My friend Ron Dotson is a hero to me. He found in Vietnam, saw most of his unit killed, became a postal carrier and a pastor, and spent a week with me here last month. He works with older people in Ohio, and we visited the Mansion Memory Care Unit together. After Vietnam, he dedicated his life to doing good. He is 79 years old.

Ron is a decorated hero himself. He served as a medic. He was shot and gravely wounded, and all of his medical team was slaughtered. Ron has never complained about a second of his time there. We became friends after he read one of my books, Running To The Mountain, about my first year in the country spent with two dogs and the journals of Thomas Merton.

He visits me once a year on his vacations to Vermont. We talk all the time now, one way or the other.

This weekend, Ron was invited to attend a Gold Start weekend retreat for the children and families of soldiers and police officers killed in the line of duty.

Ron told me it was the thrill of a lifetime to pray with these families and kids. The retreat was held at Camp Chautauqua near Carlisle, Ohio.

Ron was asked if he wanted to jump out of a plane and parachute down, and he didn’t hesitate. He is a devout Christian who trusts God to care for him.

He sent me this video of him jumping from an airplane with a parachute and a guide on his back. Afterward, he said his favorite weekend moment was praying with one of the Gold Star Families, a young mother with three children.

The husband was a police officer killed in the line of duty in 2019. “Made me sad but grateful for the privilege to minister to them. I’m worn out.”

I bet. Ron is one of those people I most admire. He turned trauma and tragedy into good and channeled his faith precisely as Jesus Christ urged his followers to do. Ron listened. I am very grateful to have him as a friend—video and portrait below.

 

Ron jumped out of a plane. He had a blast.

Ron Dotson is a marine forever and a hero who takes care of the heroes’ families.