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Wounded Warriors Return To Iraq
(May 5, 2011) | 
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Retired Cpl. Isaiah Schaffer speaks to fellow
service members during a town hall meeting at the base chapel, April
26, 2011 during Operation Proper Exit. Schaffer, along with seven
other wounded warriors, conducted a battlefield circulation of Iraq
to gain closure from their life-changing event and to see first-hand
the changes that have come about due to their sacrifices. |
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CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – Denied the opportunity to
go home on their own terms, eight service members wounded in Iraq
during previous deployments returned to seek closure and see
first-hand the results of their sacrifice during Operation Proper
Exit, April 26.
“I just want to thank you for what you did
for our country and the sacrifices you have made,” said Maj. Gen.
Eddy Spurgin, commander of USD-S and the 36th Inf. Div. during an
office call with the wounded warriors. “My division headquarters
takes this very seriously. We were just talking about how we want to
(finish) our mission with honor and success for the service members
who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those that were wounded.”
The wounded warriors spent the day touring the different
facilities on the base and visiting with a number of fellow service
members. During a town hall meeting at the base Chapel, where the
warriors shared their stories, retired Cpl. Isaiah Schaffer had a
few words of wisdom to impart to the members of the military seated
before him.
“It's on the individual to take care of that guy
on the right and the left of them, and it is up to those guys to do
the same,” said the Fredericksburg, Va. native who suffered numerous
injuries during his deployment in Hiditha and Ramadi from to 2005
with the Small Craft Company, 2nd Marine Division. “That's really
the only protection you have. You can have as much up-armor as you
want, but if we are not using the best weapon we have, our mind,
then we have no protection.” |
The participants in Operation Proper Exit visited the 501st
Explosive Ordnance Detachment during the final hours of their stay
here. The detachment had on display their mine resistant ambush
protected vehicles, and presented them with a class on the current
tactics, techniques and procedures used in combating IEDs.
“When they said ‘MRAP', I though they were talking about a robot or
something,” said retired Cpl. Donny Daughenbaugh, a resident of
Houston, Texas, who was injured in 2004 when he was shot in the face
conducting a vehicle search on the outskirts of Mahmudiyah. “To see
something like this, it really changes the opportunities and
survivability of ... soldiers.”
Many of these soldiers and
Marines were medically evacuated out of country due to the
seriousness of the combat injuries they suffered in the line of
duty. For Daughenbaugh and many others, coming back and being able
to leave on their own terms is what this operation is all about.
“When we were here doing our stuff, we couldn't wait to get out
of this place and get back home,” said Daughenbaugh as he sat on the
back of a MRAP and talked with Soldiers of the 36th Inf. Div., “but
since we didn't get to finish our time and mission when we left, the
way we left it felt like we failed. So we are (in Iraq) for a week
and then we get to leave on our own terms and two feet.”
“It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that they are giving us to be
back in uniform and to be with other troops back on bases again,” he
added. “Beside the fact that I don't have a weapon, it feels like I
never left.” |
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Article and photo by Army Sgt. Jeremy Spires
36th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
Copyright 2011
Provided
through DVIDS
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