Online Warrior Stories  | Excerpts | News Articles | Poems
Rear Cover | Reviews | About the Book | About the Author | Order | E-Mail  |  Home

S&J Liberty Publishing
P.O. Box 7899   Mesa, AZ 85216-7899
A 317 page full size book, mailed to your home for only $14.95   S&H included