{"id":16002,"date":"2019-06-24T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/tough-stuff\/"},"modified":"2019-06-24T08:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T12:20:00","slug":"tough-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/06\/24\/tough-stuff\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\nStaff Sgt. Travis Mills was lying on a stretcher in a helicopter just minutes after his arms and legs were blown off by a buried bomb in Afghanistan, almost certain he was going to die.<\/p>\n

\nHe did not know if he would see his wife and baby daughter again. He did not know if he even wanted to live.<\/p>\n

\nThen he turned his head toward one of his wounded men, who was screaming and writhing in pain. Mills smiled and winked to let him know everything was going to be OK.<\/p>\n

\nThat\u2019s who he is. Lying on the ground after a bomb blew up next to him, Mills was already aware that all his limbs were blown off, but he told his medic to make sure his men were OK.<\/p>\n

\nBut in the following months, he did not know if he would be OK. Although he had been trained by his parents, coaches and the U.S. Army to never give up, he was not sure why he should go on. He had been a star in baseball, basketball and football back in high school in Michigan, entered the 82nd Airborne at 6 foot-3 inches, 250 pounds, capable of lifting 550 pounds for a total of 11 sets of 10 squats. Now he didn\u2019t know what he was.<\/p>\n

\nBesides the searing pain that comes with severed limbs, the guilt and anxiety about the future dragged him into the deepest despair. The man who could smile through agony was buried under the trauma.<\/p>\n

\nHe would later tell his wife she should leave him. She told him he was being ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\nLittle by little, he rebuilt himself from the inside out, eventually becoming one of only five quadruple amputees from the Iraq and Afghan wars to survive.<\/p>\n

\nPeople can read his story in his book Tough As They Come or watch it in the movie Travis: A Soldier\u2019s Story on Netflix. Or they might be lucky enough to hear him tell it on stage during one of his many speaking engagements.<\/p>\n

\nHe and his wife Kelsey created the Travis Mills Foundation, which treats post-9\/11 veterans who were injured on duty to \u201can all-inclusive, all-expenses paid, barrier-free vacation to Maine where they participate in adaptive activities, bond with other veteran families, and enjoy much-needed rest and relaxation in Maine\u2019s great outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nMills also is involved with Combined Benefits United to promote insurance benefits that help families cope with traumatic events.
In this interview with InsuranceNewsNet Publisher Paul Feldman, Mills tells how he got through his own trauma and what he can tell others about resilience.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN:  In your book and documentary, the thing that comes across most is your positive attitude throughout your life. You focus on other people. Like for example, even though you had just gone through this explosion and you\u2019re on the helicopter, you turn to your friend and you smile.<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: Yeah, well, he was freaking out. He had every right to freak out. But for me I was just like, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be OK. Calm down.\u201d At the end of the day, it was in the doctor\u2019s hands. So I wasn\u2019t going to show any fear and I figured whatever happens, happens and let\u2019s make the best of it.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN: What\u2019s your secret to maintaining that positive attitude?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: I think the secret to me maintaining that positive attitude was, I\u2019m not going to be able to change the fact of what happened, I might as well make the best of it. And I have my wife and my daughter on my side. And we always live as normal a life as possible. And luckily, we\u2019ve been able to welcome a new son into the world, so we have two kids now.
But if you really strip it down, I still have so much life to live when a lot of my buddies are no longer with me. And they left behind wives and children. I\u2019m never going to let them down. So, I might as well be as positive as possible because what\u2019s the point of living angry when I can\u2019t change what happened?<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN: Were you angry at times?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: Oh yeah. At the very beginning, I was definitely angry. I was questioning, \u201cAm I a bad person? Why did this happen?\u201d I told my wife she should leave me. She just said she\u2019s going to stay.<\/p>\n

\nI also was saying to myself, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I just die? How is this even better?\u201d At the end of the day, you can\u2019t change it, so might as well just push forward and make the best of it.<\/p>\n

\nI\u2019ve been trying to be a positive role model for anybody. Not just in the military, but anybody who is in a bad situation.<\/p>\n

\nWith my foundation, my story is out there to where people will follow me on Facebook just to find out what I\u2019m up to and how I\u2019m staying positive.
Like for the Super Bowl, we\u2019re in New England, so my kids wore Patriots stuff. I had a Patriots jersey on. I\u2019m a Lions fan first but my kids were dancing around. My daughter\u2019s 7, my son\u2019s 17 months old. They\u2019re running around the house, dancing, having a good time. That\u2019s why I put it on Facebook. People love it because I live an everyday normal life and I don\u2019t want this to get in my way.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN:  What has been your biggest lesson in civilian life?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: I don\u2019t dwell on the past. I don\u2019t feel sorry for myself. I don\u2019t sit there and complain. I don\u2019t wonder why this happened anymore. I don\u2019t question if God hates me. Best thing is just look forward and be positive.<\/p>\n

\nFor me, I\u2019m fortunate my buddy and I bought a marina. My mom and dad moved from Michigan to Maine to run it for me. It\u2019s two miles from my house.<\/p>\n

