Brandon Swisher

My name is Brandon. I was born and rushed off to intensive care. My throat was closing and would not stay open without tubes holding it and breathing for me. I almost lived my whole life with a tracheotomy.

At ten years old my sister was born and by her second birthday I was protecting her from the cops as my mom was ushered away by the police.

At fourteen I watched my dad plummet to the ground from twenty feet up in the trees. I saw him lay lifeless in the woods and then watched him gasp for life through his shattered body. I called the police and paced in the road terrified of what was to come.

I got through school despite the terrible grades and challenges. I graduated High School on time with my class.

I was inspired by a man and started a business. By nineteen I’d hired employees and started figuring out things like taxes, payroll, accounting, and business law.

At twenty years old I had a secretary working for me in my office.

At twenty one I experienced proposing to the woman I loved, and then watched it crumble in my lap as we split apart. I did not know it would take so long, but I endured a broken heart for three years and still love her still after eight.

At twenty four years old I had sixteen employees working for me, and grossed over $540,000.00. I made a land purchase of 5.10 acres in West Virginia overlooking the mountains and the Potomac River.

By twenty five years old, I had learned what it is like to be sued, hire attorneys, and endure business legal battles. I had owned a $35,000.00 sports car, drove new trucks, and had owned two new sport motorcycles. I had also felt the pain of drawing close to bankruptcy, laying off employees I loved, and felt the humility of the repo man coming to reclaim banks property.

In the same year at twenty five I pledged before God and Country that I would defend the nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I stood on a set of yellow footprints in Paris Island, South Carolina, US Marine Recruit Depot and went through three months of basic training, followed by two months in the School of Infantry.

By twenty seven I got my Secret Clearance, I had lived in Japan for two years, been to Korea, and spent seven months in Afghanistan on a combat deployment, performing over 100 patrols, many which were in the middle of the night.

At twenty eight I was sent to Afghanistan a second time for another seven months.

1. FOOD
Food / Health
A.K.A.: Organized eating, supplements, vitamins, fruits, vegetables, meats, working out
Fruits: Look Good=Feel Good / Live Longer / Energy / Passion / Life

2. EXPRESSION
Passion / Following Dreams / Do What You Love / Use your Creativity
A.K.A.: Wine, Cigars, Stone Cellars, Building, Cabins, Arts, Plants, Gardens

3. SIMPLICITY
Live Simply / Have Fun / Don’t Overly Possess / A House with no Extra Rooms
A.K.A.: Small House. Paddle Yourself Along the River.
Fruits: Connected with God and Earth / Sense of fulfillment and Completeness / Pride and Happiness

4. SPIRITUALITY
Clean, clear mind / Spiritual Life / Having Quiet Time / Organized, peaceful, clarity / Be at Peace with Yourself
Fruits: Ignoring others / Not getting irritated with others / Not meddling in others’ business / Truly loving and caring for others

5. FREEDOM
Be You / Block Out Everything Else / Think Outside the Box / Don’t Follow Rhythms or Patterns / Do What your Heart says, not other people / Don’t Fear / Take Risks / Break Free of the Norm
A.K.A.: If your heart says write at 3am, then get up and write. If you want to pursue something else instead of college, do so. Live out in the woods in a cabin you built- Go.
Fruits: Aliveness / Life / Excitement / Enrichment / Not wasting life / Living Fully / Energetic / Purpose

6. PEOPLE
Sociability and Doing for Others / Always incorporate people being around / Plan Events / Bring People Together / Be a Connector / If You Can’t help Someone Directly, Find Someone who Can / Make Your Home a Social Club / Inspire People with your Life / Share Your Wealth / People Driven

7. FUN
Connect to your Adrenalin side / Incorporate Toys Into Your Life / Four Wheelers, etc

8. LOVE
Love Deeply
A.K.A.: Love People. Love Your Wife. Love Your Kids. Love Your Neighbors. Love Your Family.
Fruits: Happiness / Fulfillment

9. DISCIPLINE
Make Sure you Can Stay Disciplined / Go on Fasts from Things (Sex, wine, cigars, etc) / Plan for Things / Hold Off on Large Purchases / Save Money / Keep Life Balanced and in Perspective

10. LET GO
Let go of the things you cannot change, the past, the discrepancies of the world, The Hurt, The Injustice, The Mistakes, The Imperfections, The Wishes for Redo’s—LET GO of it all, and live now. Drop the baggage. Mistakes happen, so Let Go will be continuous. Every night before you go to sleep, Let Go. Disengage from those negatives.

Stop.
For 5 Minutes.
Kneel.
COMMIT-
To do the right thing, today.

