#57: Scotty Smiley — Hope Unseen

The definition of hope is “to expect with confidence,” but what do you do when you’ve lost confidence in everything? When you’ve watched your dreams go up in smoke? When you feel isolated from those you love and you start to question the God you’ve built your life around?

How do you find confidence when all the things you had confidence in lay shattered all around you?

Blindness became Major Scotty Smiley’s journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams—becoming a CEO, a Delta Force operator, or a four-star general. With his wife Tiffany’s love and the support of his family and friends, Scotty’s response became God’s transforming moment.

Scotty Smiley is from from Pasco, a small city in Washington State. After high school he attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. After four great years, he graduated and moved to Fort Benning, Georgia and attended Infantry Officer Basic Course and Ranger School. Soon after he moved to Fort Lewis, Washington where he led a 45 man Platoon.  

In 2005 while leading his Platoon in Mosul, Iraq, Scotty found himself in front of a suicide car bomb.  After the man blew himself up, shrapnel blew through Scotty’s eyes leaving him blinded and temporarily paralyzed, he woke up in Walter Reed Army Medical Center a week later. Though questioning his faith, Scotty made a decision to forgive and rebuild his life and continue to serve in the Army, becoming the first blind active-duty officer in military history.

The Army Times named Scotty “Soldier of the Year” in 2007 and in 2008 he won an ESPY as the world’s Best Outdoor Athlete. After receiving a Master of Business Administration from Duke University, Scotty taught the core course in leadership at West Point and then commanded the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point’s Keller Army Medical Center. Scotty is a recipient of the Army’s prestigious MacArthur Leadership Award and holds an honorary PhD from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY.  In 2010, Scotty received a Father of the Year award in New York and in 2011 received the Christopher Award for all he has given and continues to give.

Since then, Scotty attended the Maneuver Captain Career Course in Fort Benning, Georgia, and then moved to Spokane, Washington where he held a position with the Gonzaga University ROTC Department, teaching and mentoring America’s future leaders.  

After many years of service, Scotty retired from the military in 2015. Over his military career Major (Retired) Smiley received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart; Combat Infantry Badge, Ranger Tab, Airborne Wings and Combat Diver Qualification Badge.

He currently works with the capital markets department at Drexel Hamilton out of New York as an investment banker for corporations and banks around the world.

With a passion for using his story to build hope in this world, Scotty authored Hope Unseen in 2010 and now travels all over the country speaking and sharing his message of perseverance, courage and hope.

He is an avid adventurer and has completed the Coeur d’Alene Iron Man, climbed Mt Rainer, gone skydiving, surfing and is always looking for his next chance to try something new.

Scotty is married to his high school sweetheart, Tiffany and the couple lives in Spokane and are the proud parents of three wonderful children.  

For show notes, visit calwalters.me.