A Timely and Hopeful Reminder That Courage Still Matters

By Joe DePete

Every so often, a book comes along that does more than inform or entertain. It causes us to reflect—not only on the world around us, but on our own responsibilities within it. Rye Barcott’s Courage Can Save Us is one of those books.

I first met Rye through an invitation to a dinner in Washington, D.C., hosted by With Honor, the cross-partisan organization he co-founded to strengthen our democracy by supporting principled veteran leadership and fighting polarization in Congress. My wife, Lauri, and I found the evening deeply meaningful. We had the opportunity to meet military veterans, public servants, and, perhaps most memorably, Afghan interpreters who had served alongside American forces.

I expected to leave impressed by accomplished public servants. Instead, I left thinking about people whose names most Americans will never know.

Listening to those interpreters describe the choices they had made—and the extraordinary risks they accepted, not only for themselves but for their families—was both humbling and inspiring. Their stories reminded me that courage rarely announces itself. It does not always come with recognition or reward. More often, it reveals itself through ordinary people making extraordinary decisions because they believe something larger than themselves is worth serving.

That experience came back to me repeatedly while reading Courage Can Save Us.

Rye tells the stories of military veterans from across the political spectrum who carried their commitment to service into public life. Their politics differ. Their backgrounds differ. Their experiences differ. But running through their stories is something far more important than party affiliation: character.

In today’s political environment, where disagreement too often gives way to distrust and division, Rye offers something increasingly rare—a reminder that courage, integrity, and service are not partisan values.
They are American values.

When Rye later asked me which of the people featured in the book resonated most with me, I initially mentioned Representative Brian Fitzpatrick and Senator Mark Kelly. But the more I thought about the question, the more I realized my real answer was: all of them. That is one of the strengths of this book. Each story stands on its own as an example of courage, character, and service. But taken together, they form something larger—a mosaic of individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, and political perspectives, connected by a willingness to accept responsibility, work across differences, and place service above self-interest. And perhaps that larger picture is where Rye’s message becomes most powerful: the qualities these individuals demonstrate are not reserved for those who serve in public office. They are available to all of us.

Perhaps that is why this book affected me as strongly as it did.

Over a lifetime, I have observed that the strongest organizations are not sustained by rules and structures alone. They ultimately depend upon people—people willing to speak when silence would be easier, listen when disagreement is uncomfortable, accept responsibility when blame would be more convenient, and place the mission above themselves.

That is moral courage.

And while Courage Can Save Us is rooted in public service, its message reaches far beyond politics. The qualities Rye explores—integrity, humility, service, respect, and courage—are the same qualities upon which healthy families, communities, professions, organizations, and institutions depend.

There is another reason I believe this book is especially important now.

It offers hope.

Not the passive hope that somehow our divisions will disappear or that someone else will solve the problems confronting us. Rye offers something more demanding and ultimately more powerful: the hope that comes from recognizing that individuals still possess the ability to make a difference.

Hope does not change the world by itself. It becomes reality when ordinary people find the moral courage to act.

That, for me, is the enduring message of Courage Can Save Us.

At a time when cynicism is easy and division can sometimes feel inevitable, Rye Barcott reminds us that neither has to have the final word. Courage remains a choice. Service remains a calling. Character still matters.

And hope remains possible.

I highly recommend Courage Can Save Us—not simply because it is a thoughtful book about leadership and public service, but because it leaves the reader with something increasingly precious: the belief that each of us has a role in strengthening the institutions and communities entrusted to our care.

That is a message worth reading.

More importantly, it is a message worth carrying forward.

Capt. Joseph G. DePete (ret.) is the President and Founder of JG DePete Aerospace Industry Solutions LLC and former president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA)—the largest airline pilot union in the world.