Briarwood’s Community Speakers Breakfast Featuring Marcus Luttrell

(From left) seniors Katya Gustafson, Emily Hallmark and Ross Ackerman smile for a picture next to the sign announcing Marcus Luttrell’s speech.

Briarwood’s Second Annual Community Speakers Breakfast held at The Junior League of Houston was filled with parents, alumni, and current Briarwood Students. The chairman of the board, Jim McIngvale, commonly known throughout Houston as Mattress Mack, introduced the speaker, Marcus Luttrell, by reading the somber prologue of his book, Lone Survivor.

Mr. McIngvale ended his introduction with a reminder to the audience that while we sleep in our Tempur-Pedic (or Mack-O-Pedic) beds, Americans are fighting across the world for our safety. Marcus Luttrell then emerged from the curtains, remarking how strange it was that the first motivational speech he ever heard was from Mr. McIngvale himself. Now it was his turn to give a speech.

Marcus Luttrell told the crowd that he was not an author, but simply and always a straight up gunfighter. Luttrell may humbly say he just wrote a few words down, but those words have a tremendous impact of the Americans who have read his riveting novel or seen the action-packed movie. The impact has led Luttrell to travel the United States sharing his tale of inspiration.

At a young age, Luttrell knew that he wanted to be a Navy SEAL, and he began training with his twin brother every day after school. He graduated from the Coronado base with his teammates and forged bonds greater than any blood bond. Luttrell survived numerous combat missions in the Middle East, but Operation Red Wing in which he was the lone survivor became the basis for his book.

The room was captivated by the story, sucked into the fight that lasted over three hours and the days afterwards until Luttrell was rescued by the army. Luttrell’s story made every single person in the audience puts his or her life into perspective. Luttrell finishes his speech with four pieces of advice to the Briarwood community: don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something; you have your whole life in front of you; you have no clue how resilient you are; and lastly live life because it’s short.