On the night of August 11th 2015 while on board the USS Harry S. Truman it started off as a regular night . On the coast of North Carolina it was a hot night and on that night specifically jets were flying so as an ABF at the time I was fueling .

 

I started fueling 302 a little bit after 12:00am doing something called “ HOT FUELING” In which is fueling while the jet is on . while fueling , my plane captain taps me as calmly as ever and points behind me , I Turn around and to my surprise I am face to face with fuel spraying from a hole in the hose I’m using , 10ft in the air and showering 302.

 

I immediately tried to cut the hose off

Won’t budge

Try to pull the hose away from 302

Wont budge

 

And in that instant 302 exploded twice , first one being the engine exploding because of the fuel intake , the second being the pilot ejecting from 302 .

 

I sustained 2nd degree burns on my face

And 3rd degree burns on my arms and legs

Mentally and physically beat to say the least was the reoccurring feeling during recovery..

 

While in chapel hill burn trauma unit , I avoided mirrors , never left my room and started housing my meds , I had plans to take them all at once because mentally I was fooled to believe I would look and be like this forever but then my mother arrived .

 

She glowed while walking into the hospital room so much so I began to cry , she had a gaze in her eyes like she knew exactly what I was doing exactly what I had planned , she walked towards me hands filled with balloons and flowers and she said as I quote

 

“ their is people that walk this world in search of self worth , so much so in search not realizing that it’s been within them all along, now Paul you are here after surviving a terrible accident , how can you not know your WORTH now more then ever , your more then WORTHY you are made in his image and molded in his STRENGTH you are EXPENSIVE , shit after this WILD EXPENSIVE “

 

WILD Expensive clothing the brand will not just be that , a Brand . It will be a reminder to me and to everyone that has a WILD EXPENSIVE hat , or a WILD EXPENSIVE sticker or WILD EXPENSIVE shirt or cup that those words are for  you too, you are made in his image molded in his STRENGTH you are WILD EXPENSIVE 🙏🏿