Marine vet credits Raptor for saving his life in crash - and Ford was listening

A U.S. Marine who nearly lost his life in Afghanistan got a once-in-a-
lifetime gift from a Detroit automaker whose vehicle helped him escape 
death once more.

Tyler Vargas-Andrews, 26, of Virginia, retired from the Marine Corps after 
losing his right arm and his left leg during a suicide bomber attack in 
Kabul. He told the Detroit Free Press he purchased a 2023 Ford Raptor 
truck as a gift to himself for not dying.

And that vehicle may have saved his life.

But the story doesn't end there.

After a 2017 Nissan Murano crashed into him and totaled his truck on 
Thanksgiving Day, the military veteran credited the Raptor with saving his 
life in an Instagram post, tagging #Ford and #FordPerformance.

"Closest I've come to dying in a while," Vargas-Andrews wrote on Nov. 26, 
2023.

People at Ford Motor Co. saw the social media post and forwarded the 
information to executive chair Bill Ford, great-grandson of the company 
founder. Then the automaker decided to take action.

"Ford is replacing Tyler's original Raptor with Bill taking a personal 
hand in making sure it happened," Mike Levine, Ford North America product 
communications director, told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday. "I 
don't think I've met any person tougher than Tyler. He sacrificed so much 
to serve and this is the least we can do to thank him. He is a resilient, 
inspirational and amazing person."

Vargas-Andrews told the Free Press that he drove his Chevy Traverse 
accessible vehicle, which was donated by Help Our Military Heroes, just 
under nine hours to Dearborn on Monday from Virginia. Ford covered his 
hotel room cost.

On Tuesday, Vargas-Andrews went to the Dearborn Truck Plant, where the F-
150 pickup is built. He met with blue- and white-collar veterans employed 
at the plant and spent time with Bill Ford on the factory floor. That part 
was a surprise, Levine said. Ford CEO Jim Farley said hello, too.

Driving the Raptor cross-country
"I'm a Ford guy. My first vehicle was my mom's 2006 Ford Escape, and I 
drove that thing to, like, 350,000 (miles), and then enlisted in the 
Marine Corps," Vargas-Andrews told the Free Press. "As soon as I got out 
of boot camp, I bought a 2018 Ford Focus hatchback."

The northern California native left the military last year and bought a 
2023 Raptor, which he drove cross-country and off-roading in California, 
Utah and Colorado, plus Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks in 
Wyoming. "I'd sleep off the back of my truck in a hammock and keep 
driving. I had the truck about five months. It was a short life but a good 
life."

The high-performance Raptor pickup starts at $77,980, according to Ford. 
Vargas-Andrews said he paid just over six figures when including warranty 
and all the extras.

For the replacement, Ford told Vargas-Andrews he could have any version of 
the Raptor he wanted, "a Raptor of his dreams," so he went with the 2024 
Raptor R, which is a Ford Raptor with a $31,575 option package that 
features a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 engine with 720-hp and dual valve Fox 
shocks. Its cost, including delivery and taxes, is $113,770, according to 
Ford.

'To me, it's everything'
"It just doesn't feel real almost," Vargas-Andrews told the Free Press. "I 
like to consider myself a good American trying to be a great American. 
This truly left me speechless. It's a small thing to them, but to me it's 
everything. I've got buddies that died within an arm's reach of me. I'm 
missing a plethora of my organs. And I don't take any day for granted. You 
get knocked down and it's how you choose to pick yourself up."

Any third-party modifications such a wheelchair lift or modified vehicle 
controls will be added by Vargas-Andrews, as he did on his original 
Raptor, Ford said.

Vargas-Andrews didn't drive home in his new truck because it has gone into 
the queue to be delivered to his local dealer in Virginia as part of the 
new 2024 F-150 shipments, Ford said.

But Vargas-Andrews did get a personal introduction to the Raptor R from 
Carl Widmann, chief engineer of Ford Performance, on all the features. He 
said the experience with Ford, which Vargas-Andrews described as a 
quintessential American company, meant even more in the context of its 
history supporting our nation during times of war.

Ford has a history of supporting military veterans and offering military 
discounts, as do automakers including General Motors, Jeep, Dodge, 
Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Fiat.

Looking back and moving forward
Vargas-Andrews, who was injured in 2021 while evacuating Afghan people at 
the Kabul airport, testified to Congress in March about the incident that 
killed 13 members of the U.S. military and more than 100 Afghan people.

CNN quoted him saying, "A flash and a massive wave of pressure. I’m thrown 
4 feet onto the ground but instantly knew what had happened. I opened my 
eyes to Marines dead or unconscious lying around me. A crowd of hundreds 
immediately vanished in front of me. And my body was catastrophically 
wounded with 100 to 150 ball bearings now in it."

Since having 44 surgeries during recovery from August 2021 through June 
2022 at Walter Reed Hospital, Vargas-Andrews said, he is now a certified 
personal trainer, open water scuba certified and a business owner.

"I lived my life very hard and very fast before getting wounded, 100 miles 
per hour," Vargas-Andrews told Axios in November. "Now I'm probably going 
about 55, but I'm jumping on every chance."

