← Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
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God is at work and he's calling his people to rise in truth. Truth Rising is a powerful new documentary from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. See how ordinary Christians choose courage in a culture that needs truth. Watch Truth Rising today and find out how you can become an agent of restoration and hope. Visit truthrising.com today. That's truthrising.com.
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Many of these men and women who feel unworthy of the love of Christ need to be reminded that Christ is with them every day. God has never left their side and that they are always worthy not only of the love, but of the fellowship of the military community and of supporters like us.
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Well, that's straight from the heart from Emily Compagno, and we're honoring our men and women in the military on this Veterans Day. Emily is also the author of a book called called Under His Wings. And she's going to be sharing inspiring stories of faith on the front lines, including her own family's military service. Welcome to FOCUS ON THE FAMILY with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller.
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John, I really had a great visit with Emily in New York. Coming from a military family, she is so energized by this topic of faith, freedom and sacrifice for our country. We could have talked for hours and we really did enjoy each other's company. She loves the Lord and that will be evident in this recent conversation we had the FOX News studios where she is co host of Outnumbered.
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B
Yeah.
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And her book again is Under His Wings, How Faith on the Front Lines Has Protected American Troops. Get a copy of the book from us here when you support the ministry. We've got the links and details in the show notes. And now here's Emily Compagno on FOCUS ON THE FAMILY with Jim Daly.
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Emily, thanks for joining me on FOCUS ON THE family.
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Thank you for having me, Jim. I'm so grateful.
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Hey, your family has extensive roots in the military. When I read your book, I just didn't realize that. And yes, speak to that history a little bit. How did you put it all together? How many family members have served and what rank were they?
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Gosh. Well, thank you for asking that. And my military service in my family goes back generations on both sides.
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A
Something like 100 years, right, or over a hundred years.
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Yes. And we've really served in every conflict and in every geographical location, from even the Sudan resistance to World War II and World War I, you know, the Army Air Corps before it was known as the Air Force. And I credit my mother wholeheartedly for passing those stories down to us and Growing up in my household to have our hallways framed with these military medals in addition to citizenship papers and immigration stuff and photos from the old country that she calls herself a storyteller, but she's the family archivist, and, you know, she's a genealogist. And so growing up knowing these stories enabled these stories and these people to remain alive. And I'm so deeply proud of not only my Purple Heart recipients in my family and the Bronze Star recipients and more, but also my great, great cousin, Antone Lorenz, who was just a simple Navy cook, but he was there at Pearl Harbor. And to me, it underscores that every member of our great military, every service, men and women, is unique, and we are grateful for all of them. And every single service is valuable and it's valorous.
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Well, I think you've said why we wanted to get you on Focus on the Family today on Veterans Day, because you're the perfect person. You've written about it. Your great aunt, is it Louella?
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Yes, Lou.
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She also was involved in military World War II or something. What was her connection?
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Yes, my great great aunt. So in great great aunt. Yeah. And in World War II. So her story is so fascinating because to me, she really exemplifies the generational impact that wars have. So World War II, she deployed for a year and a half as a nurse anesthetist. She shipped out, actually, right here. You and I sit at this moment in New York City.
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And how old was she at that time? Like 20, 21.
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Interestingly, she was a little bit older. And she enlisted with her husband. He joined the Merchant Marines, and she joined the US Army Nurse Corps. And we kept every single one of her letters. So some of her letters in the book, and what was so, to me, fascinatingly entertaining about her letters is that obviously she couldn't really write about the X's and O's.
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Right?
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It's classified. She wants to give away military secrets. So she talked about the daily existence of being a U.S. army nurse. And her first procedure was a leg amputation, which was that was what her brother had undergone one World war prior in World War I, before succumbing and making the ultimate sacrifice. So think about her mother, my great great grandmother, who lost a son in World War I and then one World War later, watched her daughter deploy for a year and a half in another global war just years later. And at that time, and Aunt Lou wrote about this, she had seven direct members of her family that were serving in World War II, all in different branches, all at the same time.
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It's so amazing. Now, you had aspirations to go into the military, too. That's amazing.
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Yes.
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First of all, what gave you that desire, that fight that you wanted to say, okay, I can do this? And then what happened?
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Well, I think the climate is pretty clear of patriotism that we had in our home, certainly. My father was a commander in the U.S. navy. He ran a very tight ship with my sister.
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No pun intended.
