Your Role in Shaping a Freer Future is Through Divine Design
The twists and turns that brought you to today should give you confidence your mission is ordained by a much higher power than your own desires.
If I could give one piece of advice to a young man becoming involved in politics or, more broadly stated, the fight to preserve liberties, it would be very simple and would center on protecting the mind by limiting time online sifting through opinions. While the Internet, particularly the X platform, is full of useful information, it is also full of complainers, people obsessed with one issue, and paid misinformation agents who are only there to sow discord.
It is very easy to become depressed about the future of our nation if you spend too much time online. That is the primary reason I wrote “Change of Orders” in late 2024 and have remained committed to following the plan. My decision has cost me ad revenues on X, and probably has curbed my growth on this platform (my favorite and the most important to me), but has given me greater peace, removed me from needless conflict, and most importantly, sharpened my mind for use by those who are essential for shaping the national political battlefield for coming generations.
Everything is going to work out the way it should, as long as you pursue your convictions and engage with those God has placed in your orbit. I am going to tell you a personal story, one which you may be familiar with through past writings, that hardens my resolve and makes me remember that there is divine power at work in our lives to bring about human flourishing and liberty not just here, but in the world, where people still die for their faith and struggle under legitimate tyranny - not the sort of “oppression” entitled white liberals in the land of the free think they face when they meet someone who doesn’t hold their same positions.
My story, which I would normally think to publish in my personal Substack, is here on Captain K’s Corner because it is directly tied to pessimism over geopolitical affairs and national politics. It is relevant upon the premise that I don’t believe I would have gained the level of influence I have had in election integrity and other worldwide issues if not for the military service (Captain, USA, Military Intelligence, Afghanistan 2010-11) that sharpened my mind and gave me the capacity to prioritize relevant information and make hard assessments impacting mission success. I had a knack for analytics before entering military service, but lacked the mental and physical toughness to push back against darkness and face constant attacks from those seeking to undermine my credibility.
The photo above is from June 2008 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at Basic Officer Leader Course, Phase II, a six-week course designed to ease newly commissioned Army officers into active service and prepare them for specialty training. I had been on Active Duty for less than three weeks and was already facing an obstacle that threatened to derail the career I so badly wanted to have. I wanted to serve, both to defend our country and to please my father, who was a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with three tours in Vietnam. This was several years before I realized we were engaged in unwinnable conflicts, and my motives for serving were not jaded by the experience I would later obtain overseas. At the time that photo was taken, I was anxious, scared, and uncertain about my future because I was the only officer in my training class likely to get kicked out for a medical issue.
I had breezed through Ole Miss Army ROTC in just two years, commissioning in May 2008. Military Intelligence (MI) was my first choice for service branch within the Army, but I wound up being selected for what is called a branch detail in Field Artillery and would not transition to MI until I made Captain and attended the Captains Career Course at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, just an hour’s drive from where I live today. Branch details exist because combat arms branches like Field Artillery, Infantry, and Armor need more junior officers, while branches like MI or Signal Corps need more Captains and higher and fewer lieutenants. I would learn to shoot cannons and plan artillery operations for a few years, or more realistically, lead patrols in villages in Iraq or Afghanistan, before moving on to MI a few years later.
Or so I thought.
In my first week at Fort Sill, I passed through the vision and hearing screening booths expecting it to be your standard check box activity. I knew I couldn’t hear well out of my surgically repaired right ear, in which I’m mostly deaf today, but had received a waiver to join Army ROTC and receive a commission. To me, it was a done deal and I had the paperwork to back it up. The big Army didn’t agree with me, and flagged me for a Permanent Level 3 profile for hearing, which at my experience (none) required a medical review board to determine if I would remain in uniform or not. Imagine going through a commissioning program, showing up for Active Duty with your career in mind, and finding out you might be moving back to Jackson to beg for a job you had no interest in, in a field you weren’t prepared to enter. It was a big deal and instantly consumed my life.
By the book, my company and battalion commanders interviewed me and coldly put pen to paper to recommend dismissal from service, under the grounds that I lacked proper hearing ability to function efficiently in combat arms, and didn’t factor in the Army’s intelligence picture for a few more years, anyway. A panel convened at the very end of July, just a few days after I graduated BOLC II, to determine my future. It included the battalion commander, who recommended dismissal, two other Lieutenant Colonels, a Major (the medical officer), and the full Colonel who presided over the board. I needed three of them to side with me.
The ace up my sleeve was my Dad. He drove 9 hours in from Mississippi, appeared before the board, made his appeal on my behalf, and told me to do my best. My turn came, and I told these senior officers I was fully capable of performing the duties of an MI officer and requested transfer to that branch. The battalion commander who recommended dismissal looked down at his notes, sticking to his pride rather than listening to my heart.
After a few minutes that seemed like hours, I was summoned back to the room. The group voted three to two in my favor, compelled by my Dad’s testimony to let his son serve and continue the family tradition of Keshel Army officers. It turns out that the deciding vote was cast by Lieutenant Colonel Watson, who had suffered hearing issues that had spanned his entire career. The board president, Colonel Matties, informed me I would be retained and transferred to MI and dismissed me by saying “you better have a good career.”
I went on to serve six more years and had a good career. You wouldn’t read about it in the history books, as I no longer endeavored to be a lifer after my year seeing things for what they were in Afghanistan, but I will never deny the impact it had on my ability to lead, work well under pressure, defend my positions, and have no fear in consulting those in authority while having full faith in my assessments. There would literally be no “Captain K” as a watchman on the wall of America’s elections without having survived the peril of the medical review board as “Lieutenant K.”
With just two years left to live, my father was used to appeal to a panel that would have certainly sent me into civilian life in the best interests of the United States Army otherwise. He congratulated me, smiled proudly, and walked right out to the parking lot of the Reynolds Army Health Clinic to get right back in the car and drive home. Just like that, the page had turned to a new chapter that brought me right to where I am today.
Dad taught me another beautiful lesson the next November that will edify your soul:
In the story in which God is the General, I am just one piece of his operations order. He’s used me to bring others into the fight and impact discussion over an important topic, but the lesson is the same for every one of you reading this post today. Instead of buying into the dread you feel, or the anxiety you reap from reading negative opinions and outlooks online, tap into the divine power that is evident when we realize there are too many random happenings, near misses, and narrow pathways to fulfillment that have aligned in perfect order to bring us where we are today.
If all I do with my platform is pat myself on the back, post tempting articles to boost subscribership, and step on others to get ahead, then I fail in my mission and I displease the one who sent me into this fight. I also dishonor my father and family. By reminding you that my story is too improbable to have come to pass, that my level of understanding was only made possible by the experiences that medical board approved me to have against the published military standards, and that my father went to bat for me when I had no one else - then I also remind you that God is so much bigger than the problems we face as a society and that He can absolutely overcome the perilous situations we see developing on every side.
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:4-6 (New International Version)
If all I do is tell you about politics, I fail to fulfill my true purpose. Thank you for understanding this personal story and my hope is that you look back and see the unexpected turns in your life as fingerprints of God directing you to your destiny. Thank you all for your readership and work in making the world a freer place for future generations.
Seth Keshel, MBA, is a former Army Captain of Military Intelligence and Afghanistan veteran. His analytical method of election forecasting and analytics is known worldwide, and he has been commended by President Donald J. Trump for his work in the field.
One of your best.
May God continue to bless and guide you, Seth, who are one of His best!
Amen