by Antonio “Tony” Renteria

The day U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, announced his retirement, Democrats across the country celebrated. Thornberry’s announced exodus made him the sixth GOP congressman from Texas to retire. This left the 13^th Congressional District of Texas looking for a replacement for a seat Thornberry had occupied for 25 years. As one of the most senior members of the House of Representatives, Thornberry enjoyed long-standing relationships he built over many years with members of both the House and Senate. The Democrats knew that a freshman would take the seat and the district would be neutered.

Democrats did not plan for Ronny Jackson, the game-changer, who has the unique ability and cultivated the necessary relationships to make a major impact the minute he assumes office. To steal a phrase from President Trump, Jackson’s impact will be of the “Big League” variety. Instead of losing seniority and thus valuable leverage, Jackson’s presence will allow West Texas to be not only relevant, but dominant, in the Washington DC political world. Jackson is not just a good choice to replace Thornberry, he is the ONLY choice, regardless of who is in the race.

“President Trump is getting reelected. The left has already gone too far down that path that there is no way they are going to turn this train around. He’s getting reelected,” said Jackson. “I thought to myself, this is the perfect storm. This is the perfect opportunity for me to get in the fight and do something about what is going on in our country. To not complain about it, but to get in there and make a difference. That is what drove me to get in the race. The more I thought about it the more I decided this is what I am going to do. This is how it is all supposed to come together. I tell people all the time, it does make a difference, I can make a difference. I was telling people this when there was fifteen of us in the race, but it is more obvious now.”

Jackson continued, “Mac Thornberry has been the Congressman in the 13^th Congressional District for 26 years. He has a lot of authority. When he speaks people listen. He’s chaired committees. He’s the ranking member of committees now. When he has a problem in the District, they want to help him fix it. The day he leaves, zero. The day he leaves, that is completely gone. This District is going to have a freshman Congressman in there, and no one is going to know who they are, where they came from, where their district is, what their issues are, and no one is going to care. They’re just not. That’s the way it works. You have got to develop tenure in DC before you develop any kind of authority. That person is going to have to be in that seat for six to eight years before they develop enough tenure and enough authority that they can truly represent this district, especially on issues that are specific to this district. Well, I’m the exception to that, I am the exception. And its not just because I am Ronny Jackson, well it is a little bit, but because of circumstance. If I were telling you this, six years from now or six years ago, it wouldn’t apply.”

It applies now, and Ronny Jackson is the exception. Picture this, if you are a fan of basketball. In 1984 North Carolina All-America guard Michael Jordan entered the NBA Draft that June. Two teams had already passed on him and the Chicago Bulls were on the clock and they chose Jordan, the greatest player in NBA history and he took the Bulls to the Championships six times winning the title every time.  The Portland Trailblazers had the second pick in that draft and selected Sam Bowie, a center out of the University of Kentucky, instead of Jordan.  Who is Sam Bowie you ask? EXACTLY! That is the point. To answer the question, Bowie played about ten unspectacular years in the NBA and has drifted off into obscurity while Jordan became the greatest player in the history of the game. Being from District 13 in Texas and having a spectacularly impactful conservative candidate, Jackson, to represent your district, this is a gift horse, it is the golden ticket to relevance, this is Washington D.C. relevance and should not be passed. Don’t be remembered for taking the other guy when you can elect the Michael Jordan of the Congress who will undoubtedly have an incredibly significant impact from day one.

“I am the exception right now because of where I came from,” said Jackson when asked if he was the exception to the rule. “I just spent the last three years working every single day, side by side, with the President in The White House, and with the Cabinet in the West Wing. I know every single Cabinet Member, whether it’s Energy, Commerce, Ag, Defense, the VA, they are all friends of mine. I took care of them and their families for the last three years. I have their home phone numbers and their cell phone numbers. When I call and I have a problem with this district, they’re going to answer the phone and they are going to want to know how they can help me fix it.”

Jackson continued, “I know everyone in the West Wing, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Advisor, Domestic Policy Council, all friends of mine. If I am blessed enough to represent this district, I will be the only freshman Congressman in the country that can walk into The Oval Office, unannounced, and tell the President of the Country, ‘Sir, I have something I have to make you aware of.,’ and he will stop what he is doing and listen to what I have to say. That is just going to bring incredible influence for this district that they otherwise are not going to have for a very long time. I think I am the right person for this role, at the right time, and I think I can get a lot of things done for this district. I can grow this district. I can protect this district.”