On the straight and narrow now, focused and disciplined.
I’m no kid anymore, and I’m not to belittle my experience and abilities.
I am respected, so I must respect myself.

Make the path ahead. Build in the walls, then come back and live in the moment.

Whenever you get to a new place, always do first things first-
1) Store away your food like a squirrel. You must have food to survive and food is a necessity each and every day. So purchase your food- Tuna, crackers, protein, supplements, fruits and bottled water. Once the food is taken care of you don’t have to worry about your body’s main daily need. Then just stick to that regimen keeping it simple and discipline yourself not to eat for enjoyment but only for the necessity of it. Eating for pleasure is reserved ONLY for special occasions, and is to be enjoyed with special people. You are to prepare for it by coming hungry, and plan for it instead of choosing to eat for pleasure spur of the moment or last minute. Keep this food stock of utmost priority. Invest in it like it is your livelihood, for it does shape your life.
2) Then make sure you have access to a gym, and figure out when a good time is for you to go. Make it a priority among all others.
3) Never rush into any plans or decisions, instead pace yourself. Force yourself to quiet time every day after work, take the time to think and plan for no good decision was ever made in haste. If you can’t afford ten minutes to kneel down, pray, think, and plan, then you really don’t have enough time to do anything anyway.
4) If you’re broke, or want to prevent going broke and save money, and don’t have friends in the area or know what to do: Get a mountain bike. Become an exercise nutcase. After work and after the gym, pack a backpack with some healthy snacks, lots of water, a journal, a drawing book, and a good digital camera. You can take your bike and pack and go anywhere you want to go, as far as you want to go, and do anything you want to do. All you have to do is know that as far out as you go, it will take that same amount of time to get back. Just see how far you can go, then turn around and go back. You’ll probably get in at a similar hour you would have if you had went out partying. You will have gotten incredibly healthy, spent zero money, and used no gas out of your car. Incredible. As a bonus, the next day you’ll feel great and even clear headed from not drinking. You’ll be motivated and full of creative ideas. How much pleasure do you get when you go out partying? None, you build guilt and regret.
5) Be inspired and motivated, and start a group or social club.
6) Make connections, and now you’re well on your way to doing life.

You’ve done your time, you’ve had your fun, and you’ve gotten your experience. Now it’s time. You won’t abandon your beliefs and concepts of life that you’ve discovered and believe in; you’ll concrete them. You plant your feet and do it this time. Be methodical, do it right. From THIS DAY forward, make every day count. Commit to that, “From THIS DAY forward, I will make EVERY day COUNT.” Hit your goals, build your life. Its time. God has been relentlessly merciful on you. You’re lucky, for whatever reason. You didn’t do it when you were younger, and now you’re still getting the chance, so don’t chance it. Don’t look back but look forward, plan, and RUN. Thank God for every day, and every day thank God for everything He’s done for you.

January 11, 2012

First let me say what JUST happened.  I’m laying on a cot, about 1pm Afghan time, my head is about 2 feet from the tent wall.  I have head phones in my ears, listening to Cat Stevens as I was loading my blog.  There are about 20 other people laying around lazily in the tent, doing random things, watching movies on computers, etc.  We got in late last night.  With my head phones in and focused on the computer screen, I felt a rapid concession of concussion blasts, while immediately feeling the reverberation on the tent wall in front of me waft my hair with each blast.  You’ve never seen marines jump up so fast and go running for the door with their rifles.  I popped up, heart pounding in my chest, wondering what we were in for, what we were about to see, what we should do next, and how many more incoming explosion we were about to receive.  I ripped my headphones out, and was just about to pick up my rifle as I saw everyone rushing to the opening of the door.  “Control debt”, someone said.  “Whatt??”, I said.  Everyone made a sigh of relief.  “Well they should tell us!”, someone said.  Apparently we were told, but a lot of us have headphones in, so we didn’t really get the word. 

Holy moly.

Anyway, I’m here now.  Welcome back.  I was hear this time last year, at this same time, with only two months left before departure.  I sure never thought I’d be back so soon, but here I am.  Contact will be much more restricted, mainly to satellite phone calls, and rare at that.  I’ll keep updates as much as possible.  Thank you everyone for your care, concern, thought, and prayer.  Hopefully we’ll do some neat stuff out here, and get back soon.

Much love.

-Brandon

Here I sit at a place called “Ducks” in Jacksonville, North Carolina, enjoying a salad and nice glass of wine after a week long field Op. This is one of the classiest places in Jacksonville, class here is hard to find. Last weekend I drove home for my ten year reunion which was nice, and successful enough, given it was during a hurricane! Tomorrow I drive home again for the one and only, finest, Brandy Burns’ wedding. It will be very nice. Loving the freedom to go home when I want as we prepare for yet another trip out to the wild wild West: Afghanistan.

