Purple Heart recipient and current Nevada Senate nominee Sam Brown recently spoke to Daily Wire host Michael Knowles about his near-life-ending experience in Afghanistan and his journey from the battlefield to the political arena in the latest episode of the interview series, “Michael &.”

Only four months into his deployment in 2008, Brown’s M1151 Humvee was struck by an IED (an improvised explosive device) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Brown, then 24, was covered in diesel fuel and engulfed in flames. He miraculously survived, but suffered burns to 30% of body, including his face and other exposed areas, and lost his left index finger.

Describing the incident to Knowles, Brown said all he heard was silence due to the overpressure from the blast, and saw a “ball of fire” completely engulf him.

“That’s all I could see,” Brown said. “And my face was on fire because of where the roadside bomb went off underneath our vehicle was the fuel tank. So it blows up, I’m covered in diesel fuel — I’m now this human torch.”

WATCH the episode, “Michael & The Wounded Warrior

At that moment, he recalled, he “suddenly realized” who he was: “I am weak,” he said. “I could not even guarantee my own life would extend past the next 60 seconds.”

This realization came in stark contrast to how Brown previously thought of himself, as an invincible 24-year-old West Point grad who just made it through Ranger School.

During that split-second realization of his own weakness, Brown knew he needed God.

“I threw my arms in the air in a moment of desperation,” he told Knowles. “There was true conviction that I needed God, and I screamed, ‘Jesus, save me.'”

There was “no miracle” in that exact moment, the vet explained. “I’m just burning and burning,” he said. “The only thing I can hear is my own voice. It’s a haunting scream when a man believes he’s dying. You can’t recreate it. And I’m screaming for God. I’m screaming for my mom. I got to this place where I realized I couldn’t get these flames out, and I had these three final thoughts: How long is it going to take to burn to death? What’s the transition from this life to the next going to be like? And I made the decision to give up the will to live.”

“The miracle then came right after I gave up the will to live, because at this point, death is now going to actually be a relief,” Brown continued.

Then, he heard a voice from one of his soldiers. “He said, ‘Sir, I’ve got you.’ And it cut through everything, and I suddenly had hope and a bizarre peace that I knew I wasn’t going to die.”

That feeling of hope is something Brown wants to bring to other people, he explained.

“I feel a burden or a calling to give hope, because I know the power of receiving hope,” Brown said. “It came to me on the battlefield, and that was just that short phrase, ‘Sir, I’ve got you.'”

“Just knowing that someone was there for me — who, by the way, was putting himself at risk.” Brown explained that the soldier was also burned in the vehicle explosion.

“It’s words with action,” he emphasized.

During the interview, Brown also discusses his journey to politics, as he’s currently running for Senate in Nevada. He said his goal — drawing on his post-9/11 experience in the U.S. Military — is to put “mission and people” before partisan politics.

WATCH the episode, “Michael & The Wounded Warrior

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