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Exactly. And so, you know, growing up again on those stories and knowing my family's military history and the pride that we had of country and of service and of self and sacrifice and the knowledge that I was afforded, you know, the education of my dreams because of the work and effort that my ancestors had gone through, that my grandparents had gone through, to fight to get here. So all of that intertwined to instill in me a deep sense of pride and service. And so, naturally, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I love planes. I love jets, I love cars.
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Anything fast, it sounds like.
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Exactly. Reading the right stuff probably had a big impact. Watching Top Gun probably had a big impact. And I went to University of Washington on an ROTC scholarship that I ended up deferring the scholarship, but I did rotc, and it was fantastic. I spent the summer at. In the summer scientific seminar at the Air Force Academy and, you know, did all these things because I was bound to be, first a fighter pilot, and then I wanted to be an astronaut and then a NASA test pilot. Yeah. My aspirations were lofty.
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Yeah, no kidding.
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But in reality, I'm short, Jim. And so I was told at the time and after, look, you have to meet the requirement. You have to be 5 4. And I sort of, when people ask, like, why should I?
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I mean, you're not that short. I mean, five, three.
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I'm wearing heels. Yes. I'm literally five three. I'm five three, just one inch off. But at the time, the window was clear five four to six four. And I didn't let that deter me. And I think, you know, it's not that I was operating in delusion, but I told myself, somehow when I get there, it'll be different. You know, by the time I get there, it'll be okay.
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Somehow I'll grow an inch.
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Yeah. Or that. And we heard stories of, you know, cadets that, like, were carried to the measuring station because, you know, when you wake up, that's like the tallest you ever. But I wasn't. I didn't hit the 54 mark when it came time to commission. And so I got out and I was fine with that. My backup plan was law school. Obviously, you had the backup plan.
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Law school.
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That window was relaxed moving forward, but I think I was just ahead of my time.
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It's just funny because I actually thought about being a pilot in the Air Force, and my eyesight was 2040, so they were only taking 2020. So a much more common problem is your eyesight when you're going for jet fighter pilot.
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Yes.
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I ended up not going just like you. But in that context, you did with the Raiders as a cheerleader. You went to Baghdad and just speak about that. What was that all about?
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It was the honor of a lifetime to visit the deployed troops. So it was July, and I believe we dipped into August of 2009, and we visited the troops in Kuwait and Iraq. And to represent the goodwill of millions of Americans, to represent the support and the gratitude of our grateful nation over there. It was a role that I took so seriously and that I was deeply privileged to hold. And so that was our prayer, was that we buoyed spirits and brought a touch of home. Exactly.
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Encouraging the troops. That's so good. How long were you there? Like a week?
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Two weeks. Two weeks, yeah. We went a long way, and then we stayed, which was a long time, I think, for visitors.
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I'm sure it made the day or the month or the year of many of those guys that were there fighting, you know, just to see support and help and encouragement. Right.
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We hope so.
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You know, in that regard, there was. This book is wonderful, by the way.
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Thank you.
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I was very impressed. The pictures in there of your family members, and it was really the whole story pulled together very nicely. Thank you. And you highlight a lot of different contributions. But is it Tim Karcher?
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Yes.
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Who was there at the base of Baghdad? Describe Tim's story and what happened with Tim.
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So, Colonel Tim Karcher, when we traveled throughout Baghdad and Iraq, we went to forward operating bases and didn't just stay at the main base of, you know, Liberty and Freedom. We traveled by Black Hawk, which was phenomenal. You, as a plane lover, will appreciate it. It's the best way to travel. I ask for one every Christmas.
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Really?
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Please, can I have a Blackhawk under the tree? It's like. It's so great. And so we.
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That's a big tree.
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Hasn't happened yet. That's probably why. So we traveled all around, actually. It's sort of a wide swath of geography. And I was grateful that we went to a lot of FOBs, those forward operating bases, with a small Amount of people who never received visitors. And among them, although this was an urban fob in Baghdad, was Sadr City. And during the trip, whenever anyone learned that we were going there, they would be like, oh, you're not going to Sadr City. And we didn't know anything, right? We didn't have any attachment to a name. So we were like, no, it's on the list. But, okay, maybe not. We're like, why is everyone saying that? And then we learned that they were like, it's so dangerous. No one goes there because it is so dangerous. There's no way that you're going, and there's no way that they're going to let you go. But lo and behold, we went and we landed our Black Hawk in the middle of the median of the highway. There wasn't even a landing area. And we ran into the gates. And then we met Colonel Tim Karcher. And he was just a lion of a man and was so excited to have us there, sort of, because I learned later he was like, oh, my gosh, this is such a security, like, risk to have all these girls.