August 2, 2011

Well, I’m back.. after a much deserved and needed vacation! I arrived to base today, Tuesday, August 2nd.  It will take a week or two to get settled, but the major benefits to being here in the states vs. Okinawa, Japan is the freedom available, the fact that I have a vehicle, and that everyone locally speaks the English language, minus a select few :) 

I had a great time while at home, spending much time in the mountains of West Virginia, a little time vacationing in the northern states, a trip to Western Maryland, and some time in Ocean City and Bethany beaches.  After 50 days off, I’m a little more rejuvenated and ready to take on a little more of the crap that the Marine Corps likes to dish out.  My mind, energies, and free time will be spent figuring this place out, finding nature trails, scenic areas, and nice beaches… and planning for my next move:  Whats next after the Marine Corps!  …I’m looking forward to that stage!  I’m going to have some pent up energy to pour into something great!

It was great seeing everyone while I was at home… theres a great handful of people that I would have liked to see whom I didn’t get the chance to see, but I will be coming home for as many holidays and weekends as I am able!!

Love to all, and hope your lives are going well!

-Brandon 
…Forever stateside :)  (…hope.. and wish)

I attract Gay people

Guess what?  Gays are “allowed” in the Marine Corps.  Guess what else, gays enlisted in the Marine Corps with no problem prior to this new reformed law.  I know this because I just witnessed drastically open homosexuals, Marines, on the base club last evening… and they were in the USMC prior to this new law.  So last evening I stopped by the club on base to say hello to a few friends upon my return from Afghanistan, and I get this gentle loving hand on my shoulder from behind me.  A pretty little boy is 6 inches from my face and asks if he can buy me a drink, (with a twinkle in his eye).  “For what purpose?” I asked, thinking he may have known I just got back, and people often buy you a drink when you just come back from combat deployments.  “Any reason.” he responded.  I’ve been hit on by too many gay people, don’t know why, but I’ve got stories.  However, this one, in this environment, totally caught me off guard, so my quick comeback instincts were off, until he walked away.  The awkwardness of this little kid (probably 18 years old), in front of me, rocking on his heals, hands in pockets, was a little unnerving and uncomfortable.  It looked like he was contemplating licking my face.  Upon my decline, he sat back down with a group of his boy toys and resumed his uncanny flirtatiousness of those with the same sex—all of whom were unquestionably of the same mind.  And get this, I’ve been informed that we have a new arrival in our small platoon since I’ve been gone; and openly gay kid.  Can’t wait to see what Monday brings.

Back From Afghanistan

I got back to Okinawa, Japan just the other night.  Its super weird to be here.  Super humid, immediately your clothes stick to your body, and it’s cloudy and rains every day.  Unless you have a car and do some driving, there’s not much to do here.  So, I resume the every day gym routine, and go to the pool to try to catch some rays through the clouds. 

Looking forward to being in Maryland very soon for 30-45 days!  Then shortly after, I will be stateside for ever, finishing this cultish experience and then resuming normal life again—thank the Good Lord!  Couldn’t come soon enough.

Love and miss you all back home, see you soon! 

Glad to have had a safe 7 month trip to the Middle East and back, mission completed.  Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers.  Lots of people lost limbs, friends, and live—God bless them for their heroism, and their deep personal sacrafice for everyone else.  Our group was very blessed and fortunate to come out completely unscathed.  Thank You Lord.

Rob Bell, author of two books and pastor of Mars Bible Church, has become a controversial figure in the Christian community.  Some love him, some feel his teachings are off key and borderline unbiblical.  John Piper, who I like, even posted a tweet saying, “Farewell, John Bell” which was taken by all as, you won’t last for long, or just plain writing him off for his apparent theological differences.  So with all the talk I’ve seen it seems that everyone is up in arms about this Rob Bell guy, with countless YouTube videos “Uncovering the Truth on Rob Bell”, and “Rob Bell Exposed”… watch the video above he did, and tell me what you think.  I personally like the guy. 

Here’s what I wrote in a Forum on the subject of all this controversy and arguing over spiritual things, (with this one in particular):

Brandon Swisher
May 11, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Here is my take on these controversy’s that come up often: We should keep focused on the things that matter. The focus is on the saving power behind Christ’s teachings, and the biggest joy out there-Christ’s love for us. We have energies being used here (Rob Bell) to speak of the love of Christ, the realness of life, and deeper, mind awakening subjects which point to Christ. Then we have a waste of energies here being used to debate, tear apart, divert focus, and pull a veil over what really matters, the love of Christ and his teachings. There are billions of people in this world with so many hearts at so many different stages of joy, sadness, sorrow, hurt, and just plain lost. There are only a handful of blessed speakers and message delivers’ which have gained mass attention from a hurting, self-seeking, overindulgent culture. At different points in life we need different messages; all of which should point us to–and provoke a compelling urge to–pick up the main source of it all on our own, the Bible.

