By Michael Omoruan

A photo of Scott DeLuzio(L) and Steven DeLuzio(R). Courtesy of SgtStevenDeLuzio.com.

Everyone remembers where they were the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. Without exaggeration, it  is a day that we, as a nation, will never forget. Scott DeLuzio definitely won’t. The day inspired him to serve our country by joining the national guard which eventually led to him joining the war effort in Afghanistan. 

His parents weren’t too thrilled to say the least since his younger brother, Steven had enlisted in the Vermont Army National Guard “as a part of A Company 3/172 Infantry Regiment”, Steven notes in Surviving Son, a gripping, intimate book The Meridian was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of. 

In it, Scott details the early years spent with and his brother’s time spent overseas serving our country along with coming to terms with his death on August 22, 2010 during Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Military Times. Despite the harsh reality he was faced with and challenges he endured, he was soon able to find it in himself to push forward. 

The two were inseparable growing up. They would re-enact their favorite scenes from the 1986 dog-fighting classic Top Gun with a spoon and couch cushions and visit army bases with their parents. Both of which instilled respect in them for those who served at an early age. 

It wasn’t too long after that they begin attending baseball and hockey games. In one memorable instance, after the DeLuzios’ Boston Bruins laid waste to the Montreal  Canadiens, Steven’s bellowing of “USA! USA!” was powerful enough to get a stadium chock-full of Bostonians to join in unison after exiting their seats.

Scott’s book was released on August 30, 2021 and was based on journal entries he would write shortly after returning home. In an effort to let out what he experienced while also giving his children and also others an idea of what life was like for him, he began to write what would eventually become the finished piece.

Despite the dark and heavy subject matter, Scott packs in plenty of pathos and humor which was unexpected but necessary at points. When asked about this in an exclusive interview with the Meridian, he stated that he likes to joke around. “I think I got that from my brother. I recognized that part of the reason for writing this was so that we could understand who the person is behind this name and picture that you might see in the newspaper or television. And his personality was a funny personality, he was just a funny guy.”

Being released just as the country and the world at large seems to reverting back to normalcy post-pandemic, the book is also a great resource for overcoming what may seem insurmountable obstacles. 

When asked on having any trauma or PTSD during the height of the pandemic, surprisingly Scott, who is also the host of the Drive On podcast where he talks with veterans to inspire hope and resiliency, stated that one of the first actions taken by veterans who may be afflicted is to self-isolate and limit going outside. 

“One of the strange things was when all the lockdowns and this whole thing started with the pandemic started last year. I looked around and everyone seemed like there were panicking and I was like ‘Should I be acting any different right now? Because this is how I normally am. When people were talking about 6 feet, I was like ‘Is that it?’

Also the founder of Amplify Plugins, an online company that provides plugins for almost everything from digital downloads to restricting purchase of products someone’s store may have in certain countries, Scott gave some great last words of wisdom for those that may need it. “When there’s something you want to do, even though it’s a hard and challenging thing to do, you figure out a way to do it. I think everybody has it in them. It would take a lot of failures. I had plenty of my own with learning everything that I did. But all those failures, you learn from and you get better from them.” 

Surviving Son is available for purchase now on Amazon in Kindle, hardcover, and paperback