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That's what I thought he might be thinking.
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Exactly. But he was the ultimate host. And when we went, you know, we hung out, we did our performance, he had two FOBs, I think, under his watch. So he had sort of had a lot of the guys there, and we had a great time, but it was so fun for us. I'm sure, again, that the guys were horrified and deeply frightened.
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They had to protect you along with doing their duties. But, I mean, it was worth it, obviously. But Tim was a believer. He ended up with some injuries. Tell that part of the story. What happened to Tim.
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That's right. So after we left, which I felt was sort of sudden, and we weren't able to really express the gratitude of, thank you so much. Like, this was the best night ever. We love you guys. You know, all of a sudden, it's like, they're coming, they're coming quick. Go, go, go. Sort of running out. And Tim told me that for three days, all the guys could talk about was how much fun they had and how special that whole experience was. And three days later, they drove over an ied. And Colonel Tim Karcher lost his legs. And because it was in the middle of a sand dust storm, it took nine hours to exfil him across the city. And they couldn't fly birds, so he had to. He was exfilled to, like, an ambulance type thing. And on the way back, the guys ran over another ied. And Tim Davis, he lost his life. And he.
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This is someone you met?
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Yes. And he was younger than I was, and it was his sixth tour of duty gym. And so Tim Karcher, who then spent obviously many months and years recovering and learning how to rehabilitate and walk again, but he's a phenomenal soldier in the army of Christ. As, by the way, he died many times and each time was resuscitated. And he says that when he was at Walter Reed, someone brought a chaplain in for him. And the chaplain said, you know, Colonel Karcher, it's okay to be angry at God. And Tim replied, I'm not angry at God. He promised me eternal life, not eternal legs. And it's that kind of faith that is so inspirational and that has colored not only his whole career, but most importantly, again, his service in the army of Christ. He is a lion of a man.
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What an attitude. You know, we have a supporter at Focus on the Family, Roger Sherrard, who was West Point grad, tank commander in Europe during Vietnam, redeployed to Vietnam. And I remember. Great guy. Just a great guy. Constitutional attorney, actually, out of Seattle.
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Wow.
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And we were in D.C. with a focus on the Family event. And he and I went out, this is many years ago. We went out for a late night run, and I think the memorial, Vietnam Memorial wall had just been unveiled and we're running on the mall. And I said, roger, let's go over and see the wall. And he stopped and started crying and just said, jim, I can't do that. And I sat with him in his tears and I started crying. What happened? And he was leading a platoon in Vietnam and they were pinned down and they had to survive overnight. They shot the helicopters out of the sky. He was able to get to a slight hill. Half his men were killed. His radio man right next to him hit right in the head. And he just said, I should not have come off that battlefield. And he said, I live with guilt every day that my men didn't come off the field. And I did. And you've seen that in your family and in people that are serving speak to that PTSD kind of thing that can occur, that they relive that all the time, these scenes that they go through and the effect it has on people, including your family members.
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And certainly we've seen in every conflict as the brave men and women come home and deal with the PTSD and all of the. Just the deep generational impact from their service. I think it's hard to qualify into one type, as everyone really is impacted deeply. But I will say this is where the role of the chaplain comes in so importantly. And I had the honor of speaking with a few chaplains that are in the book, including one that is now the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, who share the role and the vital, fundamental part that they play in shepherding these men and women who suffer so many invisible wounds from war, from, as you're pointing out, survivor's guilt, to morality questions and the simple grief that doesn't feel simple of losing so many of their loved ones. And that many of these men and women who feel unworthy of the love of Christ need to be reminded that Christ is with them and every day. God has never left their side, and that they are always worthy, not only of the love, but of the fellowship of the military community and of supporters like us that stand and see them for who they are and say, we see you for your name, not for your sins, and that we are here for you. And that the battlefield can, I think, take forms. It's not left behind in Vietnam or Iraq. It includes the home. It includes how we support our veterans at home and in the technological advances, what different war looks like. So people who are, quote, pushing buttons still have issues and wrestle with morality and their faith and their approval by God, even though we know we've already been healed by his stripes, he approves us unconditionally. So, again, those chaplains are the ones that really needed to be. Need to be lauded and appreciated for their role in answering these sometimes unanswerable questions.
