Posted on 01/27/2006 10:03:32 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
On Lt. Damon Armeni’s last trip to Iraq, they weren’t sure he’d survive the medical evacuation flight home. Shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade had ripped into his abdomen. He lost his spleen and sections of his colon and intestines.
He spent long stretches in the hospital to fight infection. Doctors broke four of his toes and fused the bones together to counter the nerve damage that was causing them to curl up like a claw.
And now he’s getting ready to go back to the war zone.
He wants to do it. Ever since he was a little kid, he’s dreamed of being an Army officer, a battalion commander.
“I have a hard time accepting that our enemies could stop me from achieving that,” the 27-year-old Tacoma native said in an interview at his home at Fort Lewis. “As long as my family is supporting me, I’m going to keep trying.”
Armeni is one of more than 250 soldiers from the Army’s first Stryker brigade – the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis – to be wounded during the brigade’s year in Iraq in 2003-04. The 4,000-soldier force is due to return for another year in June or July.
Few were hurt as badly as Armeni.
His wife, Kim, and his parents, Dan and Sharon Armeni, nursed him through the last time. Kim and Sharon flew out to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to be there when the medevac flight got in from Germany. They hardly recognized him.
Kim faced the prospect of raising their son, Dalen, by herself. Now Dalen is 31/2, and he’s got a little sister, Brooke, born in November.
Kim and Damon met when they were students at Pacific Lutheran University. The first time they talked, he told her he was in the ROTC and was going to be a military man.
She remembers thinking that was too bad – it seemed he didn’t stand much of a chance with her.
But she managed to overcome her reluctance about dating a soldier.
“I signed on for this,” she said. “I married him knowing he’s a military guy.”
These days, the reaction is usually the same when old friends learn that Damon will be heading back to combat.
“People tell me I’m crazy for doing this again,” Kim said. “They say, ‘Are you serious?’ It’s hard to explain to people.
“It’s what we do. I’ve never had an issue about him going back. I’ve never had any doubt about him staying in. … It’s better to be married to someone who is happy in what they do.”
Sharon Armeni said she has been inspired by her daughter-in-law’s strength.
“I’ve realized through all this how much she really loves my son,” Sharon said. “That’s a great feeling.”
It will be worrisome enough when Damon goes back, she said.
But the Armenis’ other son, 23-year-old Bryce, is a Marine lance corporal also wounded in action, though not as seriously as Damon.
Bryce’s unit is due for a second tour. The brothers will likely be in the country at the same time – though not at the same location – for at least a couple of months.
“I don’t know if it’s worse having them both over there at the same time and getting it over with, or having Damon there and then seven months later, Bryce goes,” Sharon Armeni said.
“On the other hand, it’s a comfort knowing they’re close.”
Dan Armeni told his son he’d lived up to his obligations as a military officer, and that after what he’d been through, he’d have to answer to no one if decided he didn’t want face combat again.
“We had that conversation at Walter Reed,” said Dan, a retired Army officer and a Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran. “He was laying in that bed, 160 pounds, just skin and bones. That’s when he told me, ‘Dad, it’s just like driving a truck.’
“He said, ‘If I drove a truck off a cliff and survived, I’d probably go back to driving a truck again.’
“That seemed like a pretty good answer to me, and I’ve never broached the subject again,” Dan said.
Damon was recently promoted to captain and will pin on his new rank any day now. He is the executive officer in Crazyhorse Troop with 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
One of his bosses, the brigade’s operations officer Maj. Adam Rocke, said Damon Armeni’s recovery is remarkable, something that other soldiers look up to.
“His ability and motivation to overcome incredible odds is what sets Damon apart from others,” said Rocke, “and is why he will undoubtedly lead his soldiers with distinction during another year in Iraq.”
In the next few months, Damon says he and Kim will take a vacation in Hawaii. He says he’ll spend more time with his kids before he leaves this time.
But he won’t have second thoughts. Painful as his ordeal was, he loves his job. He believes he is good at it, and that his country needs him.
“I don’t want to see us fail,” he said. “But part of being successful, it seems to me, means staying there awhile.”
"Rome may have cause to tremble when the legions return from Mesopotamia."
I don't think so. George Washington taught us all too well, so we're not like the Romans.
"A "real man" also has an obligation to his wife and child. This guy has done his duty and could be of great assistance stateside. He should stay home and help raise the next generation of "real men"."
Everyone's different. This guy is, I suspect, doing what he was born to do.
To the young Captain - Good Fortune and Stay Safe. Train your men and give them what you know. Keep equipped and motivated.
CTM.
What a fantastic crop of senior officers our military will benefit from for decades to come!
A modern Liberal and a Marine - cognitive dissonance on two feet.
