Army combat medic, now double amputee, fights to heal

Pa. soldier is in the fight of his life
By CHRIS ROSENBLUM
The (State College, Pa.)
Centre Daily Times/AP
Published: June 29, 2013

Morgen Hummel helps her son, Sgt. Adam Hartswick, lay on a table during a physical therapy session at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. on Thursday, June 20, 2013.
CHRISTOPHER WEDDLE, CENTRE DAILY TIMES/AP

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Sgt. Adam Hartswick grimaces. His upper-arm muscles swell as sweat beads on his forehead.

This exercise, he's pressing a lot of weight — his own.

Having inched out of his wheelchair and across a therapy table, he pushes himself up onto a small perch of twin yoga cushions, and straightens his torso.

He's ready for another workout drawing him closer to new legs, ready to squeeze some more strength from his 22-year-old heart.

"There you go, buddy, yeah," his father, Sean Hartwsick, says.

It's Thursday afternoon in the Military Advanced Training Center gym within the vast Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Everyone who is here, grunting and yelling over the pop and country music in the background, was robbed while in uniform. Their limbs, their past lives, are long gone.

Now, with the help of ace physical therapists and state-of-the-art equipment, they're fighting to regain what explosions and bullets took.

Each person on a mat or machine has a story. Hartswick's began five weeks ago and thousands of miles from his Pine Grove Mills and State College homes.

An Army combat medic, Hartswick lost his legs above the knees and his right index finger to an improvised explosive device on May 14 in Afghanistan. He either stepped on the IED or it was detonated as he and other soldiers came to the aid of an ambushed foot patrol.
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Utah soldier receives Bronze Star after two tours and 9 IEDs

Soldier is awarded the Bronze Star in tearful ceremony after being hit NINE times by IEDs
Joshua Hansen, 42, was left with brain damage by the last IED explosion he experienced Hansen, a father of two, served two tours in Iraq
During his second deployment, he was the team leader for a platoon that cleared roads of bombs
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
19 June 2013

A Utah soldier has been awarded the fifth-highest combat medal six years after he was hit by a bomb in Iraq that left him with permanent brain damage and unable to return to war.

Joshua Hansen, a 42-year-old father of two, was hit a total of nine times by improvised explosive devices during his two deployments to Iraq, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

It was the ninth hit, which happened on March 15, 2007, that knocked him out of the service.

Deidre Hanse wipes away a tear after pinning the Bronze Star on the chest of her son Sgt. Joshua Hansen

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Mom wants answers after wounded son found dead at Walter Reed

Soldier's Mom Still Waiting for Answers in Son's Death
Parsippany's Derek McConnell was found dead in his bed at a Maryland military hospital.
Parsippany Patch
By Ariana Cohn-Sheehan
June 20, 2013

The mother of a 23-year-old soldier from Parsippany who was found dead in his hospital bed in March is still waiting for answers from the U.S. Army on how he died and growing frustrated, according to NJ.com.

U.S. Army Specialist Derek McConnell's body was discovered by his fiancee at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The soldier had lost both of his legs in July 2011 after being wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device while serving in Afghanistan.
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Special investigation into link between ECM and cancer after soldier died

Former soldier's cancer death sparks AMA calls for investigation into bomb signal jammer
Updated Tue Jun 11, 2013
ABC News

The Australian Medical Association wants an investigation into the military's use of a special bomb-jamming device after a former soldier died of cancer.

Kevin Dillon, 28, died after returning from Afghanistan, where he carried what is known as an electronic countermeasures (ECM) backpack.

The backpack contained radio transmitters, which are used to scramble the mobile phone signals insurgents use to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton says there needs to be follow-up for soldiers who use them.

"These people have put their lives on the line for Australia," he said.
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Iraq veteran Jason Glover killed by police leaves family searching for answers

Family of veteran killed in deputy-involved shooting searching for answers
Monica Hernandez
Eyewitness News
May 26, 2013

ABITA SPRINGS, La. -- A song of remembrance filled the air before hundreds of balloons filled the sky.

More than 100 friends and family gathered to remember Jason Glover outside his parent's Abita Springs home Saturday. The Iraq war veteran was 32 when he was killed in March.

“He was an American hero. That's how I want them to remember him,” said Glover’s mother, Beth.

Glover earned a Purple Heart in 2003, after nearly dying in an IED explosion. He wasn't killed until after his time in the service.

