Book Review: “Betrayed” by Billy Vaughn
“Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend.” John 15:13
Imagine if you will being the Mother of an almost two year old toddler and an 8 week old baby. Your life is happy, your children are healthy, your husband is a wonderful christian man who loves you and your children, and he is a member of the most elite group of Warriors in the U.S. military. Your husband is deployed so you and your children are spending time with your parents. On what should be a day like most others you are alerted there’s been a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, but upon checking your computer you see your husband is connected on Skype. You are cautiously relieved, pick up your daughter and start upstairs to have breakfast with your family. But then you hear the doorbell and see outside there are men, and they are wearing Navy uniforms. For the family member of a deployed warrior that is something you never want to see. It will bring you to your knees and it brought Kimberly Vaughn to the floor on April 6, 2011.
So again, imagine for a moment that you are the parent, brother, sister, grandparent, or other family member of an outstanding young man, who because of his love of country and dedication to its preservation has devoted his life to becoming one of America’s most elite warriors who’s purpose is to defeat the enemy and protect his fellow Americans. Just for a moment consider this is your only son, or your only brother, and he is never coming home.
When you have received your son’s body and all the memorials have ended and with your grieving and broken heart you set out to learn the details surrounding his death, just imagine the dismay, the outrage, when you discover the facts. Facts that lead you to the only reasonable conclusion that our government’s errant polices and procedures, continuous appeasement of the enemy, as well as the severe cuts to the Defense budget are all causing the blood shed and ultimate sacrifice of our military on the battle field.
‘Betrayed,’ is written by Billy Vaughn the father of Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn who was on board ‘Extortion 17’ when it was shot down in the Wardak province of Afghanistan in August 2011. ‘Betrayed’ will take you on the journey with Aaron Vaughn’s parents, Billy and Karen Vaughn, as they relentlessly pursue the truth of what lead to the tragic incident which claimed the life of their son in the single largest loss of life in the history of our elite warriors. There were 30 Americans on board, 17 SEAL’s, 15 were members of the elite SEAL Team Six that killed Osama Bin Laden just 3 months earlier. 8 were Afghanis.
It is difficult to comprehend the astounding facts that Billy and Karen have uncovered in their quest for answers. They were already aware that Vice President Joe Biden had placed their son and every one of our elite warriors and their families in grave jeopardy by stating it was SEAL Team Six that killed Osama Bin Laden. This type of information should never be leaked from of all places, the White House. Tragically the Vaughn’s soon learned their son went on this mission not in a Special Operations helicopter but a much older one with far less capabilities. They learned that 7 Afghan National Army soldiers were swapped out at the last minute. Who were the seven Afghan soldiers that were taken off the mission, and who were the seven that replaced them? Perhaps the most astounding fact of all is that the Vaughn’s over heard a senior commander telling the family of another dead SEAL that the primary focus in Afghanistan was to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the Afghan people. This enraged the Vaughn’s and should enrage every American.
You will hear how the Vaughn’s reached out to a number of Representatives in Washington D.C., like John Boehner, Harry Reid, and others. Most never returned a phone call or email to the Vaughn’s. There were a few exceptions, one being Lt. Colonel U.S. Army (retired) and former Florida Representative Allen West, Representative Stephen Fincher, and the Vaughn’s own Representative Thomas Rooney. Thank God these men had the grace and dignity to respond to the Vaughn’s. Imagine how stunned when the staff from Senator Levin’s office (Chairman of the Armed Services Committee), told the Vaughn’s ‘he does not have time to talk to you, stop harassing him.’ How disgraceful! Is this how our Representatives treat the families of our fallen?
‘Betrayed’ reveals the betrayal of our government to protect our defenders. You will learn of lies, cover-ups, and evidence of the outrageous fact that preference is given to the lives of our enemies over the lives of our own. Imagine seeing the enemy launch an RPG at you, but because he drops to the ground you can not return fire. It is undeniable that this President’s ROE (Rules of Engagement) and ideology is causing the number of deaths and injuries to our Military to skyrocket. The numbers are shocking.
This book should be read by every American. We can not rely on the main stream media to give us the truth, they barely even report on this war that Obama refuses to call a ‘war on terror.’ The Obama Administration has allowed Islamic organizations such as CAIR to have a voice in how our Military training manuals are written, which caused words such as ‘jihad’ and ‘Islam’ to be removed. Obama has constantly reminded us “we are not at war with Islam.” Tell that to the families of our fallen, and tell that to the families who’s loved ones are repeatedly deployed to Afghanistan and other countries where Islamists are murdering Jews and Christians and other innocent people. The truth is the main stream media reports so little on this war and the loss of our brave warriors many Americans simply forget about the war and have been conditioned to believe the situation is not nearly as dire as it is. In reality, the number of our brave service members lost and wounded are shockingly high and have increased dramatically under Obama. His failed ideology and strategy is not working and is costing the lives of our military.
In their quest for answers Billy and Karen realized just how politicized the war had become. High ranking Military Officials have to beat to Obama’s drum or they are gone, and sadly some are choosing career over honor. Obama has removed nearly 200 high ranking military officials from the military since taking office. This is reminiscent of what Hitler did, eliminating the leaders he didn’t want and replacing them with those who shared his ideology. Did you catch that? Hitler, WWII, have we forgotten the grave consequences of allowing one man to force his ideology on an entire nation? In ‘Betrayed’ you see the tragic results of having a President who’s politics and ideology is more important than the loss of lives of our men and women on the battle field.
Obama recently said he had a pen and he would use it, regardless of what Congress or the American people think. American’s need to pick up their own pens and phones and put their boots on the ground to flood the offices of our Representatives and potential candidates to let them know we want these treasonous acts stopped now. We should let the main stream media know we have not forgotten that we have brave men and women on the battle field and we expect them to report factually on this war and the record number of those being killed and wounded, and why. We expect them to report on the President’s ideology and strategy and how it is a complete failure.
Billy and Karen were enraged to discover the gut wrenching truth that our government is more interested in ‘nation building’ and ‘winning the hearts of minds’ of our enemies,’ even if it means the shed blood of our own warriors. When you read ‘Betrayed.’ you to will be enraged, and will undoubtedly agree that not another single life should be lost, not another single drop of American blood should be shed in a war that our President has no clear mission or plan to achieve victory. In fact, have you ever heard the President utter the word ‘victory?’
The truth is there is so much information in this book you will be stunned. The average American has no understanding of who the enemy is, and it’s up to us to put this book in the hands of every person we can. I hope you will read ‘Betrayed’ and will be moved to take action. There is strength in numbers and those who defend our freedom should be able to count on us to defend them.
With boldness and courage Aaron Vaughn served his country. He had assurance where he was going when his time on earth ended. I am reminded of these words in Psalm 91: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
May the rest of us speak out against those who aim to take away our liberty, with the same boldness and courage of Aaron Vaughn.