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Right. And it's, I think, for those of us. For me, you know, I wanted to be in the military. My brother served in the Navy. But to not go through that experience, you don't quite understand it without really going through it or having very close family members that have gone through something like that. In your book, which is, again, a great book, under his wings, you mention a gentleman by the name of John 3:16, I think is his nickname, which is great. Why did they call him that?
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Right. So he was killed in action. And that was. His name was Gabriel, and Gabriel Derue. And he signed up for service. And because he was such a devout. Just an incredible servant of the Lord Christian, the guys on his team. Yeah. Squad named him John 3:16.
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That's so amazing.
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It's amazing.
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He must have talked about the Lord a lot.
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A lot. And you know what struck me, Jim, is that he wrote home before he was killed by a sniper's bullet that to his Parents, he said, guys, mom and dad, if there is a grenade, he said, I want to be the first one on it, he said, because these other guys, they need more time to get right with God. And when he wrote that he was 21 and the thought of the maturity in his Christian walk as a 21 year old to articulate to his parents that he would gladly die so that others may be saved later in their life, he wrote about how to his letters to them, how he wanted to come back after the war ended and be serve as a pastor in Iraq. I mean, it's just breathtakingly beautiful. And to have then the grief of his now gold star mother carry that mantle on. And she turned her grief into a mission to restore faith and the reference of faith and God and Jesus into all of those Gold star memorial and funeral events that had been wiped. JIM and that was also a common theme in this book, that many veterans and service members felt not okay or not comfortable with raising the Lord's name and showing their faith. And so his mother has done an incredible job of restoring that ability to proclaim in front of others and having it woven into those celebrations of life and the ceremonies of our fallen.
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You know, several supporters to focus on the family or listeners to focus on the family, have family members in the military, spouses, et cetera. One of the things I'm so encouraged by is how many of them are captains, et cetera, but they pray with their men and women before they go into combat. And I thought, you know, people won't know that. I mean, that's an amazing thing because that shows you the lethalness of what they're stepping into because they know they may not come back and they've got to get that area, their spiritual area in order. Right?
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That's right. And you know, let's be honest, for all of us as believers, you know, our weapons, obviously we have the sword of the spirit and the breastplate of righteousness and that the shoes of peace. But we have prayer, the power of prayer. We have the word and we have the name of Jesus. And so before these brave men and women that are our soldiers of country go out there, they're still serving in the army of Christ and they know their Lord and Savior is the one that is blessing them and that they know too what's going to happen in that battle. If they make the ultimate sacrifice, they are going home. And if they are able, if they survive, then they are coming home. And I think none better articulated this concept than Major Strucker. Jeff Struker. Who fought in the historically long battle of Mogadishu, where he spoke about exactly that. He said, I knew where I was going. But what was interesting was that the rest of his teammates heard his voice during that. Again, historical, long battle, where they said at the end, the modicum of survivors, which was just devastatingly low. But they said, we heard it in your voice. Like, what is that? What do you have? We want that. What is this?
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Peace.
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Yes. The peace that surpasses all of us.
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We need to fill that in, because that is one of the most powerful stories in your book. But this is where Black Hawk down, the movie, was taken from, Right. They were in Mogadishu, and he was a commander in that environment and had to go back how many times to save it was once. And then they had to go back, Correct?
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Yes. And his story is just absolutely incredible. And you're right, it has so many chapters within it. But he had been reflecting his devotions at that time. He was reflecting on the Garden of Gethsemane right before he went out. So this was before the battle. And so then they encounter. They get the call to go out and save these, the downed Black Hawk pilots, and they encounter one of, you know, just the most savage and horrifying ferocious firefights. And he's in that, and he says, what's going through my mind, just as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane is, lord, thy will be done. And realizing that that leaves with him the peace that surpasses all understanding. And again, he says, the knowledge, if I don't make it. And he said, and I was certain I wouldn't, then I would go home with my Lord and Savior. And if I did make it, then I was going home to his high school sweetheart who was pregnant with their first child. And for him to have. I keep getting chills even just saying this, not that it's about me, but just for him to have that. That perspective, that deep, mature perspective, to rest in the arms of the Lord, to know that Christ is with him every second, is just phenomenal.
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And people heard it, being around him in that moment.
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Yes.
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I mean, when you're under fire, that something's gonna come out.
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That's right.
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Fear, courage. And that's what they felt, right?