Jackson is best remembered for disproving the savage attacks by the media and the liberal challenges from Nancy Pelosi and her cronies in their failed attempt to challenge President Donald J. Trump’s mental and physical abilities to serve as President. Jackson administered the necessary tests and proved President Trump was very capable both mentally and physically of fulfilling his Presidential duties. For over two hours, Jackson volleyed with the media and other detractors as to the fitness of the President and in the media and liberal Congressional detractors all left with proverbial mud on their faces and battle scars on their reputations to prove it.

Jackson was now in liberal’s crosshairs. True to form, they directed their attacks at him. Countless unfounded attacks were levied on Jackson’s character when he was chosen by President Trump to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was then that Jackson learned how truly savage the media could be. A process they rinsed and repeated against now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his selection. First the media generates damaging false information, pulling from places only toilet paper should go, then they spread this false information through “anonymous” sources. These lies are whispered enough to appear factual then the lies become heavily circulated, fake news.

Hence, Jackson was accused of everything from abusing and overdistributing prescription drugs to driving intoxicated and wrecking a car. Of course, all these accusations were without merit, without evidence, without corroboration, without a named source, and blatantly false. Fake news.

Jackson, in protecting his family in a hostile area, pulled his name from consideration. Nothing has ever come of these baseless accusations; because, none were true. Desperation is the ugly sister in politics and causes negative attacks in losing campaigns. Thus, the lies told by Pelosi and CNN and MSNBC have resurfaced and are shamefully being recirculated by Jackson’s runoff opponent in an attempt to discredit Jackson as a candidate. Again, do you want Michael Jordan or Sam Bowie?

No amount of petty attacks and verbiage can change the truly remarkable life of service and accomplishment that Ronny Jackson has achieved. His experiences have him uniquely positioned and qualified to forever change the face of Congressional District 13 in Texas. Jackson’s candidacy is endorsed by President Trump and he has already withstood the heated primary. While candidates, including his runoff opponent, attempted to align themselves with Trump, Jackson has been the only candidate to receive support from the President and he has also received tweets of encouragement from individuals close to Trump, such as the President’s son, Eric Trump. Jackson is obviously going to be a great asset to the conservative battle in Congress. Still, with all he has accomplished, there are many unanswered questions about Ronny Jackson.

Who is Ronny Jackson? How did he become such good friends with every major political figure in Washington DC? Is he capable of keeping Texas relevant in the U.S. House after six senior Republican members vacated their seats after this year? These are all great questions and in order to provide adequate answers, one must learn who Ronny Jackson is and how he got to this place to begin with.

Ronny Jackson is the son of Waymon and Norma Jackson and is one of three children. Jackson has a brother, Gary, and a sister, Stacy. A product of West Texas, Jackson was born and raised in a small town located about thirty miles west of Lubbock. Growing up in a family with a somewhat modest income, Jackson understood the value of hard work as he had to juggle his jobs and school at an early age.

“I was born and raised in this part of Texas, in the base of the Panhandle, here in Levelland, Texas. It was a small rural farming community. I am from a pretty blue-collar family. My dad is an electrician and my mom a homemaker.” Said Jackson. “They took good care of us, but there wasn’t a lot of money to go around to do other things, just to go to school, things of that nature.”

Jackson worked full-time jobs since he was thirteen years old, including a job at United Supermarket, where he performed duties such as sacking or stocking groceries and as cashier. Jackson managed to work several hours while attending school at a young age which afforded him the ability to pay for the things he wanted or needed but also helped his discipline in being able to balance school and work requirements.

“I worked anywhere from 32 to 60 hours a week all through middle school and high school to basically provide for what I needed,” Jackson said. “I have been pretty self-sufficient most of my life which my parents encouraged; but once again, as I said it was a kind of necessity. I think it served me pretty well since then.”

After graduating high school, Jackson planned on a life working at the oil fields, but fate had a very different plan. The seeds to his life started innocently enough as a teenager when Jackson and a friend took a scuba diving course which was the springboard to his career.

“I wasn’t really planning on going to college. Higher education wasn’t really a big emphasis in my family. My dad really thought college was a waste of time and thought I needed to get out into the oil field and start getting some seniority,” said Jackson who said the goal was for him to become a foreman which carried a better salary. “I did in fact do that when I got out of high school, I went to work as a roustabout at the oilfield, and that is how I ended up paying for my education.”

Jackson continued, “I started out at junior college, because once again, money issues, and its $13 a semester hour — I could afford that. I enrolled in South Plains College, and I got my associates degree there. Then I decided I wanted to be a marine biology major. It’s a little bit strange coming from that part of Texas and being interested in marine biology since there is no water. I had taken a scuba diving course that a Texas highway patrol officer had taught at the junior college when I was fifteen years old.”