As a former soldier whose own daughter served 14 months in Iraq I'll see if I can shed some perspective on this.
First, units going to Iraq deploy as units, not individuals. When a unit deploys, it evacuates the barracks it occupies and turns all items such a bedding into the base supply system. Upon return they re-occupy, and must be re-issued items such as bedding, etc. This is the way it has always been, and always be. Wartime or peace. Deploying as a unit or as individuals. It's called life in the military. No brass bands or welcome wagons.
I got a closer view of the conditions in Iraq. One thing I didn't expect was the resentment the soldiers felt toward the Bush administration. A consistent point of contention was the lack of respect the soldiers felt from their own government. (I guess I was naive.) I've heard plenty of anti-war talk elsewhere. But this was quite different than listening to a standard anti-Bush rant. The soldiers aren't exactly thrilled to see their friends dying and getting wounded while the president, as they say, ignores reality.
This is a direct result of our media and propagandists like Micheal Moore. Soldiers in Iraq have plenty of time to read rags like Newsweak, watch news feeds from the major networks, and watch propaganda videos like moores. Many of these troops, with nothing more than a highschool education, far from home, miserable, and homesick are buying into the propaganda about the war and administration. When my daughter was there last year, she commented on the profound negative effect that Moore's Farenheit 9/11 had on troop morale. I did my best to counter this by sending her copies of conservative articles and opinion pieces (which she and those she was able to share them with ate up and passed around till they were unreadable.
One must also remember that it is the nature of troops in the field (or troops anywhere other than where they would rather be) to bitch and moan among themselves. For a true gauge of how the troops feel in general, look at the re-enlistment stats--they are at an all-time high (my daughter re-enlisted in October and didn't even receive a bonus for doing so, though she may have to go back to Iraq).
Finally, some of this feeling on the part of soldiers comes from the natural frustration of being constrained by political considerations when it comes to what they can and cannot do to protect themselves from, and respond to, terrorist attacks. It's hard to look at the big picture when you're friends are being killed.
That, anyway, is my take on it.
I chose not to be taken out of a combat role. The choice was mine to make, the Army made that quite clear.
Noble thought. It is interesting that you should make that comment given that I have heard it before. I suppose that either A) I am a poor husband and father, B) Incapable of surviving in the civilian work force, or C) Being a good father by showing my children that their Daddy won't give up and neither should they.
You pick.
Again, the Army gave me the choice. It was made only after long hard discussion with my wife.
I'm sorry that people question where I should be.
I once asked a Congresswoman who she would rather have leading her son or daughter, an officer who doesn't know the pain of being wounded, or one who does.
She didn't answer.
And recrossed, and recrossed again, and again
Still true, but not my reason for going back.
Thank you.
Okay this guy is a Troop XO as a Captain? I thought that was a billet for a 1LT. Kind of odd that he will be a Captain, and presumably the Troop CO will also be a Captain. Or is he moving to a new assignment? The article isn't very clear.
The Army has changed the way they rotate people. We are now "lifecycled" for 3 years at a time. This created opportunities for Captains to be XO's and in some cases, even Platoon Leaders. Additionally, my command decided that since I had lost a year of my time as an LT while I was healing, that I shouldn't be denied the opportunity to be an XO.
In my unit, there will soon be 4 Captain XO's. Hopefully the experience base will benifit the men.
Thank you for your service, and God bless you and your wife.
You pick.
Given the choices I’ll pick “none of the above”. A and B are ridiculous and you know it. As for C, would consider a buddy of yours a coward for not going back under the same circumstances? Would that guy be “giving up” if, after tremendous sacrifice, he chose to train people stateside for rotations into Iraq or served in some other, safer capacity? I think you’re applying far higher standards to for bravery and duty to yourself than is reasonable. As you well know, families require high standards of duty too. I also know that you’ve weighed this in your mind. From this little article and a couple of posts you’ve made I don’t see that you’ve considered the positive impact a guy like you could have on your family, friends, recruits, and civilians like me by choosing a stateside deployment (if that’s offered to you).
There are plenty of reasons for not wanting to go back into combat and my whole point is that a wife and children are exceptionally good reasons. While you’re gone, you won’t be there for them. In reading “argument C”, your point seems to be that you can teach your kids better by example from thousands of miles away, risking that you could be maimed or killed. That argument just doesn’t carry water – there must be some other reason for you.
Whatever that reason is, I, and all others here are humbled and grateful for your service. Welcome to Free Republic.
Thanks to all of you and please know that you all make me proud every day. This story is going up on the board at work today.
" As a former soldier whose own daughter served 14 months in Iraq I'll see if I can shed some perspective on this."
You've succeeded, thanks.
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