A decade after Glover returned from Iraq, he was shot in front of his Abita Springs home by a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office deputy. The sheriff's office says Glover pointed a gun at the deputy, forcing the deputy to shoot.
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Man shot by FBI in Orlando over ties to Boston bombing

Friend: Orlando man shot by FBI agent was questioned in Boston Marathon bombings
By Jerriann Sullivan and Amy Pavuk
Orlando Sentinel
10:21 a.m. EDT, May 22, 2013

An Orlando man who was shot and killed by an FBI agent early Wednesday morning was friends with the Boston bombings suspects, according to a friend of the victim.

Ibragim Todashev, 27, was shot in a condo at 6022 Peregrine Avenue, a quiet residential street near Universal Studios, said FBI Agent Dave Couvertier.

"The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties," Couvertier said.

An FBI post-shooting incident review team has been dispatched from Washington, D.C., and is expected to arrive in Orlando within 24 hours.

Couvertier, the FBI's spokesman for the Orlando region, released no other details on the shooting or the investigation.
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Marine to run marathon after doctors said he wouldn't walk!

Marine recovers from brain injury, will run in half marathon
WCTI News
By Kyle Horan
May 14 2013

CAMP LEJEUNE
One Eastern North Carolina man has overcome all odds to recover from post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

SSgt. Ryan Anderson was injured in Iraq in 2006 when he was subjected to 7 improvised explosive device explosions in three days.

The injuries SSgt. Anderson sustained eventually left him nearly unable to walk and his ability to speak fading.

"The doctors told me they didn't think I would be able to walk again," SSgt. Anderson said.

"They didn't think I would be able to stay in the Marine Corps. Here I am six years later, still going strong."

SSgt. Anderson started rehabilitation in 2010 on a hand bike. Three years later, he can now travel up to 70 miles on a regular bike.
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When being "resilient" is part of the problem

A fascinating reaport came out of Boston this morning about the slogan "Boston Strong" being an issue for some mental health professionals.

Mental health experts worried about ‘Boston Strong’ slogan
By Deborah Kotz
GLOBE STAFF
MAY 13, 2013

The slogan “Boston Strong” that emerged days after the Marathon bombings resonates with many — including two-thirds of the more than 500 readers who answered a Boston.com poll.

More than 50,000 Boston Strong T-shirts have been sold to raise money for a victims’ charity fund, and the phrase has been plastered on posters and signs throughout the city.

But mental health specialists are concerned that some still traumatized by the Marathon attacks might deem themselves weak or inadequate for not feeling that Boston strength.

“I think it is probably attempting to speak to a sense of resilience and strength on the level of the community,” said Dr. Michael Leslie, a psychiatrist who treats trauma patients at McLean Hospital in Belmont. “But there are people who will read this in a personal way, as an exhortation that they themselves need to be strong” no matter what they’re actually feeling. That would be “an unfortunate conclusion to draw from the phrase,” he added.
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In the article, this came out.

"Nearly 9 percent of poll respondents said they didn’t like the slogan because it makes them feel like they have to be strong."

RESILIENT : characterized or marked by resilience: as

a : capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture
b : tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

The word does not mean "untouched" or "unchanged" by what happens. The first part of the definition is not about a person but is about an object.

Being resilient does not mean they are unbreakable. All it means is they are able to hold out a little bit longer than others. It does not mean they be unchanged. It just means the change in them will not destroy them. If they have a misunderstanding of what resilience is, that can cause a whole new problem.

The military has been pushing the term of "resilience" as if it is supposed to mean they can overcome everything without being changed or harmed. When they believe that is what comes next after "it" happened to them, they have a harder time when reality sinks in and they discover they are only human after all.

Special Report: Recovering from PTSD

Special Report: Recovering from PTSD
CBS 47
Reported by: Claudia Rodarte
May 10, 2013

American heroes... returning home from long tours of duty. Sometimes adjusting is easy, but for some... the war isn’t over. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder impacting millions of soldiers.

In this Special Report, CBS47's Claudia Rodarte shows how some veterans are learning to cope with the disorder.

Army veteran Gerardo Lozano served in the army for 8 years. While stationed in Iraq, his Humvee ran over a roadside bomb. "Just the whole shock about it kind of rattled my brain. Um, I just have those after effects," said Gerardo.

