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Always nice to start a holiday (even if it’s one of those made-up Every-President-was born-in February ones) with something upbeat.<\/p>\n
United States Marine Corps Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews was in Afghanistan assisting with the evacuation of the Kabul airport after the Taliban takeover in 2021 when suicide bombers attacked, killing 183 people. Vargas-Andrews suffered horrific injuries and woke up a week later at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, recovering from wounds resulting from 100 to 150 ball bearings. Two of his close friends had died in the blast and he remained hospitalized for quite some time after two amputations: his right arm below the elbow and his entire left leg.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Like any red-blooded American kid who had just dodged The Big One, Vargas celebrated by buying a truck. Not just any truck – a 450 horsepower\/510 pounds-feet of torque, fire breathing Ford Raptor.\u00a0 Zoom zoom! (Okay, I know that was Mazda, but it’s appropriate.)<\/p>\n
Now retired, the former soldier told the Detroit Free Press<\/em> that he took several cross-country trips in the Raptor from Virginia to California, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming for off-roading, putting the truck through its paces. The Raptor was Vargas-Andrews’ pride and joy for a glorious five months until a driver in a 2017 Nissan Murano crashed into the truck. While the structure of the Ford truck kept the former Marine and his partner Victoria safe, his red Raptor was totaled.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, I know – MARINE! DAMMIT, not soldier. Anyway, see the owie above. Pretty much the whole back and frame tweaked. The truck gave up its life to keep Vargas safe, just like it should do.<\/p>\n
He posted about the incident on his Instagram account (deleted ed.), tagging Ford and Ford Performance, and dozens of commenters chimed in to tag the company. It got the attention of Ford North America Product Communications Director Mike Levine, who helped pass the story up the chain to executive chair Bill Ford.<\/p>\n
The great-grandson of Henry Ford got involved, inviting Vargas-Andrews to choose “the Raptor of his dreams” and come to Dearborn, Michigan for a visit. By the time Vargas-Andrews left Michigan, the 26-year-old had picked out a brand-new 2024 Raptor R, which boasts a supercharged V8 with 720 hp\u2014a 270-hp upgrade over his old Raptor. In the process, he got to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Dearborn plant to meet Bill Ford, Ford CEO Jim Farley, and scores of Blue Oval employees.\u00a0 The Drive<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$113K truck will be delivered to Vargas’ local dealership when finished.<\/p>\n
Worth noting – Vargas ends his posts with #Never a Victim. Detroit Free Press<\/a><\/p>\n
Good on yer, Ford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"