wounds brings life lessons

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Randy Randolph | 82nd Airborne Division Commander, Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Staff Sgt. Bryan McNees, HHC, 1st Bn., 325th AIR, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  

10.17.2006

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Randy Randolph 

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

by Staff Sgt. Randy Randolph
2nd BCT, 82nd (AA) PAO

SILVER SPRING, MD. - When Spc. Jay Erwin used to hear reporters speak of "wounded" soldiers on the evening news, he envisioned troops with minor scrapes and bruises who medics could quickly patch up and send back into the fight after a day or two.

Today, as Erwin sits in a wheelchair on the second floor lobby of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he sees things much differently.
"Hearing about our guys that were wounded didn't really affect me," he said. "I was just glad that guys I was fighting with were still alive. It didn't occur to me that there's a lot more mental and physical pain involved with being wounded, and I'm learning that now."

Like many soldiers who have received injuries in battle, Erwin is learning that matter of fact statements regarding casualties do not even begin to describe the long road to recovery that soldiers face when combat wounded.

Erwin, an indirect fire infantryman team leader with Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, was severely injured when his position was mortared while on a mission South of Baghdad. Shrapnel shattered his left tibia, fibula and ankle, landed in his femoral artery, and lodged just a quarter of an inch from his jugular vein, requiring doctors to perform emergency surgery.

"I was in a high state of pain," Erwin said. "I saw smoke bombs going off, people yelling, I was bleeding through my pants. When I started to see all the blood spurt I put on a pressure dressing thinking 'I have to get something done or I can't help out,' I was trying to stay in the fight, but save my life as well."

Irwin was medevaced to Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and after being stabilized, returned to the U.S. Only then did he come to grips with the extent of his wounds.

Although now Erwin's injuries are not life-threatening, he faces a much different obstacle in trying to recover mentally and physically from wounds that force him to rely on others in performing daily tasks he once took for granted.

"I have to take baby steps now," said Erwin. "Everyday I face challenges to get through my pain and recover. I'm working hard to learn ways to compensate for my injuries."

Once a soldier is stabilized, WRAMC staff are dedicated to helping guide troops like Erwin through the obstacles on the long road to recovery.

"The goal is to have a complete recovery, or exhaust as much occupational or physical therapy as we can to get these guys functional and even retainable in the Army if possible," said Sgt 1st Class Maurice Grant, XVIII Airborne Corps Casualty Assistance Liaison.

Grant said that once they complete an overall assessment of their wounds, most of the soldiers he is assigned to are quickly prepared for the challenges they will face while recovering.

"After a soldier gets over the initial shock of what has happened, and what they will have to face due to their injuries, and physically sees their wounds, they come to grips fast," Grant said.

Grant said that the Army's policy of moving family members close to the hospitals where their loved ones are recovering helps soldiers get better faster.

"Moving the family here helps expedite the recovery process. It lets the soldier know that he or she is not going through it alone, it's like a, 'we're here with you every step of the way' process," he said.

While family members are more than happy to provide love and support by moving to the areas where their soldiers are recovering, Ms. Sue Erwin, Erwin's mother, said the upheaval involved with relocating to a strange place, combined with seeing the extent of her son's injuries was almost more than she could bear.

"This was catastrophic for me, life altering," Ms. Erwin said. "I have a house, a job, a life in Kansas. I would walk on fire for my son and my family, but this is the last place I ever wanted to be. I've lost 20 pounds since this has happened. People don't understand that this is life altering forever, we will never be the same because of this."

Mrs. Sarah McNees, who is staying in Washington D.C. while her husband, Staff Sgt. Bryan McNees recovers from his combat injuries at Walter Reed, said that once the wave of relief that her husband was alive had passed, a new wave of anxiety took hold of her.

"It's hard to figure out how to make it work," she said. "It's a hard time getting into a routine. I think we have a whole lot of work ahead of us. I'm so thankful that he's still here, but at the same time it's daunting."

Mrs. McNees said that she never realized the danger her husband and other soldiers faced while performing their duties in support of the global war on terror.

"I've been dealing with the shock," she said. At first I was like 'I can't believe that this has happened.' As an American I can't believe that this is what soldiers are facing, I just think about what my husband was going through the day that it happened. Our whole lives kind of got blown up that day too."