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Yes. And so at the end, when they said to him, you know, Jeff, we want what you have, as you said earlier, Jim, the peace that surpasses all understanding. We heard it in your voice. And he said, it's Jesus. And he said, look, maybe the Tarmac's not the right place. Maybe the conversation's not the right time to have it after the conflict. But in that moment, he said the greatest miracle might. Might not have been, you know, it wasn't survival. It was what happened on the tarmac after. And it was that he was called to Christ's ministry and that now, to a man, every single member that was standing on the tarmac with him has now come home to Christ. And for some, it took years, but all of them are now Christians.
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That's why I'm so excited about your book, Under His Wings. And here we are on Veterans Day with Focus on the Family. We've typically aired very powerful programs on purpose so that we can remember what these men and women have done for us. And I think, again, that connection sometimes can be so hard to make because we're not in the battlefield. We don't know what it takes and what it costs. But your entire family has been part of that, and you've seen it. Let me ask you this. With that chaos as we look at our culture, again, applied in that context, you're on the news every day, outnumbered here on Fox News. You're a guest on a number of other Fox News programs. I watch and see you quite often.
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Thank you.
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And you know, how do you have that perspective in the cockpit of communication? Because you're seeing so much stuff that I'm sure as an attorney, you gotta be going, where are smart people? Where are people that can see what is true? I mean, it seems like right now we're in two different realities, left and right. We can't even speak the same language because we're seeing things so differently. How do you not get discouraged as a news person and then mostly as a believer? How do you. Fear not?
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I think that's exactly why I remain encouraged, because I'm a believer. And no matter what, I'm inspired by Americans who are holding steadfast to their faith and proclaiming it and knowing that we're in a climate where Jesus has never left us and never will, no matter how much it. It seems like spiritual warfare might not be on our side in recent events or a day to time, but if you look at things in eternity which, how we do, it's only beautiful and we are never alone. And we opened this gym, you and I prayed together. And that's before every interview. I prayed with the individual, and I pray every morning. I pray all the time. I am constantly praying. I'm constantly talking to God.
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You gotta be.
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And I pray the Prayer of Jabez, you know, I pray to enlarge my territory and that the Lord blesses me indeed, that he protects me from evil and prevents me from doing any harm. And then I've added on a little addendum which is, and it's gonna be a great day. And I thank him for my crown of favor. I thank him for the opportunity to serve as a messenger and I request his guidance and I lean on him and I thank him for that. So throughout the day I'm always sort of expressing gratitude for my crown of favor and also that I be an encourager to people that might feel disheartened during this time so that they too can rise up because there no room for any disheartening again. If you know that your soul rests with the Lord, you know that there is nothing, nothing to dismay about. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go, even if times on earth feel especially filled with anguish. And we know as we talk about grief here. So I in no way want to diminish people's heartbreak from the loss of loved ones and from their combat.
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A
That's so true. I have a non believing friend who said to me, if you guys are worried, meaning us Christians, I should be really worried because you guys shouldn't be worried.
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There you go.
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A
And that's part of that calm voice in the middle of battle, whether it's on the battlefield or the spiritual battlefield. Emily, this has been great. Now people know how to pray for you as you come into work every day and lift you up. There will be thousands of people that will pray for you.
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I receive that with gratitude. Thank you.
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You're in a battlefield yourself and we will lift you up as well. Sister, thank you. Thanks for being with me.
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Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you, Jim.
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C
What a great conversation Jim Daly had with Emily Compagno, author of the book Under His Wings. She's co host of the show Outnumbered as seen on Fox News Channel. And Jim, what a great conversation to honor our military here on Veterans Day.
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Yeah, so true. And there's so many strong believers there. I can walk the halls there. And there are people I know and I know they're people of faith and Emily's certainly one of them. As we pause to think of our veterans today, I want to share a poignant thought from former President Ronald Reagan. He said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same. One way you can share your patriotism with your family and friends is by asking us for Emily's book Under His Wings. Each chapter highlights an American hero and their extraordinary experience finding God on the front lines. When you support FOCUS on the FAMILY today with a donation of any amount, we'll thank you by sending you a copy of Emily's inspiring book.
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Yeah. Call today to donate as you can and request that book. Our number is 800, the letter A in the word family, 800-232-6459 or look for the link in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening to FOCUS on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again helped you and your family thrive in Christ.
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God is at work and he's calling his people to rise in truth. Truth Rising is a powerful new documentary from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. See how ordinary Christians choose courage in a culture that needs truth. Watch Truth Rising today and find out how you can become an agent of restoration and hope. Visit truthrising.com today. That's truthrising.com.