Bob Parsons was a 0311, a Marine Corps Rifleman, with 1st Battalion 26th Marines in South Vietnam’s Quang Nam province. When he first arrived on Hill 190, where his company operated, it was all rice paddy as far as his eyes could see. He was told that his time in-country would change him. He may not have realized just how much he would change.
If his name sounds familiar, that’s because Bob Parsons was the founder of GoDaddy.com, a billionaire serial entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He has not only donated hundreds of millions to the Semper Fi & America’s Fund, but has also signed on to the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half his fortune.
Fire in the Hole and the Making of Bob Parsons
His new book, “Fire in the Hole! The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success,” is not just about his time in Vietnam; it’s the story of what his life was like before and after the war.
“Despite and because of the gruesome things that I saw, Vietnam shaped me in so many ways, it changed me to the core,” Parsons writes in his book. “What I went through, what I witnessed and how I survived is a big part of who I am today… I am certain that had I not gone through Vietnam, I wouldn’t have accomplished all that I have over the years.”
Parsons’ unit was assigned to make squad-level ambushes against the North Vietnamese Army to keep them from harassing the villages in their operating area. Those rice paddies were a far cry from the life he led growing up poor in Baltimore. He was the son of a furniture salesman and a homemaker, and he was never a particularly good student. But when his high school teachers learned he signed up for the Marine Corps, they gave him passing grades so he could graduate.
When he actually arrived in Vietnam, however, things changed. He suddenly became aware of the danger he was in. His heart began to race as the task of staying alive seemed insurmountable. As darkness closed in over him, he realized he was going to die there. But that realization lifted his spirits. The darkness receded, and he felt relieved. He decided then and there he would only worry about being the best Marine he could be for his fellow Marines and that he would only ever look forward to the next day’s mail call.
Parsons was wounded while fighting in Vietnam, a memory he recalls very well in the book. When he came home, his life was entirely different than the one he left behind. He went to college and became a CPA, started a software company (that he would sell for millions), founded GoDaddy, started a family, and, after all that, finally dealt with the trauma from Vietnam that haunted him the whole time.
“Fire in the Hole!” is not only Bob Parsons’ hilarious reflection on his military service, it’s a book about leadership principles, the mindset of an entrepreneur, and a self-help book for anyone who struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. All of these come together in one very readable, digestible, and engrossing narrative, told in the unabashed way we’ve come to expect from Bob Parsons.
“Fire in the Hole! The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success” is available on Amazon in hardcover, Kindle ereader or audiobook starting at $13.28. Or you can get the book straight from Bob Parsons’ company PXG for $14.50.
Read About Other Book Reviews
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