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first blind active-duty officer tells story in
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<DIV class=updates_timestamp>Last updated: September 5th, 2010 12:49 PM
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<P>Scott Smiley grew up in the Tri-Cities, graduated from high school here, met
his wife here.</P>
<P>When he went off to West Point, family and friends back home were proud. They
prayed for him when he was deployed to Iraq, sent love and support as he
recovered from a devastating combat injury, and -- like countless others across
the country and beyond -- were inspired by his tenacity and seemingly unwavering
hope as he adjusted to life without eyesight.</P>
<P>So it was only natural that he launch <I>Hope Unseen<I>, the book that
chronicles his journey from Tri-City kid to the Army's first blind active-duty
officer, in his hometown.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"It's kind of him coming full circle," said his wife Tiffany. "It's his
way to give back and show his faith. This community supported him and our family
in so many ways."</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>The launch is at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
Scott and Tiffany will speak, along with many of the "characters" featured in
the book -- the real-life friends and supporters who helped along the way. There
also will be music by the Dove-award-winning Phillips, Craig &
Dean.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"It's a night that we know will give people goosebumps," said Doug
Crandall, Smiley's co-author.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>The Smileys now live in New York, where Scott -- who goes by Scotty --
commands a company of wounded soldiers at West Point's Keller Army Medical
Center.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>The couple met as kids in Pasco, both graduating from Pasco High in
1999. Smiley was blinded in 2005 in an explosion in Mosul triggered by a suicide
bomber.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Shrapnel hit him in the eyes and entered his brain. He endured surgery
and months of recovery.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>The injury didn't stop him from adding item after item to his list of
accomplishments. He's since gone sky-diving and surfing, reached the top of
Mount Rainier, earned an MBA from Duke University, taught at West Point and won
an ESPY and the Army's MacArthur Leadership Award.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>He and Tiffany also became parents to sons Grady, 3, and Graham,
1.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Smiley credits his faith in God for giving him the strength to keep
going.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"God has blessed me. I love Him and I thank Him. Everything I have is
because of Him. This book is for His glory and not my own," he writes in <I>Hope
Unseen</I>.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Smiley and Crandall spent more than a year working on the book.
Crandall, a former Army officer, now lives in the Tri-Cities -- but the pair met
thousands of miles away at West Point, where Crandall was an instructor. Smiley
was a guest speaker in his class.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>They started working on the book last year. Crandall traveled the
country, interviewing the Smileys, their family and friends.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>He said people each seem to connect with different parts of Smiley's
story. For Crandall, "the greatest (part) of the story is the way Scotty and
Tiffany have lived their lives," he said.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>They maintained their faith in God and their positive attitudes despite
the obstacles they faced, he said.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Tiffany, who was in town recently to promote the launch, said it wasn't
always easy. There were times her hope waned. Her husband's too.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"If you would have told me six years ago that this book would be
written, I wouldn't have believed it," she said. "(With Scott's injury),
everything that was normal to me was taken away."</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>In <I>Hope Unseen</I>, Scott tells of a difficult moment when he got
lost in a parking lot in California, where he'd gone for rehabilitation after
his injury.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"I struggled for half an hour and then dropped into a lump on the
ground and began to sob," he writes. "I had no idea who I was or where I was.
Was I even a lieutenant in the Army? I certainly wasn't a leader anymore. I felt
like I was in some warped social experiment. My entire world had disappeared and
been replaced with a joke. I asked God to tell me how I was supposed to take
care of my family if I couldn't even walk back from the gym."</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>He realized that he needed to surrender himself to God's plan, not
mourn the loss of his own plans.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"I had lost my way a while back -- my inability to navigate had nothing
to do with my eyes and everything to do with my lack of focus on what our finite
time on earth is all about," he writes. "...'Scotty,' God seemed to be saying to
my heart, 'Humble yourself and depend on me.' "</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Tiffany said that's how she and her husband got through -- by trusting
God to help them one day at a time. Scott wrote the book to inspire others to do
the same, she said.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>"You have hope -- that's what Scotty's message is to everyone," Tiffany
said. "I think (the story) shows the power of what the Lord can do in someone's
life."</I></I></P>
<P><I><I><I>Hope Unseen</I> hits bookshelves Sept. 14. It's published by Howard
Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>The launch is doubling as a fundraiser for Young Life and Habitat for
Humanity. Tickets are $15. They're available through Ticketmaster, at the Toyota
Center box office and at the door. Group discounts are available.</I></I></P>
<P><I><I>Smiley also will be signing copies of <I>Hope Unseen</I> from 2 to 4
p.m. Sept. 18 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Columbia Center mall in
Kennewick.</I></I></P></DIV><SPAN><EM><BR></EM><BR>Read more: <A
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