A Memoir by Brent LaGrave

Bulletproof

I wasn't chasing a high. I was chasing quiet.

Last picked for kickball. They said I'd be dead or in jail by 21.
I'm 44. It ain't pretty. It ain't a happy ending. But it's bulletproof.

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The Story

Who I Am

I grew up in upstate New York — long winters, long memories, and short patience for people who didn't fit. I didn't fit.

For twenty years I wore a mask. Crowds of thousands knew the name. Carpenter. Mechanic. Father of three boys. And for a period that nearly killed me and the woman I love — a man lost inside fentanyl addiction.

Bulletproof is not a recovery story. It's a survival story. It's the map I drew from the bottom of the abyss, so someone else doesn't have to find their way out alone.

Years Old — Still Standing

Years Behind the Wheel

360

Years of Bloodline — Still Fighting

From the Book

A Taste of Bulletproof

Shauna knew right off. Her heart sank.

The first thing that ran through her mind was: "My Brent!" Her heart started to race, palms got sweaty, her stomach felt like she just went on the tallest elevator and it dropped from under her feet.

There was nothing Brent could do. He was helpless, weak. He was praying this was all a dream — that he would wake up any minute. But the sound of sneakers skidding across the hardwood floor, he knew for a fact it wasn't a dream.

He pushes the button to his '97 Tahoe. That 350 GM motor was rumbling. He puts the truck in first and takes off. Village P.D. pulling out right behind him.

The sound of the 350 running on 33-inch mud swampers on the blacktop — the hum alone would drive you crazy. Cops' headlights right in his rear. She was almost there. He had a quarter mile left. He wasn't stopping for nothing.

Shauna picks up her head and looks at the nurse. "I told you he was here!"

As her Clyde starts to walk her to Room 2, she looks at him. "Babe, we gotta go. We gotta go home."

Brent looks at the nurse and then back at his girl. His girl looks like she was just beaten. She was weak. She was barely holding on to him. He says, "Let's go, love. The truck is right over here."

— Bulletproof: A Story of Addiction, Legacy, and Survival

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The Great Army

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