Army veteran Edgar Duenas-Flores also served in Iraq. His platoon struck multiple IEDs.

"When they go off, you just feel it. You just see stars and takes you a while to try, try to come back and figure out where you are," said Edgar.

Edgar has a bullet wound in the knee and scarring from a roadside bomb on his arm and back. But most have wounds you will never see... wounds that impact their lives and those of their families when they return home. "I'm full of scars physically, but the mental ones are the toughest ones," said Edgar.

Thousands of returning vets suffer from brain injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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Paralyzed Marine gets new way to heal

Injured Marine gets second chance exercising his passion
CBS News
By David Martin
May 8, 2013

(CBS News) WOODBRIDGE, N.J. - When America's war veterans come home, many try to pick up their lives where they left off. That can be a big challenge. One Marine corporal had the will to do the heavy lifting -- he just needed someone to show him the way.

Josh Himan is pumping iron. He's done it since he was a teenager, and by the time he became a Marine, it showed.

Then his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

"I was ejected from the vehicle and sustained multiple spinal cord injuries," recalled Himan.

He went from the peak of your physical powers to being paralyzed. Himan was 25 at the time.

"There's a lot of times where you know, you think, 'Why didn't I just die?' But I always had love and support, and that's what brought me through."

Until Tyler Hobson, a household name in strength training, brought in the kind of a specially designed weight machine he usually builds for NFL players.

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Cemeteries don't want to bury Boston bomber

I think his body should be put in the ground as soon as possible. Instead of praying for him, they should offer prayers for his victims and their families, since his life is over but their lives were forever changed by what he decided to do to them.

The 5 major developments in the Boston Marathon case over the weekend
By Holly Yan
CNN
Mon May 6, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A bombing suspect's friend accused of lying to authorities is due in court Monday
Cambridge's city manager says the older bombing suspect can't be buried there
Officials will announce a plan on how to distribute roughly $28 million in compensation

2. Cemeteries don't want to bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev
For two weeks, no one claimed the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder bombing suspect who died the night he and his brother led police on a wild chase.

Now, the funeral home holding his remains is struggling to find a place to bury him.

The brothers' parents in Dagestan have said they will not fly his body back to Russia for burial, spokeswoman Heda Saratova said.

And Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy said he would not allow Tsarnaev to be buried in the city if requested by the funeral director or Tsarnaev's family.

"The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and widespread media presence at such an interment," Healy said in a statement Sunday.

Explaining his decision, he cited an excerpt from Massachusetts state law saying that "it shall be the duty of the city manager to act as chief conservator of the peace within the city."

"I have determined that it is not in the best interest of 'peace within the city' to execute a cemetery deed for a plot within the Cambridge Cemetery for the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev," Healy said. Tsarnaev's body now lies at Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, west of Boston.

Peter Stefan, owner of the funeral home, said three cemeteries he's contacted said they feared reprisals. If he can't find a gravesite, Stefan said he plans to ask the government to find one.

The funeral home owner said everyone deserves to be buried.

"This is what we do in a civilized society, regardless of the circumstances," he said.
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The headline should read Advocate Ty Ziegel died after helping many

The headline should read Advocate died after helping many

Ex-Marine who survived Iraq bombing died of drugs
St. Louis Dispatch
May 4, 2013

A former Marine from Illinois who was badly disfigured by a suicide bombing in Iraq died of a combination of heroin and alcohol intoxication, a coroner's inquest determined.

Tyler Ziegel died Dec. 26 after a fall, but Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said Saturday it was the combination of drugs in his system _ not the fall _ that killed him. The coroner's jury ruled Thursday that the 30-year-old's death was accidental.

"Like so many of his fellow wounded warriors, Ty fought back," Quinn said in the address. "He fought back through 59 surgeries and untold emotional scars to become an advocate for veterans and military families."
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Ty Ziegel update

5 US service members killed by IED and 2 killed in Green on Blue

7 US troops killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan
By Heath Druzin
Stars and Stripes
Published: May 4, 2013

KABUL – Eight coalition troops, including at least seven Americans, and one Afghan interpreter were killed in separate attacks across Afghanistan, reflecting a rising death toll in the country.

Five Americans and an Afghan interpreter were killed Saturday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, according to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and local officials.

David Lakin, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, confirmed the U.S. deaths in the bombing.

