Back From Beyond: A Soldier’s Near-Death Experience

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Back from Beyond

Text from Glenn Brymer in Spring, Texas

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Glenn Brymer:

In 1971, I was stationed at a missile site in West Germany. My job as an army engineer was high-stress. I used alcohol to deal with it. One day, a fellow soldier brought me to church. It made me wonder if there was another way—though I wasn’t sure if I believed in God or divine intervention.

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During a drill, I was hit by a military truck and pinned to a brick wall. My left arm was severed from my body. I was losing blood fast.

I heard people shouting for a medic.

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I noticed something. A shimmering cloud formed on the horizon to my left and started to move across me.

I felt confused, scared, cold. I realized that if the cloud consumed me, I was going to die.

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The world disappeared. I was outside myself, looking into my body. I could see my heart beating too fast and my lungs going into overdrive. I needed to calm them down.

Like a mechanic tuning a car, I adjusted them until they slowed. Then I returned to myself. The cloud retreated.

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I was in the ambulance. Medics couldn’t stop my bleeding. I drifted. I needed God’s help. I wasn’t used to praying. How would I reach him?

In my mind, I constructed a military radio, set it to broadband and composed a message: “God, if you’re out there, I’m dying.”

I hit the transmit button.

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I was transported to a place dotted with clouds. I was filled with the most incredible love. Like nothing I had ever felt before.

I heard a voice:

“You’re not going to die… …you will continue. This will help you understand why.”

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I saw a bright light coming toward me. The center opened, and millions of images appeared. An acorn growing into a mighty oak, then dying and growing again. Mountains rising and falling.

People living and dying.

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The star closed, then shot away.

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I was back in the ambulance. No time had passed. The doctors were able to reattach my arm. I was given a medical discharge. I can’t explain the experience I had. I just know it changed my life forever.

For more on how to help veterans, check out Guideposts Military Outreach website.