He told the Free Press, "I still do all the things I did and loved and 
more."

On Instagram, he is known as "whistlingdeath" and ends his posts with 
#NeverAVictim.

The day the Raptor was totaled
After the Thanksgiving Day crash, Vargas-Andrews shared with his 63,500 or 
so Instagram followers what happened: "We were headed to our friend's home 
completely stopped in traffic in the far left lane on the Interstate. I 
watched a black SUV in my rear view mirror about a quarter mile back not 
slowing down and we were unable to move due to us being stopped in 
traffic. A few seconds later the black SUV crashed into us/my truck at 75 
MPH and sent us flying across 3-4 lanes and spun us 1-2 times. 
EMT's/Police were there in a couple minutes and took us to the hospital. 
The State Troopers let us know the woman driving was at fault."

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller confirmed to the Free 
Press that the two-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 northbound at the 135-
mile marker in Stafford County, Virginia, occurred on Thursday, Nov. 23, 
2023, when the Murano crashed into a Ford Raptor stopped for traffic. 
Vargas-Andrews and his passenger suffered minor injuries. The driver of 
the Murano, Shantel M. Skari, 24, of Hartford, South Dakota, suffered 
minor injuries and was cited for reckless driving.

Vargas-Andrews told the Free Press he is just finishing all the accident 
paperwork now, and pursuing a lawsuit.

These days, Vargas-Andrews makes custom knives and other products called 
Flatline HardGoods with partners Jake Simmons and Bryan Edwards. Simmons 
joined Vargas-Andrews on the trip to Dearborn this week.

Ford: 'Living life the way they want'
After meeting Vargas-Andrews and Simmons, Bill Ford shared his thoughts 
with company employees in recorded video remarks. Ford said, according to 
audio made available to the Free Press, "For us to be able to support our 
veterans is hugely important to me. These two guys that are here today, 
they’re the most inspiring guys that you’ll ever want to meet. They’re 
living life just the way they want to live it. … It’s an honor to be able 
to support people like that. I’m so grateful to these two guys and, 
frankly, to all the veterans for everything they’ve done for our country."


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whistlingdeath

Wow. What a day yesterday was. @ford @fordperformance

I guess first I should start with a thank you to all of you who have been 
following and supporting my own journey in recent years. All the tags and 
mentions of various entities of @ford did not go unnoticed. You guys 
showed out and so did they.

@veteranwithasign Thank you for helping me push out the story of what 
happened when a reckless driver hit us on Thanksgiving totaling my 
original Raptor and just being a great friend through all of this.

A massive thank you to @mrlevine for everything you have done for me since 
our first phone call. You said something along the lines of, "I want to 
help you any way I can" and you have done just that. I'm beyond grateful.

From dropping off a 2023 Raptor R in my driveway as a vehicle loan for a 
couple weeks, to offering to have me out to the Ford Dearborn Plant to see 
the assembly line and bring one of my best friend's/business partners 
along, to presenting me with the opportunity to customize a 2024 Raptor R 
and making it a Priority, getting to meet everyone behind the scenes at 
@ford and see what makes you guys so successful and meeting the Dearborn 
Plant Manager and the CEO at Ford World Headquarters. It almost feels made 
up.

Thank you to everyone at the Dearborn plant and Ford World Headquarters 
for showing us what you guys are about. It was incredible to see.

Mr. Bill Ford. I know this came down to you and ensuring that yesterday 
happened the way it did. Thank you for the hospitality, attention to 
detail, care for all the Veterans that work at @ford, and taking the time 
out of your day to give @jakesimmons6nine and I an awesome one.

And thank you for the Raptor R. It WILL be driven how it's supposed to, I 
promise you that. My friends can vouch for that one haha.

Try to be a good human and affect change positively in the world where you 
can.

You guys are about to see some cool content.

whistlingdeath

Don't be careless with other people's lives. Can't make this shit up. 
Thursday the 23rd(Thanksgiving) just after noon we were headed to our 
friend's home completely stopped in traffic in the far left lane on the 
Interstate.

I watched a black SUV in my rear view mirror about a quarter mile back not 
slowing down and we were unable to move due to us being stopped in 
traffic.

A few seconds later the black SUV crashed into us/my truck at 75 MPH and 
sent us flying across 3-4 lanes and spun us 1-2 times. EMT's/Police were 
there in a couple minutes and took us to the hospital.

The State Troopers let us know the woman driving was at fault and not 
looking at the road(which we knew) and was on her phone or 
distracted/intoxicated as well as made no attempt to stop. The State 
troopers also informed us that she did not have her seatbelt on and they 
charged her with a Class 1 Misdemeanor for Reckless/Negligent driving.

We are very beat up and will be in and out of the hospital the next few 
weeks-months, but we are alive fortunately. Closest I've come to dying in 
a while??

Being in my truck saved our lives in all honestly. If we were in a car we 
would've been crushed. Funnily enough buying this @ford Raptor was my gift 
to myself for not dying and retiring out of the Marine Corps and ended up 
preventing our deaths lol. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and 
outreaching of support. @vashleytay and I are very grateful.

@ford @fordperformance

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marine-vet-credits-raptor-saving-
121131729.html