McNees, HHC, 1st Bn., 325th AIR, mortar platoon section sergeant, was wounded during the same attack that injured his soldier, Erwin.

Erwin said that he remembered McNees emerging from a cover position with his hair and arm on fire.

McNees suffered a long list of wounds. His leg was blown open causing a compound fracture of his tibia. He suffered a fractured jaw, broken ear drum, shrapnel pierced flesh throughout his body severing a nerve in his left hand and breaking his right, and all of the tendons in his right foot were ripped apart.

Although the list of McNees' physical injuries is rather long, he said his biggest challenge is trying to focus on the present and suppress his concerns about his and his family's future.

"Right now I'm healing," McNees said. "There's only so much that I can do. I want to stay in the Army, but what will I be able to do? Right now I push it to the side, I don't dwell on it all day, but my biggest worry is the future."

A concern for what the future holds is particularly haunting for 1LT Ivan Castro. Castro, a scout platoon leader with HHC, 1st Bn., 325th AIR, suffered multiple debilitating wounds, including the loss of his eye-sight, when a mortar hit his position while he was providing support by fire from a rooftop in Iraq.

A former Special Forces soldier, with 17 years of military service, Castro, having recently recovered from an operation to remove a brain aneurism, described what he has dealt with emotionally as he begins his recovery process.

"You have short term goals and long term goals," Castro said. "People who are proactive and driven want to succeed. So when you think about all that, and then suffer a major loss, everything changes. I'm trying to remember the last time I looked at my wife, what she was wearing. I'm thinking about if we have kids, when I hold them I won't be able to see them. If you lose an arm or a leg you can put prosthetics on, but when you lose your eyesight, there's no cure for that."

Castro's wife, Mrs. Evelyn Castro, hopes that the future does hold a cure for her husband's blindness. She said that the biggest challenge for her in the future would be trying to research treatment therapies and technology to help her husband regain his eyesight.

Mrs. Castro said that she is looking into two different methods of cutting edge restorative eyesight surgeries, but neither is available in the United States.

One method involves inserting a bionic eye that sends impulses to the brain that allow a patient's mind to perceive sight. The other involves using stem cells to regenerate the retina and optic nerve. Mrs. Castro said that although it is frustrating researching and cross-checking medical books and web-sites, she believes her work will pay off in the end.

"I know that this is something we may have to do on our own," she said. "It may be an initial out-of-pocket expense. But I will be glad to do anything I have to as long as we get the results we want. We grieve over the extent of these injuries and what this will do to hamper our dreams."

Military leaders understand that soldiers and their loved ones can become despondent when fighting the long battle to recovery after being wounded. On OCT. 14, 82nd Airborne Division Commander, Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, visited paratroopers at Walter Reed and Bethesda medical centers to talk with them and their families and to present Purple Heart Medals.

"How are you feeling? How about your family?" Rodriguez asked as he leaned over SSG McNees' bedside. "Is there anything you can think of that we can do better to help or anything? Hopefully, we'll get you patched up quickly and ready to go."

Rodriguez went on to commend his paratroopers for their service to their country and wish them and their families his best.

McNees said that he appreciated the fact that Maj. Gen. Rodriguez would take his time to speak with him and award the Purple Heart personally, but he does not necessarily consider the wounds he suffered a cause for special status.

"I think everyone deserves to feel appreciated for what they're doing for their country, not only those who got blown up" said McNees. "The only difference is that I got blown up that day. There are lots of soldiers who do their jobs everyday in combat and don't get blown up."

As soldiers continue to fight the global war on terror, more will receive combat wounds. While soldiers and family members continue to lean on each other for support during the long, winding journey toward recovering from those injuries, the realization of what soldiers face when receiving "wounds," after swearing an oath to serve their country becomes painfully clear.

"The verbiage just has to change," Ms. Erwin said. "'Wounded' sounds like someone fell down and got a band-aid. These are catastrophic injuries. Someone needs to propel and explode a mortar every night on TV so people can see what it does to a human body."

• Date Taken: 10.17.2006
• Date Posted: 10.17.2006 14:18
• Story ID: 8055