Click on cover image to purchase a copy
MWSA Review
This collection is intimidating with the awe and love people showered upon our fallen protector, Captain Derek Argel.
After digesting the first letters, I knew I was reading about an ace among the elite, and his death angered me. I must trust God’s plan, but I see Captain Argel’s death as an unconscionable loss of a national asset. If you read this book, you’ll agree with me that you wished you had known him, and you’ll feel cheated if you didn’t.
Picture a powerful six and a half foot tall dynamo with a will of steel, a heart of gold, and a lifetime of wisdom. Picture him making leadership look easy among the nation’s top officer candidates at the United States Air Force Academy, picture him exemplifying resiliency and strength among the nation’s elite special forces, and picture him pouring love and compassion upon friends and family.
If you’re perplexed and enticed by these apparent contrasting images, you’ll want to pick up Letters for Logan and get to know Captain Derek Argel. Reading his story may sadden you or anger you, but it will ignite a spark in you to be a better version of you.
Reviewed by: John Monteith (2012)
Author's Synopsis
Letters for Logan is the heartfelt story of a mother's timeless love for her son, and the legacy she is compelled to leave her grandson. Air Force Capt. Derek Argel, 28, was larger-than-life-athletic, loving, dedicated, loyal and above all, a son to Debbie, husband to Wendy and father to Logan. Within days of his tragic death in the line of duty on Memorial Day of 2005 in Iraq, the first letter to Logan arrived. Then another came, and they kept coming, from friends, colleagues, warriors and family. They still arrive, even years after the Combat Controller's death, each one weaving an enduring portrait for a little boy of his fallen father, gone too soon. Proceeds from this book will go to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, rated as a four-star charity by Charity Navigator. The foundation provides full scholarship grants, educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions, and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families. The family of Capt. Derek Argel believes wholeheartedly in the mission of the foundation. "First there, That Others may Live" Nora Wallace