\nThen we also were fortunate to write a book called Tough As They Come. It\u2019s a New York Times bestseller and potentially is going to be made into a motion picture.<\/p>\n

\nAnd now, luckily, I\u2019ve been able to get into this insurance business at the right time and understand that it\u2019s a very important market. It\u2019s an untouched market. This is where you can take care of your family and know you\u2019re supporting other people in a healthy lifestyle to make sure they\u2019re taken care of as well. I\u2019m all about the win-win. I don\u2019t do things that aren\u2019t win to win.<\/p>\n

\nI had been speaking as a motivational speaker for about three years. I spoke for a company called CBU, which is Combined Benefits United, and I happen to know the owners from living in Maine.<\/p>\n

\nI didn\u2019t know much about what to do for work. They hired me to come speak and I thought it would be a fun time to just go and address the crowd. Then they were talking about supplemental with CBU and I thought, \u201cMan, this is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nI was hearing more about how if people have an accident, they are covered by their insurance, but they\u2019re not covered for the work they had to take off or unforeseen medical expenses. And that\u2019s where the supplemental side comes in. I also thought since a lot of people were getting off the<\/p>\n

\nAffordable Care Act or Obamacare, that this will be a great substitute.<\/p>\n

\nI became a spokesperson and actually go to events and talk about being protected from things that you can\u2019t really see coming, and it\u2019s worked out great. I feel like we are protecting people.<\/p>\n

\nYou can get a coverage plan that\u2019s $3.80 a week for a cancer plan. So that\u2019s maybe a Starbucks coffee. If something happens, you\u2019re going to get money to help with your bills, to help with your house payments, to help with paying somebody to take care of things.<\/p>\n

\nIt was kind of a weird but good fit \u2014 never would\u2019ve seen it coming. When I was in the military, I didn\u2019t think I was going to be selling insurance someday. But now, it just happened to go together.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN: Did you and your family have financial difficulty after your injuries or did the military take care of all of it?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: Because of the military, I didn\u2019t have to suffer through anything financially. There are some guys who suffer when they get injured because they take their money and do stupid things with it but you can\u2019t fix stupid.
But, my wife and I were taken care of very well. They have a payment they give you for each limb. I was able to take that and reinvest it into what I\u2019ve created today. I bought a few houses and my marina. I took it head-on to make it as successful for me as I could.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN: You have a lot of will power and a lot of energy. What can you tell somebody else about how to power through a very difficult time like you faced?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: I think it\u2019s all about finding a way to look at it and understanding. My wife\u2019s aunt had cancer and I am close to her. I gave her a call and said, \u201cWell, Patty, I think you need to know the worst part\u2019s over. You got the diagnosis and all we can do now is try to get better. We can just figure out what it\u2019s going to take to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAnd she luckily did recover, she\u2019s cancer-free. I think people dwell too much. I think you get the bad news like \u201cOh, my gosh.\u201d But I say, \u201cHey, look, you got the news. Time\u2019s not going to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nLike for instance, when I was blown up on the ground, I knew for a fact that nothing\u2019s going to change with me freaking out. So instead of me freaking out and saying why did his happen, and being scared, I just decided that whatever happens, happens. Kind of like the Carrie Underwood \u201cJesus Take the Wheel\u201d song, right? And I made sure I just kept a cool-level head. And my medic ran up, I told him to just save my guys and calm down and it was going to be OK.<\/p>\n

\nFELDMAN: If you could just say anything to the insurance industry, what would it be?<\/h3>\n

\nMILLS: I hope people understand that this isn\u2019t fear-mongering that we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re not trying to scare people into buying this insurance. We\u2019re trying to say, \u201cHey, this is a way for you to be protected in case you have to stay in the hospital or you have to take a week of work off, or you have to do something that you didn\u2019t see coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nYour health bills are paid by your insurance but the house payment is not going to get taken care of if you can\u2019t go to work and make income. In this way, if you take a week or two of work off that\u2019s unpaid, you\u2019re covered.<\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s just about how you present it. It\u2019s making sure people understand that it\u2019s in their best interest and it\u2019s not that we\u2019re trying to be conniving or we\u2019re trying to be sneaky. But I think we\u2019re just trying to say deductibles have increased substantially in the past couple of years to where they are almost unaffordable.<\/p>\n

\nThere\u2019s a study out there that says if an average American had to write a $400 check today, about 30% wouldn\u2019t have the ability to take $400 out of their budget. It\u2019s a staggering fact.<\/p>\n

\nConsider a mortgage like my house mortgage when I was in North Carolina, at Fort Bragg, was $1,200 a month. I was living paycheck to paycheck.<\/p>\n

\nBut I worked for the government, so it was kind of a guarantee that I was going to get paid as long as I didn\u2019t get kicked out of military. But I wouldn\u2019t have been able to write a $1,200 mortgage check right there on the spot to cover me if I had to take a month off of work because of an injury.<\/p>\n

Read the original article at InsuranceNewsNetMagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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