When I was twelve years old, life was simple. Every day, I rode my bicycle to the nearby convenience store in West Chester, Pennsylvania and picked up my bundle of newspapers. Six times a week, I would deliver forty-four copies of The Daily Local News. Each paper sold for a dime, earning me three cents. Every week I collected sixty cents per house, and for my diligent efforts, I made $1.32 per day, $7.92 per week. The paper route was a cash business. And though I wasn't sure what taxes were, I proudly paid them. Dental and healthcare were benefits not afforded to me. The money I made was deposited into an old coffee can because that was what I was taught to do--put it in a safe place. Life was good and in the years ahead I never imagined leaving my hometown to experience anything bigger or better. I didn't know that those years, in what seemed a far distant future, would become the beginning of an amazing journey. --Kerry Kachejian
When Kerry Kachejian was a young teen, an accident left his brother paralyzed, and parents faced with crushing debt. Times were hard for his family, but being accepted by the US Military Academy at West Point took care of college and there his life took an incredible turn that that has enabled him to travel to 60 countries and 45 states. Along the way, he has befriended hundreds of people and, through war and peace, experienced things he never thought possible. Such as: escorting American hostages returning home from Iran, serving on a State Funeral detail for General of the Army, Omar Bradley, witnessing the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, serving in two wars, signing the steel at the top of the new World Trade Center, racing Porsches on the track and Autobahn, exploring underground bunkers in Iraq, and meeting the President of the United States in China. He has parachuted from planes, passed the Army's grueling Ranger Course, become an expert in explosives, trained on the use of small nuclear weapons, survived truck bombs and rocket attacks, and once even stood in as part of a murder lineup. He served our nation in uniform for 34 years, earning two Masters Degrees, while simultaneously serving in the defense and intelligence industries with great organizations like GE Aerospace, DARPA, Raytheon, and Harris. In retrospect, he might have given Forrest Gump a run for his money. How could all of these incredible experiences happen to a paperboy? In the pages of this book, he will tell you how it all happened.
