FWB Chamber Honors the Horse Soldiers of Afghanistan
By Kelly Murphy-Redd
A feminist focused on a degree and career, who didn’t want marriage or children, meets a steely eyed, barrel-chested freedom fighter while skydiving. This story sounds like fiction, but it’s the true-life adventure of an extraordinary family.
Dawn met U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Will Summers on May 4, 1997. They married two months later on July 4th. Dawn freely admits the marriage was rocky during the first couple of years. Will had filed for divorce and moved out, but God intervened. When Will and Dawn gave their lives to Christ, their marriage changed for the better and grew strong. Today, they have 11 children!
They did not set out to have 11 children or even a large family. Dawn and Will believe it was God’s will and thank God for the freedom that comes from giving your entire life to Him. Life wasn’t always easy or without struggles. Dawn had five miscarriages. However, she says the 25 ½ years of marriage and 22 years of pregnancy, nursing, and raising children have been the great joy of her life.
This former feminist, raised by her father, not knowing how to be a mother because she didn’t grow up with a mother, says everything she was told about motherhood was a lie. Dawn enthusiastically refutes the notion motherhood takes from you. Instead, she describes the year 2000 and the birth of their first child as a wonderful time of wholeness. She felt so alive and had found her purpose.
Soon after Sept. 11, 2001, on October 19, 2001, Will left Dawn and their one-year-old and six-week-old children for a mission to Afghanistan. Dawn describes Will’s “agonizing tension.” Will wanted to stay with his family, but knew God made him a warrior. This was his moment. Like a racehorse at the gate, he was raring to go.
Knowing nothing about the mission, Dawn wasn’t scared because she trusted they were in God’s hands. She remembers sitting in her car, holding the babies, and crying. She missed Will and thought about her children. Thankful to have them in her arms, she didn’t feel alone. These little “Wills” were a comfort and never a burden. Though stressful caring for two babies with Will gone, she found fulfillment and peace. Their church at Fort Campbell provided constant support.
Will was part of the 5th Special Forces Group’s Operational Detachment Alpha 595, the first Special Forces group inserted into Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, who were providing a safe haven for Osama bin Laden. The mission was called Task Force Dagger, and they were told some of them might not come home. Having to use horses, not tanks or trucks, they had a crash course on horseback riding as soon as they arrived. The horses were not trained, Will’s saddle was a cow’s pelvic bone, and they had to jerry-rig the short stirrups with parachute cords. They worked with Afghan allies they didn’t know if they could trust and trained and fought alongside the Northern Alliance.
Able to travel day or night, the horses allowed them to get around and behind the enemy, cutting them off from reinforcements or retreat. A critical function of the Special Forces team was to call in air strikes on the Taliban. The horses allowed them to find the enemy’s position in the primitive and rugged terrain. This is how they became known as The Horse Soldiers of Afghanistan.
One evening, Dawn watched Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on the news. He showed a picture of the Horse Soldiers. Dawn could swear she saw Will in the photo. Several weeks into the mission, she spoke with Will on a satellite phone. She told him what she saw on the news. Will said, “Babe, we’re making the news.” Dawn said, “I knew that was you!”
Hollywood made a movie titled “12 Strong” about this extraordinary mission. Never imagining the mission would turn into a movie someday, Will feels humbled, saying hundreds of missions deserve to have movies made about them. He doesn’t feel he deserves the accolades and says they were just doing the right thing.
Dawn explains that God was missing from the movie. Most of the soldiers in-country prayed together and memorized the first psalm. Will shared the gospel in Afghanistan by talking to imams about God’s provision. They didn’t understand, so he showed them scriptures. They had questions and kept coming back to talk with him. Their leaders soon stopped them, but God had opened a door for soldiers to bring God into a godless place.
Something had died in Will when he retired from the U.S. Army. Dawn says he had a renewed sense of the mighty man he was after seeing the movie. She believes the movie was God’s way of providing a chance for the Horse Soldiers to unify again. It was time for them to rise. Together, they examined a few business ideas and landed on making bourbon. Horse Soldier Bourbon has allowed Dawn to work alongside Will as a co-promoter of the product. They lived in Navarre for a time and then moved to Texas where they run a dairy farm. Will is the Texas regional manager for Horse Soldier Bourbon.
The Horse Soldier statue stands at the 911 Memorial in New York City. The Port Authority held back some I-beams from the World Trade Center and gave one to the Horse Soldiers. They used part of the I-beam to create a monument at the Horse Soldier Bourbon headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida. The other part was melted down to make the Horse Soldier Bourbon bottle mold. Each bottle sold has touched ground zero steel.
The Summers’ 11 children think their dad is awesome and a fantastic father. They love his stories. Dawn says he has amazing storytelling skills. She has homeschooled their children. They are older now and go with Will to events to support him. Dawn loves that they see their dad being a successful businessman. The children present themselves as confident. They look you in the eye and are engaging, intelligent, and polite.
Dawn maintains she couldn’t have done what she’s done without Will’s leadership. She says that leadership doesn’t mean everyone will agree with you. “In our differences, we can come together to fulfill God’s vision for our family,” Dawn explains.
She describes the FWB Chamber’s Horse Soldier event as a gift. A family of 11 can’t afford vacations or dinners out. Sponsoring the Horse Soldiers and their families gave them a once-in-a-lifetime experience they will never forget. The event was a chance to teach their children about the generosity and kindness of a community. Dawn feels it is a symbol of the community coming together to “pass the torch” from the Doolittle Raiders avenging Pearl Harbor to 911. They are thankful. We are thankful for their service, inspired by their courage, and grateful for their positive spirit.
