When SSG John Kriesel lost his legs and two buddies in a roadside bomb explosion no one expected him to survive. He died three times on the operating table. Miracles a lot of miracles starting with a few grunts who refused to let him die in Iraq ripped the young warrior from the grip of death and sent him on to four hospitals thirty-five surgeries and months of recovery and rehabilitation. Medical miracles put his body back together but it was an incredible confluence of angels at every step along the way that breathed life into his shattered body.

This is not just another war story. This is the story of an ordinary young man who overcame extraordinary challenges with a lot of help from others including many strangers and he emerged stronger and more in love with his country and ultimately his own life.

For more information please visit stillstandingstory.com

Jim Kosmo is a national award-winning journalist a licensed Mississippi riverboat pilot and partner of Padelford Riverboat Company in St. Paul Minnesota. He is a lifelong writer having learned at the typewriter of his mother Virginia who was a correspondent for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in the 1950s.

Before joining the family riverboat business he was a newspaper editor and corporate public relations executive.

Kosmo founded the Minnesota Valley Branch YMCA served as chair of the Rivers Region of the national Passenger Vessel Association served on the Bayport (MN) Planning Commission and was elected a Bayport City Council member and mayor. Since 2008 he has served on the board of the St. Paul Rotary Club. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and Elmer L. Anderson Fellow. He also has created two endowed college scholarship funds. Kosmo balances his family life with eight adult children and ten grandchildren along with a successful career and the rewards of public service.