Jackson and the friend of his who worked with him at United Supermarket became certified in diving. In their spare time they dove in small spring fed lakes and quarries all over Texas and New Mexico. It was during his time as a biology student at South Plains College that Jackson was convinced that he wanted to become a marine biologist.

“I ended up going to Texas A&M at Galveston. That’s where all the marine majors are, marine science, marine engineering, marine biology, and all the marine majors for A&M” said Jackson who continued travelling back to West Texas to work in the oil field every opportunity he could which enabled him to afford his college tuition and living expenses. Jackson needed to find employment near campus to supplement his income.

“I was doing okay, there. I was making ends meet. I was working as a resident advisor on campus and had a job at one of the labs on campus,” said Jackson who stated that he made enough at these jobs to pay the bills but wanted to earn a little more to have so he could have a social life with his friends. “I went across the street to the University of Texas Medical Branch, which is the original UT Medical School. I asked if they had anything, I could do job wise, working in the labs or something to make a little extra money. They said, ‘we do actually, the medical students have this work study and they’re not taking advantage of it, we could probably get you in one of the labs.’”

“They called me back a few days later and said, ‘hey, we got you a job on campus, but you will be working in the pathology department as an autopsy assistant,” said Jackson. “I said, well alright, that isn’t really what I was looking for, but I’ll do it.”

Jackson had never in his life considered going to med school. The thought up to that point had never crossed his mind. Things changed for him when he began working at the University of Texas Medical Branch and as he was assisting with the dissections for the autopsies, the pathology residents began teaching him what they were doing and why.

“When I went there and I started doing the autopsies, they started teaching me. My job was to do the dissection, take the organs out, take the brain out and pass it to the end of the table for the pathology resident to dissect everything and figure out how the person died. Then I would put everything away,” said Jackson. “What they started doing was they teaching me a little bit, ‘they would say, ‘hey, remember that liver you took out last week?’ and I would say ‘yeah, sure’ and they would say, ‘well come look at this, the guy died of liver cancer, do you see the difference?’ I started getting real interested in medicine. I thought, I might want to be a doctor. I got more and more interested in it.”

Jackson said, he knew his calling was not in pathology, but he was very interested in emergency medicine.  He had served as a volunteer firefighter and was familiar with the work of paramedics and EMTs. These were professionals he admired and led him to emergency medicine. Jackson knew what field of medicine he wanted to enter, and he was willing to work hard to achieve his goals. The elephant in the room was the tuition expense. How was he going to pay for Medical School?

“I then was confronted with the problem, I was about to graduate from Texas A&M in Galveston, and I decided I wanted to be a physician, so how do I go about doing that? I definitely did not have the money for med school. There was no way I could afford that and there is no way I was borrowing that kind of money,” said Jackson. “I was raised in an environment where my dad taught me that if you don’t have the money to pay for it, you probably don’t need it. There was no way I was even conceiving borrowing that kind of money.”

Jackson then reached out to the military. He had served in the Corps of Cadets while at Texas A&M, and he hoped that they may have a program where they would take that into consideration his service in the Corps and his academics. He knew he would be competitive for any scholarship or other program that was offered based on what he had accomplished to that point and this would help even if it only payed for a portion of his medical school.

“They said they had this great program that if I could get into medical school, they would pay for it, but I had to get in first,” said Jackson. “I applied to all the in-state schools. I got accepted at UT-MB (University of Texas Medical Branch) which is where I wanted to go. That’s where I was living at the time. That’s where my future wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, was, and it’s where most of my friends were. I got into med school there, I called the recruiter back and I applied for the program and they paid for my med school. It was year for year. I did four years of med school; so, I owed them four years of payback. It was a pretty good deal.”

Jackson graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch with a Doctor of Medicine in 1995.  He began active duty Naval service in 1995 at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia. It was there that Jackson completed his internship in transitional medicine.

Jackson completed his first year of residency training in 1996. He went on to become an honor graduate of the Navy’s Undersea Medical Officer Program in Groton, Connecticut.  Having the unique distinction of being qualified in submarine and hyperbaric medicine, Jackson’s subsequent operational assignments included: instructor at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida; detachment officer in charge and diving medical officer at Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 8 in Sigonella, Italy; and diving safety officer at the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk.

