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Daniel Gilyeat

My name is Daniel Gilyeat. I was born March 6th 1972, in Shawnee Kansas. I grew up in a poor house where we didn't have running water or electricity most of the time. Our house was pretty rough with daylight showing through the walls and ceiling, which made for extreme winters. My parents divorced when I was 8, and it left us in some pretty tough times. I have two brothers, one older and one younger. Life and school were very hard for me. With no dad and a mother working all the time, my brothers and I made up our own rules. Since things were hard, I ditched school and did nothing with my life. I woke up one day, realising that I was a stereotypical dropout--working at a fast food place, flipping burgers--and with no future. At the age of 17 I started Martial Arts. Two years later, I was off to get my education and live in the Rocky Mountains on an Indian reservation in Montana. I received my high-school diploma and a trade in Heavy Equipment Diesel Mechanics. The next two years was spent looking for a job. No one wanted to hire me without my having four years experience. I joined the U.S. Marines on March 20th 1995 and did two tours in Iraq. It was the best twelve years ever. During the last tour I had asked my wife what she wanted in our relationship. Things had been rocky and she said she needed some time apart (my finding out later that she had an affair). I was wounded on July 3rd 2005 when my left leg was blown from my body above the knee when our vehicle struck an anti-tank mine. I lay there on the ground and made jokes for about a half hour, and then was flown to the hospital. I survived overwhelming odds, and then 27 days later I was walking. Two months after that, I had stopped all medications and was doing stuff the doctors said I would never do. Meanwhile, I would spend my spare time visiting the wounded and their families and educating them on what to expect ... until I finally got out of hospital. After being home a week, my wife left. Again I felt my world crumble. Failure was not an option, however, so I stopped smoking and went to school to learn massage therapy. I just kept my good attitude. Then, on November 3rd, ABC TV came and built me a brand new house! I pour my heart and soul into everything I do, and I'm not afraid to wear my heart on my sleeve and share it with the world. Spiritually, I knew I was going to be wounded before I even left for Iraq and I knew that God would either save me or take me. Then with the divorce, I put my life in his hands and listened to what he had to tell me...