Jonathan Turnbull enlisted in the United States Army soon after graduating from Gaylord High School in 2005. He was deployed once to Afghanistan, twice to Jordan, once to Lebanon, and then in 2018 deployed to Iraq with a follow on assignment to Syria. Throughout his career, Turnbull and his team were involved in several missions that enhanced the quality of life for those living in war torn areas. They enabled the system to allow around 4,000 girls to return to school after seven years of prohibition from ISIS. They helped rebuild a local hospital and even renovated a hydroelectric dam in Tishreen, Syria which restored power to about 450,000 people in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan.
On January 16th, 2019, Turnbull and his team were visiting a school to perform a wellness check and ensure that they were not being denied access to their education. As they were leaving, an ISIS suicide bomber ran up to Turnbull and his team, detonating his vest. There were four casualties and three other Americans including Turnbull were seriously wounded. Turnbull suffered a complete nucleation of his right eye and a puncture to his left eye. He spent months in the hospital, had over 20 surgeries, and clocked in countless hours of rehabilitation.
This event led Turnbull to write and publish a book called, “Zero Percent Chance.” Turnbull says, “I wrote the book to honor my fallen teammates. I didn’t want it to be a book written about how they died, but instead, I wanted their families to know how they lived. Their families have become a part of mine, and I love them all. I only hope they know how much they mean to me.”