This banter reminds me of the two women among the disciples in the house with Jesus. The one woman was doing the dishes and was frustrated that the other woman wasn’t helping–she was spending time with Jesus and the others instead. Jesus rebuked her because her concern was in the wrong place. She was thinking of the then and now, and not on the bigger picture.

What might the end result of Rob Bell’s teachings be? I think the teachings inspire good in people, not evil. Tell me if I’m wrong.

Worst case scenario Paul said whether people are bashing Christ or lifting Him up, Christ is being spoken about, and Glory will be given to God.

Jesus never got involved in the petty argumentative discussions. Instead, He practically ignored the statements and questions which were meant to intentionally provoke such conflict. Jesus ignored these trigger comments, and then brought the attention back on what is important. He also asked questions in response to questions to gut check the heart of the asker. Someone could ask Jesus about hell, and he might come back with a response about love, seemingly totally off topic. But, why focus on hell, what fruit will it bring? Instead lets focus on love. If we are filled with love in our hearts, than hell is not an issue anyway. One cancels out the other, and therefore we don’t have to dwell on the negative. That’s the whole thing of the Gospel, to bring the positives back into light. The love, the life saving power, the freedom from guilt, breaking the shackles, the second chance, healing, true joy, a chance for the whole world and not just the Jews, etc., etc., etc. That’s what I get from it.

The only thing I hear in all this is a lack of professionalism is jealousy of viewership which stems from selfishness–all of which seems much to childish for popular Christian authors, speakers, and preachers. Lets always ask ourselves whats the power behind our motivation in tearing someone down in this way (which is NOT the biblical way of confronting our brothers), and then lets bring our heart back to the #1 important thing, love, for all people.

Do you think Rob Bell’s heart is really in the wrong place? Do you think he spends his time putting together these videos and concerning himself with these life topics with true evil motives, to harm and derail lives, and ultimately deceive people way off track to purposefully send them to a burning hell? I think not. If we could agree that he’s not out to do that, yet someone has a problem with his teachings or topics (John Piper), then the way to go about it is to confront him in private, out of real concern (not selfish or otherwise impure motives) in your heart. But if people had to confront Bell in private, then they would miss out on an opportunity to jump in on his high visibility bandwagon on YouTube, and would fail to derail and disrupt the large number of people that might be getting something good out of these videos. This honest and real concern of the heart, is a rarity these days. Its what Jesus had, and its whats supposed to infiltrate our own hearts via the power of the Gospel story. So big boys, begin the journey… start climbing down all those steps from the high pedestal and learn to love again, from your hearts. Its obvious when the love is not there.

Love you guys!

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/omeoflittlefaith/2011/02/thoughts-rob-bell.html#ixzz1M5YjhnJB

May 7, 2011

Life is simple… right?  You’re born into a family, you live, you die.  You have a job, working to make an income, you marry, have children, and raise them, teaching them to live in this world before they have children, and they too die. 

So where do all the complications come in?  Do the complications solve anything, or do they add time to your life?  Generally no, and generally the complications we bring on ourselves only reduce the days you have on this earth.

Where is the guide book, or the baseline which might show us the way to live?  What is right and wrong?  How do we know these two things haven’t been convoluted over the many years the human race has been in existence?  The ancient texts combined together in one book, the Bible (meaning combination of books) were written by men of pure hearts following after God.  Some even walked with God, who was Jesus, walking the Earth for thirty three years as a human.  In these texts are the untainted, concentrated laws and ways in which to live by, including our purpose for life, God’s love for us, and how to conduct ourselves with other people and within our families.

So if you find yourself feeling that life is much to complex and stressful, revert back to these ancient scripts which we are lucky to have access too, and get back to the root of life; find it’s simplicity again.  Read it, allow it to infiltrate your mind, and weed out all the new Earths way of cluttering our intricate and vast mind structure with all the elusive things that are not real and do not matter… those things that were born through minds of impure motives and self seeking intentions, to elude us and divert us off course, onto a false road, which offers many health complications, emotional emptiness, eternal guilt, forever sadness, and an early retirement to the grave.

Keep it simple.  Live a good, organized, clean life.  Keep those things that are forever important in view, don’t be misled, and love those that are close.  Family, life, love.  Engage in this good cycle and try to have it repeat itself in the generations under you.