Wounded Guardsman Lives to See Retirement

Special to American Forces Press Service ^ | Feb. 23, 2004 | By Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen, USA

[Calpernia]

A standing-room-only crowd watched, teary-eyed but smiling, as a Florida Army National Guardsman was ceremoniously retired from military service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here Feb. 21. Soldiers, civilians and children filled the conference room for the occasion.

Staff Sgt. Dustin Tuller sat at attention in a wheelchair, his Class A uniform trousers neatly folded beneath his left hip and right thigh, as his battalion commander read the official orders retiring him from the Army.

The 28-year-old college student, father of four and infantryman, had both legs amputated after being wounded in an attack in Iraq in December.

Army officials expedited his medical retirement when doctors feared he wouldn't survive his injuries. "I was in a coma when I got my retirement papers," Tuller said. "I wanted to have a retirement ceremony, because I've been in the Army for 10 years. I always wanted to be a soldier.

"If they hadn't retired me, I'd still wear the uniform, even with no legs."

The Company B, 3rd Battalion, 124 Infantry Regiment, soldier was almost killed and two others were injured during a raid in an area of Baghdad that the Army had designated simply "Section 17."

Tuller had just positioned his squad outside a building to provide security during the raid when the soldiers came under fire. It was two days before Christmas.

Weeks later, and 2,000 miles away from the streets of Baghdad, Tuller awoke from a coma in a German hospital. He had been shot four times in his legs and pelvis.

While Tuller was unconscious, doctors had prepared his family for the worst. "We've actually been told twice that he wasn't going to make it," said Tuller's brother, Daniel, an Air Force C-17 transport loadmaster stationed at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

Christmas Eve was the first time doctors notified the family they didn't expect Tuller to survive. The second time was 13 days later, when he went into cardiac arrest.

Tuller's prognosis had been so grim, Army officials decided to retire him from military service in a procedure called "imminent death processing." This can be applied when a soldier is expected to die within 72 hours from a medical condition incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

Imminent death processing allows the Army to retire the soldier, even with fewer than 20 years of service, thus providing additional benefits for the soldier's family.

Tuller served in the Army for a total of nearly 10 years. He entered active duty in 1994 and became Florida Army National Guardsman the day after he was discharged from active duty in 2000.

But, despite his gunshot wounds and resulting complications, including kidney failure, during the flight from Baghdad to Germany, Tuller survived. "I remember some (about the attack)," Tuller said. "I had just gotten done putting my guys in position. I was putting myself in position, and that's when I got shot in the back of the leg. "After the first shot, I went to the ground and started crawling and yelling for a medic. I was looking for a concealed position, but there's not much cover in an urban environment."

The attacker had fired at Tuller from a window in a nearby building. "As the guy was shooting me, I was shooting back," Tuller said. "I shot an entire magazine."

Tuller doesn't remember what happened after the attack in Baghdad. The next thing he does remember is waking up in a hospital in Hamburg, Germany.

Although doctors hadn't yet been forced to remove his legs, Tuller knew his lower body was badly damaged. "I was afraid to even reach down there," he said.

Members of Tuller's family had been by his side almost the entire time he was unconscious. His brother Daniel, sister, Brandie, and wife, Alisha, arrived in Germany just days after the attack and spent almost a month with him there before he was moved here to Walter Reed.

"When my wife came to Germany, she split the children up," Tuller said. "Two went with my parents and two went with her mom."

But everyone -- Daniel, Brandie, Alisha and the couple's children, Dillyn, Zachery, Dammyn and Lexi, his parents David and Linda, and his mother-in-law Tracy Harding – was at Walter Reed to help celebrate Tuller's survival.

During the retirement ceremony, Maj. Gen. Walter Pudlowski Jr., the acting deputy director of the Army National Guard, pinned a Purple Heart medal on Tuller's uniform and Lt. Col. Thad Hill, his battalion commander, pinned on his Combat Infantryman Badge.

Command Sgt. Maj. A. Frank Lever III, the command sergeant major of the Army National Guard, presented Tuller with several items, including a flag and several commemorative coins.

Officials at the ceremony gave the Tuller children a collection of Army National Guard games, comic books and other materials.

