before i close out the book see stories there’s one one one other little section i wanted to cover it’s from a it’s from a chapter called the greatest the next greatest generation and this this takes this section takes place in 2007 we mentioned that you were in europe for a time you’re in charge of all special operations forces in europe and africa but that means you’re actually over in germany most of the time and in this part you’re visiting wounded soldiers on their way home from iraq and afghanistan so on the way home from iraq and afghanistan oftentimes the the soldiers the wounded would be would stop in germany and at launch duel and you would go there to visit these wounded guys and um you talk about one of these one of these cases here so you’re going in to visit going to the book the doctor nodded and i pushed the door open and entered lying on the bed completely naked was a young soldier not more than 25 years old his body was swollen from the impact of the blast burns covered the upper half of his torso and below his waist he had lost half of one leg and much of the other his face was so badly damaged that his eyes were almost sealed shut and his lips burned clean off life-saving tubes extended from just about every orifice in his body and monitors around the room beeped continuously sir he can’t talk but he can hear you and he likes to engage people the doctor said i slowly walked up beside the bed hey partner my name’s admiral mcraven i could see him acknowledge my presence you look like [ __ ] he managed to smile and reached out his hand toward the nightstand the doctor grabbed a clipboard and handed it to the soldier he likes to write out his responses the doctor said pulling the attached pen from its holder he scribbled on the notepad you should see the other guy i laughed and he chuckled with me looks like they’re taking good care of you is there anything you need once again he grabbed the clipboard and wrote a beer the doctor looked at me and reluctantly shook his head well i’ll tell you what when you get back to the states get well and the beer is on me he just nodded i was struggling with what to say i had been in these situations hundreds of times before and all you could do is make small talk normally i knew the soldier or his unit and i had something more significant to offer i walked around to the doctor’s side of the bed is he a marine or a soldier i whispered to the doctor sir i don’t know i’m just the attending physician i can find out for you though no not necessarily not necessary walking back around to my side of the bed i leaned over to the young man and asked are you a marine or a soldier he seemed agitated by the question he pointed to a tattoo that was etched on his thigh he must have assumed that the tattoo is fully visible but the blast had burned the legs so badly that only a smudged outline appeared i looked closely and could see the image of a big red one the first infantry division you’re a soldier i commented he grabbed the clipboard infantry he wrote infantry the toughest occupation in the army i thought the soldiers are always marching always carrying a rucksack always in the line of fire you have to be strong and fit to last in any infantry unit particularly during war as i glanced at the young man’s battered body i wondered if he fully understood the degree of his injuries he noticed me assessing his physical condition and suddenly a look of defiance came across his swollen face he rolled in my direction and then wrote slowly in capital letters i will be infantry again so that’s um you know like you said something that you witnessed hundreds of times and and one thing that you write in the books and i’ve heard you talk about it as well is with all these wounded soldiers that you’ve you know soldiers sailors airmen and marines that you’ve gone and talked to every single one of them every single one of them has just wanted to get back to their unit and get back in the fight yeah and you’ve been there you you know that and it is remarkable to me and i think of the to your point you know hundreds of these guys that i’ve met never once did i hear anybody complain i mean guys that lost arms and legs and blast victims and they didn’t complain it’s just amazing to me i i don’t know if i tell the story in that book but i’ve told the story before when i was socom commander i went up to to walter reed and i used to do it periodically same thing when the guys would get back and um i know i had um before you jump into that i had one of my guys ryan jobe who uh was shot in the face he was blinded um and i’m talking to him you know he’s back he’s at i think he’s at bethesda and i’m talking to him from ramadi and you know he’s begging me to come back and he says you know sir i’ll get my pig he’s a pig gun he’s a 60 gunner he goes sir give me my pig don’t worry i might not be able to see him but i can smell him i’ll get him and and you know there’s just the the attitude and and same thing with the first guy that i had that got badly wounded a guy named cowie cowie and cowie was you know we know if he’s going to keep his leg but he was shot up bad he’s on morphine or whatever he’s on and we’ve been in ramadi for a very short period of time at this point and i get to the to the to the uh charlie med the field medical area and i roll in there and he’s you know he holds out his hand and and i grab his hand and he like pulls me in close and he just whispers he’s you know sir let me stay i’ll sweep up just please let me stay don’t send me home and and you know here’s a guy that’s a freaking incredible athlete incredible guy and we don’t know if he’s going to keep his leg and the only thing he cares about is you know can i stay right yeah and this again it seemed like it was of course just a soft guys just saw it again and again with all the guys that we encountered but this one particular visit i had up to walter reed i’d come up see some of our kind of soft guys rangers and and others who’d been wounded and couple again and of course walter reed was where we sent the frankly the most seriously injured certainly the the blast victims and the uh and the amputees the barn victims generally went to uh down fort sam but i’m up there visiting a couple of guys and talking to them them and their wives and everything and you know you know how to talk to these guys they’re guys that that are our rangers or delta operators or seals and and and that particular day i there are three or four of them there and then afterwards a sergeant major who’s escorting me around says hey so there’s somebody else i’d like you to meet he’s not a soft guy he’s with the 25th infantry division and he was in iraq in a vehicle vehicle got hit by an explosively formed projectile he is a quadruple amputee and i said absolutely i’d love to go meet him so i go up to the to the second floor of the rehab center there i see the young man standing off to the side he’s kind of leaning up against the rail and of course he’s only about yay big because he’s got no legs and so i come over to talk to him and i kneel down so i can kind of get eye to eye with him and i know what to say i mean what do you tell a young kid who’s lost both his legs all of one arm and most of the other arm and so i’m i’m trying to make some small talk i mean he obviously saw something in my eyes you know the pity of remorse or something and he turns to me he says sir i’m 24 years old i’m going to be just fine i never forgot that i’m 24 years old and i’m gonna be just fine and all he wanted to do was this unit was still in iraq and he said can you get me back to hawaii so i can be there when the 25th infantry division comes back so i think we can manage that and we did and he was able to get there and meet his unit when they came back well outstanding that’s um and that’s you know again a lot of the book is obviously focuses around special operations and and as you point out as we both know the the the sacrifices absolutely made by the entire the entirety of the the us military um is just it’s it’s incredible it’s incredible and the bravery the bravery doesn’t the bravery doesn’t stay in one unit it’s in all these units
My WordPress Blog