Soccer Dad

Reporting for duty - military monday 3

What do you say about a soldier who returns to action after a serious injury?

When he went on patrol last September in Camp Liberty, Iraq on the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Staff Sgt. Willie Hall had no idea that the events unfolding that day would separate him from his unit, Company B, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, for more than six months.

Hall’s dismounted patrol came under attack in Ghazaliya, September 11 from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device followed by small-arms fire.

According to members of Hall’s unit, he provided first aid to his fellow Soldiers before realizing he himself was significantly wounded in both the neck and arm. After the unit forced their attackers to flee, Hall’s battle buddies evacuated him to receive treatment.

Unfortunately, not all soldiers can return after an injury. I inadvertantly found the Helping our Heroes foundation devoted to helping injured soldiers.

Some injured soldiers are rehabbing by playing golf.

Others are learning kayaking. (And sometimes the injury isn't physical.)

Hamm was a warehouse worker in Nashville whose National Guard unit went to Iraq last year. He lost a buddy there, killed by two bullets that got past his body armor. Hamm inventoried his friend's effects: a letter, a computer and a bloodstained uniform that triggered something in him that he could not control. He fasted, taking little more than water for two weeks, "for my brothers' safety," he said. On patrol in Iraq, he needed to check every village, every building, every room. One day he circled the same empty car 15 times, and eventually wound up at Walter Reed.

For six weeks, he's sat in sessions on combat stress, taken medications that "make me feel down, make me feel out," and then he met Mornini.

Who now glided up, to critique Hamm's first shot at the rapids. "When in doubt, paddle like hell," Mornini said. "You got your paddle up here" -- waving it over his head -- "you've got a zero percent chance of taking the correct stroke. Again."

The second time, Hamm made it through the rapids, only to roll in an eddy at the bottom. Shivering, he got back to the top, where Mornini joined him again.

Skin chalky with cold, Hamm paddled upriver again, then pealed out into the froth.

(Here's another article about injured soldiers kayaking.)

Joe Mornini came up with the idea of using kayaking for therapy and founded Team River Runner.

Some other injured soldiers have taken to the Potomac for fishing.

Nearly 30 active duty soldiers and Army National Guardsmen on medical hold at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., were released from the hospital for a day recently to go fishing.

Spc. James shows off the 3.95-pound largemouth bass he caught while fishing in the first Operation Iraqi Freedom Soldiers Fishing Tournament on the Potomac River Diffenderfer is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington from injuries he received during duty in Iraq in February.
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available.

The soldiers participated in the first Iraqi Freedom Soldiers Fishing Tournament at the Columbia Island Marina just off the Potomac River. The marina sits right across the road from the Pentagon.

"We wanted to do something that got the soldiers out of the hospital," said Lee Branham, president of the NOVA Bass Anglers fishing club and organizer of the event. "We decided to take them fishing."

It's wonderful that some soldiers can heal sufficiently to return to combat. Unfortunately, due to the destructive nature of war that cannot always happen. For the others we can only hope that they recover as fully as possible. They all are the heroes who have been fighting for us.

Though Military Monday is my own initiative, if you have positive stories about America's brave soldiers, feel free to send them my way. Maybe this can become a carnival.

UPDATE: Included in Carnival of the Blue Star #14.

Technorati tags: Military Monday, Team River Runner.

Posted by SoccerDad at June 13, 2006 4:51 AM | TrackBack