“I was doing my first year of Residency, which is called my Internship, and I found out about this program they had in the Navy, called a diving medical officer program. You could be a diver and a doctor, and I was like, this is tailor made for me,” said Jackson. “So, I applied for that program, and I got it. At the end of my internship, they sent me to Panama City, Florida, and sent me to Navy Deep Sea Diving School. I spent six months becoming a Navy diver. I finished that and was a fully certified Navy deep sea diver and I was a physician. For about the next five years they preferentially assigned me to diving units. I was assigned to explosive ordinance disposal teams, underwater salvage teams, underwater demolition type stuff, Navy Seals, that’s what I did for the next five years. That’s what really hooked me.”

Jackson said he had initially planned to retire from the military after completing his four years of service, but the allure of the diving assignments appealed to him. He fell in love with the job. He loved serving his country. He said because of the assignments he felt like a teenager getting to do what he always loved doing except he was being paid for it.

Jackson returned to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in 2001 to begin his residency in emergency medicine. He finished at the top of his class and was designated as an honor graduate. In 2004, after he completed his residency Jackson was assigned as clinical faculty in the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. He joined the 2^nd Marines, Combat Logistics Regiment 25, in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2005. He was deployed from there as the emergency medicine physician in charge of resuscitative medicine for a forward deployed Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon in Taqaddum, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“In 2004 and 2005 when the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was going pretty hot and heavy. If you were a Navy Board Certified Emergency Medicine Doctor, you belonged to the Marine Corps, because that is where they needed us,” said Jackson. “As soon I finished my Residency they sent me out to the 2^nd Marines in Camp LeJeune, and I married up with the second marines and I was Officer in charge of a resuscitation component of a surgical shock trauma platoon, right there on the battlefield, and we were busy. We saw an average of probably three to four bad casualties a day and we saw a lot of stuff that wasn’t as bad. When I say bad casualties, I mean, three or four times a day on average. Some days we wouldn’t get any, and some days we would get up to fifteen all at once. These were guys that were coming in with their arms or legs blown off, their bowels hanging out, burns from head to toe, just horrible injuries. I did that for almost a year with the Marines in Iraq. While I was there, I got an offer for a job at The White House, as the White House physician.”

It was in 2006, as he said, while he was still in Iraq, that Jackson was selected as a White House physician. Since he arrived at the White House, he has directed the Executive Health Care for the President’s Cabinet and Senior Staff, served as physician supervisor for the Camp David Presidential Retreat, held the position of physician to the White House and led the White House Medical Unit as its director.  He has served as White House physician during the past three administrations and was the appointed physician to the president for both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.  He previously served as assistant to the President for President Donald J. Trump and Chief Medical Advisor for the Executive Office of the President. Jackson served honorably for each President, but his journey there was an adventure all of its own and it is an adventure definitely worth sharing and best told in the words of Jackson himself.

“A lot of what happens to you is about being in the right place at the right time and about having a few key people that want to see you do well and they are investing in your success without really having anything to gain from it,” said Jackson. “It just so happens I was in that situation.”

“The Commanding General for all the Marines in Iraq at the time was a guy who used to be the military aid you know, the guy who carries the nuclear football, for Bush 41, for the first President Bush,” said Jackson. “He had worked closely for two years while he was in that job, side by side, with the White House Physician. He knew exactly what I was being asked to do. He knew the opportunity I was being given. He wanted to make sure I got it.

“When I found out I got the interview, I told my CO, my commanding officer, who told his CO, who told his CO, who told the General. Well, the General summoned me to his office,” said Jackson. “He said, ‘sit down, tell me what’s going on.’ So, I told him what was going on. Then he asked, ‘what are you going to do?’ I said, ‘well sir, I’m going to see if I can do a video teleconference interview, or maybe interview over the phone or something. I’m going to give it my best shot. I don’t know how competitive I am going to be but, I am going to give it a shot.’ He said, ‘alright, stand by.’ He picked the phone up and he called and talked to the air boss – the guy who controls all the air assets, the planes, the helicopters, and everything for the Marines. He’s talking to this guy and the last thing he says is basically, to paraphrase, ‘I want his butt out of here by sunset,’ and he hangs the phone up. Then he goes, ‘get your crap, you’re leaving.’ I said, ‘yes sir!’”

Jackson continued, “I ran back to my hooch, I got my sea bag, and threw some stuff in it, and I went out to the flight line. I got on a helicopter, I flew to Baghdad, I got on a C-5 Cargo Plane full of broken helicopters that flew me back to Cherry Point, North Carolina. I got a rental car and drove back to Virginia Beach where I was living at the time.”

