Resilient secrets: Green Beret who endured Afghanistan's most dangerous battles

From multiple felonies to years of daily firefights in the Special Forces, then trials of fatherhood and faith

In part I of this marathon interview, Green Beret Terry “Trailer” Wilson opened up to Chad about going from a street thug to one of America’s fiercest warriors. Terry encountered some of the most brutal and consistent battles of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Growing up in trailer parks in a fatherless home on the outskirts of St. Louis, Terry Wilson started haning out with the “wrong people” at a young age. He racked up three felonies before age 16, but somehow was able to turn it around after he joined the military.

Ironically, Terry ended up on the other side of the law, enlisting in the Military Police before 9/11/2001. Soon after that he was deployed to Iraq. While he saw little combat on this tour, after returning stateside Terry applied to Special Forces school. Terry excelled as a Special Operator and was deployed with his team to Helmund Province, Afghanistan, where he engaged in some of the most gruesome battles of the entire war. What followed were back to back deployments and two years of nearly constant fighting. “This is what it looks like: I’m getting engaged by AK-47’s, PKM’s daily, RPG’s daily.”

Eleven deployments later, Terry was hit by two IED’s. He was shot down while being transported in a Chinook. He was on the receiving end of nearly every weapon that the Taliban had at their disposal.

And yet, that was just the beginning of the tribulations that Terry would face. “It’s tough transitioning from that environment and going back home.”

By 2020 Terry was dealing with PTSD, survivor’s guilt, and readjusting to civilian life when he lost his 26-year-old son to a motorcycle crash. He had to fight against pandemic protocol just to get into the hospital room. “I went back there and saw him. And my whole world fell apart.” In addition to this devastating loss, Terry had to battle against draconian lockdowns to have a funeral. “I had no idea how to grieve. It took me almost four years before I was even able to have this conversation and tell this story at all.”

While he was grieving, Terry still had to take care of his three other kids and his wife. From the strife, Terry found a new path and started Tactical Edge Coaching to help veterans and high-performers build lives rooted in faith and family.

In the true spirit of resilience, this tragedy showed Terry how important it was to remain present and intentional with his family.“What does success look like? When you start looking at worldly things… ‘Hey I got a nice car, I got this…’ If you’re going towards that how am I going to be a good father? How am I going to be a good husband?”

Terry began focusing on the important things, “Before this time I was a Christian, but I didn’t follow Christ. There’s a difference”

For more on how Terry was able to recover from constant war and the loss of a son, tune into the full episode here.