Unbroken Bonds of Battle summary

For Wesley Hunt’s family, the military services were seen as close to a meritocracy as Black people from the South could get. While the armed forces weren’t – and aren’t – exempt from racial issues entirely, one’s rise and fall was more attitude and ability than color or creed.

Hunt’s father was a lieutenant colonel in the Army and a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. He also had very little time for complaints or excuses, instilling a sense of radical responsibility and “If not us, who?” in his three children. All joined the military.

While his older sister served in Baghdad’s Green Zone and his younger brother in the Arabian Gulf, Hunt flew Apache helicopters over Baghdad proper. Hunt’s team’s task was to support ground units under attack, and at that time – the mid-2000s – these requests were so frequent that US forces had two Apaches in the air 24/7.

Hunt recalls a particularly high-stakes mission that saw his four pilot team aerially engaged for seven hours. One of their tanks had struck an improvised explosive device – or IED – near a coalition outpost and the troops were stuck taking heavy fire. Hunt’s helicopter started taking fire too, and they had to refuel several times just to stay airborne, but he and his team returned without question each time, committed to saving as many of those American lives as they could. No complaints. No excuses.

Hunt no longer flies Apaches over war zones, yet still models the lessons his father and the military championed with the same unwavering discipline. Today, Hunt continues to serve his country – trading Iraq’s Camp Taji for US Congress.

Taking responsibility not only for one’s own life but also for the lives and well-being of others is a formidable endeavor. But in Hunt’s words, “If not me, then who does step up?”

We all play a role in making this world a better place, and the more of us who do step up – in ways large or small – the lighter the load is for us all.