“I had lost about forty pounds when I was in Iraq because I was working out all the time when we weren’t getting casualties. I had lost a ton of weight. I had no clothes that fit me. I was supposed to be at The White House, THE NEXT DAY! I was supposed to interview two days in a suit and one day in a uniform. I had nothing that fit me. So, I jumped in the car with my wife and we drove to the Men’s Wearhouse. I bought a new suit, I begged them to tailor it for me there. They tailored it and got it presentable for me. I had also brought my uniform in with me, I begged them to make that presentable for me. They did. I jumped back in my rental car, drove to Washington DC. Interviewed for the job for three days in DC. At the end of the three days they told me I got the job. I got back on a plane. Went back to Iraq. Finished my tour for four months there and came straight back from Iraq to The White House. That was in 2006.”

Jackson is a Board-Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and is designated as a fellow of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.  He currently holds faculty clinical appointments with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Harvard School of Medicine affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Disaster Medicine Fellowship Program.

After the George W. Bush presidency came to an end, Jackson’s term at The White House was to have completed. The Pentagon extended Jackson’s orders to remain under President Barrack Obama. After the retirement of several of The White House medical staff, many who had been in the military for over twenty years, Jackson became a senior member of The White House Staff and was appointed Deputy Director of The White House Medical Unit.

“My job was basically to assist with taking care of the President and the First Family, but my main job was to do all the contingency planning and take care of the Office of the Presidency. I took care of Air Force One, the Presidential Helicopter Squadron, The White House Communications Agency, Camp David, The Secret Service, all the people that worked on and around The White House grounds. I did that at home, in DC, and when they travelled all over the world.”

“I did that then the Pentagon cut me another set of orders to make me the Director of The White House Medical Unit, then ultimately, the Physician of The White House, Physician to the President. And Senior Advisor to the President, which is my last job. So, every time they I got a new level of responsibility and a new title, I got a set of new active duty orders that extended me there at The White House in a different role. I ended up being at The White House for 14 years. I did 25 years of active duty and four years in the Reserves so almost 29 years in the military. My last 14 years of active duty I was at The White House working for the last three administrations.”

Jackson’s awards include, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (three awards), as well as other individual, unit and campaign awards.  He is also designated as a diving and undersea medical officer, naval parachutist, Fleet Marine Force Warfare qualified officer, and submarine warfare qualified medical officer.

President Trump said Jackson has lived a beautiful life and calls him a great man. Jackson has worked hard and everything he has achieved he has earned. He is a very humble servant of God and country. The people who know him, realize the things he has been unjustly accused of are not even plausible for him to have done. This is evident in that there has been now nor has there ever been any follow up or evidence to prove the vile things the fake news media accused him of ever occurred – because none of it did. This time, Jackson’s family will be safely in Texas and he can take the gloves off and he has already proven to be capable of facing any challenge.

“What I tell people, I got “Kavanaughed” before Kavanaugh did. I was the pregame, but I didn’t even know it. It just got so ugly that my family was getting harassed, there was tripods set up at the bottom of my driveway. I couldn’t get into my house from work without going through this gauntlet. My wife couldn’t leave the house because they got there early in the morning and stayed until late in the evenings, they were there all the time. My kids were getting harassed at these liberal schools in DC that they were going to because there is nothing but liberal schools in DC,” said Jackson. “It was becoming a real distraction for the veterans, and the President had already done really great things for the veterans. He started the Choice Program and it was really a distraction from all the really great stuff he was doing for them. The veterans were becoming a political football and I didn’t like that. So, I went to the President and I said, ‘sir, we have to find a different way for me to get in the game and be a value to you and your administration. I am withdrawing my nomination and I was really disgusted with DC at that point. My whole thought is I just want to get out of this place.”

“I started coming to the realization that, wow, I don’t know that I am going to be okay with this. I don’t want to be that guy sitting around in the coffee shop in the next ten years talking about how screwed up this place is and what a horrible rotten place that DC is and what an unfair process this all is. I don’t want to be that guy. I want to do something about it.”

It was then that Mac Thornberry announced his retirement and the light bulb went off for Jackson.

“That’s where I grew up, I grew up in that part of Texas, I know the people there. I can represent the people in the panhandle of Texas and in North Texas without changing anything about who I am. I agree with them socially, politically, economically, culturally. I am on the same page with them.”

Jackson is essential to District 13. Residents need to ask themselves how much longer until Democrats look to cut funding for Bell Helicopter, or Pantex, or try and shut down Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls? Most freshman Congressman would be powerless to stop this, actually, all freshman probably would with the exception of Jackson. He has the leadership ability, the understanding, and the contacts to protect and prosper the district. Early voting for the Republican Party Runoff Election runs from June 29 through July 10 with Election day falling on July 14.

//pf