Some people run toward danger so the rest of us can get home safe. For 22 years, Brandon Daugherty was one of them.
As a U.S. Air Force Pararescueman, Brandon lived by a simple motto: "These things we do, that others may live." He flew into combat zones and hurricane floodwaters to reach people who had no other way out. Along the way, he found something that changed him forever: a personal relationship with Jesus.
As Veterans Day approaches, we want to share Brandon's story of service, sacrifice, faith, and family. It's a powerful reminder of what it means to lay down your life for others, and of the families who carry that weight alongside the ones who wear the uniform.
By the end, we hope you'll feel inspired to honor the veterans in your life and to ask a question Brandon's story invites every one of us to consider: Where is God asking me to serve someone else?
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13
Brandon grew up in Tucson, Arizona. In 2002, shortly after September 11, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He went on to become a Pararescueman, or PJ, one of the Air Force's elite rescue specialists.
PJs are trained to reach isolated and injured people in the hardest places imaginable, in combat and in disaster zones, and bring them home. It's demanding, dangerous work. It calls for courage, skill, and a deep willingness to put others first.
Over the next two decades, Brandon deployed seven times to Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq as a rescue team leader. He took part in more than 500 rescue missions. Behind each one was a person, a family, and a future that might have been lost.
Brandon's service didn't only happen overseas. Here at home, he answered the call when hurricanes tore through American communities.
During Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Harvey, and Helene, Brandon performed hundreds of helicopter hoist rescues of storm victims. During Harvey alone, he completed more than 120 of them.
Picture a family stranded on a rooftop as floodwaters rise. Then picture a rescuer dropping from the sky to lift them to safety. For hundreds of families, Brandon was that answer to prayer.
In 2007, while deployed to Africa, Brandon found Jesus. He describes that moment as the major pivot of his life.
Faith reshaped how he understood his calling. Rescue was no longer just a job or a mission. It became a reflection of Christ's love, the kind Jesus described in John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Brandon went on to earn a Master of Christian Ministry from Wayland Baptist University. He has served in his local church in many ways ever since. Most recently, he has led a small group focused on leadership for young men and taught students.
What this means: Brandon's courage didn't come from strength alone. It grew deeper roots once it was anchored in Christ.
As Brandon's faith grew, so did his leadership. He led pararescue teams with the 48th, 306th, and 308th Rescue Squadrons. He also served as Chief of Logistics for Exercise Angel Thunder, the largest joint personnel recovery exercise in the military.
He finished his career as Operations Group Superintendent for the 920th Operations Group at Patrick Air Force Base. In that role, he served as senior enlisted advisor to the commander. In December 2024, he retired as a Chief Master Sergeant, the Air Force's highest enlisted rank.
His decorations tell a story of extraordinary bravery:
Still, Brandon's favorite leadership quote points away from medals and toward humility. It comes from Pastor Craig Groeschel: "People would rather follow a leader who is real than one who is always right."
For Brandon, taking off the uniform didn't mean stepping away from service. It simply opened a new chapter.
In 2015, Brandon moved to Florida's Space Coast to help build the astronaut rescue program for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The same skills that brought soldiers and storm victims home would now help keep astronauts safe.
In 2021, Brandon founded Operator Solutions, Inc., a Melbourne-based, service-disabled veteran-owned company. It's the first commercial human spaceflight rescue provider. Its veteran rescue teams have stood watch over Axiom Space's private missions to the International Space Station. They have also supported Floridians after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
In 2023, Brandon led the Alpha 5 Project, a Guinness World Record HALO formation skydive from 38,000 feet. The jump raised support for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the children of fallen special operators.
Brandon also holds an MBA from Webster University. He serves on the board of the Sheepdog Corporation, which supports the mental health of veterans and first responders.
What this means: True service doesn't stop at retirement. It keeps finding new ways to lift others up.
Brandon is quick to say his service was never his alone. His wife, Leann, and their children, Ella and Joshua, faithfully supported him through seven deployments and a 22-year career.
Every deployment meant empty seats at the dinner table, missed milestones, and long nights of prayer. Military families sacrifice in quiet ways the rest of us rarely see. Leann, Ella, and Joshua share in every part of the story Brandon tells.
If you know a military family, remember this: their service matters too.
Brandon's story is inspiring, but it also invites action. Here are a few simple ways to honor the veterans and military families in your life:
Through every mission and every season, Jesus has remained the center of Brandon's life. Christ's sacrifice gives his service its meaning. His story reminds us that true greatness looks like humility, courage, and love poured out for others.
Philippians 2:3–4 calls us to "in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." That's the heart of Veterans Day, and it's the heart of our Medi-Share community, where believers bear one another's burdens every day.
This Veterans Day, take a moment to thank a veteran and pray for their family. Then ask yourself the question Brandon's life so clearly answers: Where is God asking me to serve someone else?