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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAt the pinnacle of a soaring career in the U.S. Army, Lt. Col. Mark M. Weber was tapped to serve in a high-profile job within the Afghan Parliament as a military advisor. Weeks later, a routine physical revealed stage IV intestinal cancer in the thirty-eight-year-old father of three. Over the next two years he would fight a desperate battle he wasn’t trained for, with his wife and boys as his reluctant but willing fighting force. When Weber realized that he was not going to survive this final tour of combat, he began to write a letter to his boys, so that as they grew up without him, they would know what his life-and-death story had taught him—about courage and fear, challenge and comfort, words and actions, pride and humility, seriousness and humor, and viewing life as a never-ending search for new ideas and inspiration.
About the Author
Lieutenant Colonel Weber was a native of St. Paul, Minnesota. He began his military career as a JROTC cadet at Cretin High School in 1985 at the age of 14. He enlisted as a Military Police soldier in 1989, serving for nearly five years in the Minnesota Army National Guard while attending college.
In 1994, he received his active duty Regular Army commission as a military police second lieutenant.
Mark served for 16 years in the Regular Army before making a transition to the full-time Minnesota National Guard (AGR) in 2009 in order to be near his father-in-law, who was battling his own cancer. Little more than a year later, after being recognized nationally as one of the best officer recruiters in the country and while preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan, Mark was diagnosed with Stage IV gastrointestinal cancer.
He was married to Kristin Coughlin of Hastings, Minnesota and they resided in Rosemount, Minnesota with their three sons - Matthew, Joshua, and Noah.
Mark passed away surrounded by family on Thursday, June 13, at 4:14 PM (or 1614 in military time as Mark would say) . Mark's wish to die at home, embraced by love, and a view of his beloved garden was granted to him.
Mark often quoted Mark Frost - "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body. But rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming .... WOW what a ride!"
Well Mark, mission accomplished.