Dillyn, the eldest, eagerly opened a pack of Army National Guard trading cards and flipped through them, excitedly calling to his parents when he found one with a picture of a soldier wearing a desert camouflage uniform and Kevlar helmet. "Look!" he said, grinning. "It looks like Dad!"

Like many amputees, Tuller experiences "phantom pain" in his missing limbs. "Man, my feet hurt," he said quietly, closing his eyes and lowering his head. But after a brief pause, he continued explaining what medical procedures still lie ahead.

It's too soon yet for physical therapy and for doctors to start fitting him with prosthetics, he said. "I still have bandages and open wounds."

Before his unit left Florida in January 2003, Tuller was a student at Pensacola Junior College, preparing for a career as a physical education teacher. He's been away from school for more than a year, and it will be several more months before he's released from Walter Reed and can return home to Pace, Fla.

But the interruption in his life and physical changes in his body haven't changed his plans. "I'm going back to school," Tuller said firmly, "and I'm going to be a physical education teacher."

[Calpernia]

Staff Sgt. Dustin Tuller accepts a flag from his eldest son, Dillyn, during a retirement ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington Feb. 21. Tuller, a member of the Florida Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion,124th Infantry Regiment, was medically retired from the Army. He lost both legs from injuries sustained in an attack in Baghdad in December.

Dillyn Tuller watches as his father, Staff Sgt. Dustin Tuller, accepts a certificate of appreciation signed by President George Bush from Maj. Gen. Walter Pudlowski Jr., the acting deputy director of the Army National Guard, during a retirement ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington Feb. 21.

Staff Sgt. Dustin Tuller accepts a Combat Infantryman Badge from his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thad Hill, during a retirement ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington Feb. 21.

[Calpernia]

Pro Military News!

Staff Sgt. Dustin Tuller accepts a flag from his eldest son, Dillyn, during a retirement ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington Feb. 21. Tuller, a member of the Florida Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion,124th Infantry Regiment, was medically retired from the Army. He lost both legs from injuries sustained in an attack in Baghdad in December.

Private Mail to be added to or removed from the GNFI (or Pro-Coalition) ping list.

[TADSLOS]

Hand Salute. This nation cannot thank you enough for your service and sacrifice, SSG Tuller.

[billorites]

I'm sure Senator Kerry sent a warm personal note.

[Humidston]

God bless him!

[DUMBGRUNT]

Note that Sergeant Tuller, received ONE Purple Heart and NO Silver Star.

[RightWingMama]

If I hear Kerry one more time about HIS Purple Heart, I'm going to barf.

God Bless you Sgt. Tuller. You are a soldier of the 1st degree!

[BykrBayb]

I never cease to be awe struck by our soldiers. I don't think most of them realize how extraordinary they really are. To the soldiers I've known, going on with his life and pursuing his next dream is just the right thing to do, so he'll do it. No big deal. To me, it's a real big deal. I'm impressed.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" "If they hadn't retired me, I'd still wear the uniform, even with no legs."

SSG Dustin Tuller is a true hero. We are indebted to him for his service and sacrifice.

[atomicpossum]

There are no words but "Thank you for your service to our country."

[atomicpossum]

There are no words but "Thank you for your service to our country."

[Blood of Tyrants]

I'll bet that Kerry can't even show a scar for his "combat wounds".

[billorites]

"If I hear Kerry one more time about HIS Purple Heart, I'm going to barf."

I'll hold the bag for you.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Thank you, SSgt Tuller from a grateful nation.

[El Gato]

So much for the myth of the Weekend Warrior, and the National Guard Country Club. They are, as Mr. Justice McReynolds of the US Supreme Court wrote in US vs. Miller (1939): "civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion". But those "occasions" can be a bitch.

[billorites]

That photograph of Tuller and his son is just too much to take.

[68skylark]

Very moving post, especially the photos.

[McGavin999]

May God bless him, and bring him both peace and joy. Sometimes the price that is paid for freedom is horribly high. There will be no way to ever thank this man for his service, but we can try.

[I got the rope]

God bless you Staff Sgt. Tuller. Thank you for your service

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!