Two more ISAF troops were killed Saturday in a so-called insider attack in western Afghanistan, according to a coalition news release. According to The Associated Press, the two victims were Americans who died after an Afghan National Army soldier fired on coalition troops. Another coalition servicemember was killed in northern Afghanistan, though ISAF did not immediately say where the attack took place or which country the servicemember is from.
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Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast

Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Deaths – thought to have occurred in Kandahar province – take number of US troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 32
Associated Press in Kabul
Saturday 4 May 2013

Five US service members were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the latest deadly attack against international troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive this week.

The coalition did not disclose the location of the blast, but Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said the coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.

Captain Luca Carniel, a public affairs official for the US-led coalition in Kabul, confirmed that all five were Americans. With the deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year including 32 Americans.
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Disfigured veteran deals with disrespect at home

Disfigured veteran deals with disrespect at home
Gregg Zoroya and Alan Gomez
USA TODAY
April 25, 2013

Ronny Porta feeds his son, Kenneth, breakfast in his parents' Maryland home. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

BELTSVILLE, MD. — Six years have passed since a roadside bomb set Ronny "Tony" Porta on fire in Iraq when he was 20, and he's still trying to find his way home.

Each reflection in the mirror bears witness to why that is not easy.

Every stranger who points or stares, every teenager who mocks with the word "monster" or couple that whisper behind his back that the disfigurement is the price for invading a country, tells Porta he hasn't quite left the battlefield behind.

"This is home for me," says Porta, 26, who grew up in suburban-Washington Beltsville after his family emigrated from Peru. "But sometimes, it's kind of hard saying, 'I am home.'"

Two months ago, a man approached Porta in a Home Depot. He stood studying the burns on Porta's face and asked if a car accident was to blame. Porta, wearing a Marine Corps sweatshirt, said, no, it was an IED explosion in Iraq.
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Marine's experience can inspire Boston runners

The Unknown Soldiers: Marine's experience can inspire Boston runners
Jackson Sun News
Written by Tome Sileo
Apr 19, 2013

After Cpl. Jake Hill stepped on an improvised explosive device during a chaotic battle in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, the young Marine radioed his squad leader.

“This is Hill,” he said. “I just stepped on an IED, but I’m fine.”

U.S. Marine Cpl. Jake Hill's left leg was amputated just above the knee after he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on Sept. 16, 2010. He has since run the Marine Corps Marathon and been awarded the Silver Star for bravery in combat. Image courtesy of the website Ossur.

Through a dizzying haze of dust, smoke and ongoing gunfire, the Rapid City, S.D., native looked down at his feet.

“What I saw was a really badly broken left ankle,” Cpl. Hill told The Unknown Soldiers. “I was like ‘OK, this is fine, people break their ankles all the time.’”

Hill was later shocked when a doctor presented him with two difficult choices: replace his shattered foot with a cadaver bone or amputate his left leg just above the knee.

As soon as members of his patrol were hit, Hill, who was serving with Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, took it upon himself to tend to the wounded.

“With one of his team members injured by a rocket-propelled grenade, (Hill) exposed himself to enemy fire a second time and ran to aid his Marine brother,” a Marine Corps citation said. “He applied first-aid and led the rest of his team through 200 meters of fire-swept terrain to extract the casualty.”

Like so many combat veterans I’ve spoken with, Hill skipped over his gallantry during our interview. He is too humble to take credit for his courageous, life-saving actions.

“Three or four days after my injury, my platoon commander told me that he was going to be putting me up for an award,” Hill, now 22, said. “I said ‘no, I don’t want it.’”
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Troops in Kandahar send message to Boston, stand strong

A Dark Day in Boston Resembles Too Many in Afghanistan
April 19th, 2013
by Capt. Thomas L. Dickens

"Our message to the people of Boston must be consistent with that we send to the people of Afghanistan: stand strong."

Last week, word quickly spread through Regional Command South in Kandahar of the horrific attacks that took place during the Boston Marathon. Major General Robert Abrams, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, promptly ordered that flags be flown at half-staff in honor of the fallen. And while we were thousands of miles away, our hearts were with and continue to be with the victims of this act of terror and their families.

These acts of terrorism bring about a feeling of familiarity for those of us serving in Afghanistan. First, it was an act of terror on American soil that opened the door to our engagement in South Asia. And while the number of casualties from 9/11 was much greater than last week, their similarities lie in that they both brought with them the immense feelings of fear that are meant to paralyze our lives.

