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A Shot At Healing
Soon small fragments of shrapnel rained down. Clutching their weapons, those battle hardened and scarred soldiers laughed. A "hard rain" isn't unusual when it comes to hunting the area's flocks of doves. The Saturday afternoon hunt was one of several last weekend for the 14 Army and Marine Corps servicemen brought in courtesy of Hunts for Heroes - the non-profit organization founded last year by Billy Hodges of El Campo. "I'm having a blast," he said.
Hunts for Heroes is just one of many organizations offering R&R to the wounded at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. First Lt. Mark Sroszynski of the warrior transition battalion accompanied the wounded soldiers on their trip. His job is to get them through the paperwork and transitions from wounded to either unit or a return to their community. "Their mission at BAMC is to heal. They have no job, unless they want to have it," he said. Currently 600 are recovering at BAMC - three companies of troops. Sroszynski had high praise for the hunts organization. "It's like it says on their van - 'We support the troops.' But they really mean it." Capt. Julie Zavage agreed. She also supervises wounded soldiers.
The weekend event included dove and teal hunts - all of which hit their limits - cause for a celebration among the participants who spent the days focusing on hunting rather than hurts. "I'm not the shooter, I'm the bullet" - Tattooed on his left biceps with a snarling bullet, the message helps define Spec. Mike Hayes of Lewisville, Ky. He's the sole survivor of an IED attack which destroyed his Humvee on Aug. 6. Hayes lost his leg. "I was the lucky one," he said, adding three of his comrades had been in the vehicle that day coming back from a routine mission. He had been in Iraq eight months. A three-year Army veteran, his mission is now to heal. "BAMC is amazing," Hayes said. "I couldn't ask for better." He might be back home by Christmas, the 21-year-old said. College is probably next, he added, with sights set on either physical therapy - a career he's had a lot of exposure to recently - or the graphic design degree he once dreamed he would pursue. He could stay in the Army, but not in the same post. "It's Scout or nothing," Hayes said. "I keep getting knocked to my knees. But what can you do? You get back up again." Hurricane Katrina took everything shipyard worker Richard Myer had in Ocean Spring, Miss. He had been working in the Gulfport, Miss., shipyards in 2005 at the age of 39. With nothing left, he decided it might be time to go back to the Army where he'd served three years from 1986-1989. "If I saved one married man, it's worth it," he said of his National Guard unit's deployment. Myer survived 15 firefights and nine IED attacks unscathed - 11 months of hard duty with just two left in the tour. It was a fellow soldier's careless moment which sent him home with injuries he'll spend the rest of his life trying to recover from. A twirled then dropped flare inside a Humvee shot white hot magnesium into his leg frying his nerves. The vehicle's gunner, Myer saw the others bail out as he frantically searched for a target. "I didn't realize I was on fire," he said. Finally noticing the blaze, he bailed - slamming his head and shoulders into the earth. Myer will never work in a shipyard again. "I wouldn't last 10 minutes," he said. He doesn't know what the future holds. The Army says his injury isn't "traumatic," so he doesn't qualify for insurance dollars. He didn't use his GI Bill in the 1980s - it's gone now. The 11 months of pay he thought he was saving while in Iraq is also gone - along with the "friend" keeping track of it. In a few months, Myer will be discharged from BAMC - his fate in the hands of a medical board. "I've worked since I was 14 years old. I've never been without a job. Life knocks you down? Get up." Black Hawk Down The third tour in Iraq proved to be the toughest for Spec. Jacob Young when a "Bait and Switch" went bad. A crew chief on the designated "bait" - a Black Hawk helicopter - Young's bird flew over hostile areas in an attempt to draw out targets for Apache helicopters to attack. It worked too well last November. Now Young is learning to walk again. Arkansas Boy "I don't mind coming down to Texas to teach you boys to shoot," Sgt. Caleb Burdess said downing yet another dove. Also wounded, he focused Saturday's selective fire on bringing down birds. Bradley Driver Down Spec. Jeff Srisourath of Minnesota had served tours in both Iraq and Bosnia during his seven years of service. A pressure plate IED exploded under the Bradley he was driving Nov. 18 shattering the heel of his left foot. Now he works on healing and participates in many of the hunting opportunities offered. "It takes a load off, you know?" he said. He'd stay in the Army, but can't stay with his unit so he'll be headed home after discharge from the hospital. He can't work in the window factory as he did while on inactive Guard status. His parents' solution? They bought a store and put it in his name. The small Japanese and Asian food store is currently being run by his mother while his father continues to work at the window factory during the day before coming home for another shift at the store. Laotian, Srisourath's father started fighting in the Vietnam war as a 14-year-old before ultimately being attached to the American Special Forces and CIA.His parents are proud of his service, Srisourath said. Now he's thinking of computer skills and what he can bring to the store with a computerized inventory. End Of Tour Heading back, all will refocus on healing as they spend several months more in the hospital facility where a day in the barracks starts at 7 a.m. and is spent waiting on assorted appointments. But they're out of the line of fire. And soon they will be home. |
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