The second parallel with the Boston bombing is that we unfortunately are seeing similar attacks on a regular basis in Afghanistan. We now know that the attacks in Boston were the result of two homemade improvised explosive devices (IEDs) made with pressure cookers and commonly found items such as ball bearings, BB s and everyday hardware like nails. These cheaply made weapons are highly effective in that they inflict terror by tearing through flesh and creating unfathomable damage to their victims. IEDs are the weapon of choice for al Qaeda cells as well as local insurgents who wish to stop the democratization of Afghanistan.
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Oklahoma City bombing parent reaches out to Boston

“It wasn’t your fault”
APR 19, 2013
Salon.com

I know the unfathomable grief that Martin Richard's parents must be feeling. I lost my daughter to a bomb, too
BY KATHLEEN ANIOL TREANOR

I haven’t been able to watch footage of Boston. When it comes on TV, I can watch a little bit, but then I have to walk away. The picture of Martin Richard, the little boy who died, brings tears to my eyes, because I know what his parents are going through. I lost my 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, in the Oklahoma City bombings, along with my husband’s parents, LaRue and Luther. Eighteen years later, I’m still living with the trauma. The trauma never goes away.

I was at work when the bomb went off. Everything on my desk shifted. In my naiveté, I wondered: Did one of the silos blow up? We turned on the news, and saw the chaos, the building torn away. I thought, “Thank God no one I love is in that building.”

My husband’s parents were taking care of Ashley that day. My husband’s father had an appointment at the Social Security Building at 9 o’clock, which I didn’t realize was in the federal building. When it finally sunk in what was happening, I collapsed in on myself. It’s a very hopeless feeling, not knowing.

We spent days looking for her, sitting in hospitals and churches, watching and waiting. I kept thinking, she’s just lost. She’s a little girl. Someone has her, and they don’t know where to take her. But eventually we realized there was no hope of finding her. It was inevitable that she was gone. That they were all gone. It was Wednesday when they finally called us to say they had her body. A few months later, I received a call after she was buried that they had found her hand. We put it in a little urn, and we buried it with her.
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War veteran doctor experience vital

War veteran doctor experience vital
By GRETYL MACALASTER
Union Leader Correspondent
April 19. 2013

Dr. Fred Brennan with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Somersworth and head team doctor for the University of New Hampshire hugs his daughter, Alyssa, 18, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, where Brennan was serving as a volunteer in medical tent B, two blocks from the finish line. (COURTESY)

SOMERSWORTH - As a member of the New Hampshire Air National Guard, and a veteran of foreign wars, Dr. Fred Brennan knew there was always a chance he would again be exposed to casualties. But he never expected to see them on the streets of Boston.

Brennan, a doctor with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and the team doctor for the University of New Hampshire athletic program, was helping to lead the medical team in tent B at the Boston Marathon on Monday, just two short blocks from the finish line.

About 200 doctors, nurses, athletic trainers, sports medicine practitioners and other medical staff were treating a nearly full tent of runners with blisters, cramps, and some hypothermia due to the day's cold temperatures when the first bomb went off.

Brennan immediately recognized the sound of an improvised explosive device, and when he heard the second blast, he knew it was no accident. He told his team to get ready.
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Combat-medicine lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan applied to Boston

Combat-medicine lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan applied to Boston Marathon wounded
BOSTON (SHNS)
April 16, 2013

Improvised explosive devices caused carnage on the street of an American city this week, but after more than a decade of grim experience treating U.S. troops maimed by such weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of the emergency workers and volunteers along Boston's Boylston Street knew how to react.

They included nurses and medics who had served as National Guardsmen trained in front-line first aid, and a peace activist, Carlos Arredondo, who had lost his Marine son, Alexander, in Iraq in 2004.

"You can see (the bomb) was like an IED,'' he said, sweeping his arm low to the ground where the shrapnel flew as he spoke to reporters soon after helping to evacuate a man with two severed legs to an ambulance.

Civilian trauma experts say the insights gained from keeping severely wounded troops alive have quickly taken hold in civilian emergency departments and ambulances across the U.S. Many of them are convinced that lessons from military medicine are a major reason why more civilians are surviving gunshot injuries in the U.S., even as the total number of shootings has been increasing, according to figures kept by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now, the expertise has shifted to bystanders at a footrace hit by bombs, the Boston Marathon.
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