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thedrifter
05-03-08, 05:39 AM
Courage After Combat
"They didn't get me. Tough Luck!"

Friday, May 02, 2008 - 05:03 PM

By Allan Hoffman
Eyewitness News 9

He is a tough marine with a “can do” attitude. In fact, he is the one many other marines go to after they are wounded. When we talked him he was the executive officer of the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Lejuene. His story not only shows incredible courage during battle but a kind of courage after combat that few people possess. W courage to not give in - no matter what! And a courage to make a difference.

Captain Ray Baronie was on patrol with his unit, he says,” were there should have been people in the streets - there weren't. And the hair goes up on your neck like –‘something's wrong’. No more than a split second after I had that feeling, the rocket hit." It was December 2005, two days before his 26th birthday. Captain Baronie was a liaison Marine with an Army unit in Falujah. The city was getting ready for the first elections the Iraqis’ had ever had.

After that rocket hit, Baronie says his legs were crushed and the others had to pull him out of his Humvee. It had turned over. He says no sooner had they gotten him out; they started receiving small arms and RPG fire. The Soldiers and Marines had to fight the enemy before they could take care of the wounded. These days Baronies arms are badly scarred, both legs were mangled. He says when he realized how badly he was injured it felt like the end of the world…
He says, “I was the guy, I'm not going to get hurt - it's not going to be me!”

When at the hospital he convinced doctors to let him keep his legs and he would try to rehabilitate them. But after 40 operations his right leg wasn't getting better so he had a difficult decision to make. He says, “I was sitting there and I was like, I'm really tired of this infection I'm tired of the fevers, I 'm tired of being sick. Let's loose this thing!" So doctors amputated his right leg. And he started to feel better. But this marines-marine had a hard time dealing with the loss of a part of himself, “Where is that light at the end of the tunnel? I didn't see it, I really didn't.” he says it’s hard to learn to ask for help, but something else was worse,”the hardest thing for me to do it probably loosing that healthy male personality. I couldn’t do the normal things around the house, like take out the garbage or lift heavy things."

Then a year after he lost his right leg he had another tough decision. The other leg wasn’t doing well, he could barely put any weight on it, he had to have crutches and he didn’t have the mobility he felt he needed to be a Marine. So, the question was, should he cut it off and wear two prosthetics? "At the end of the day when I get home and I get sick of wearing the legs and I have to take them both off, that puts me in a wheel chair! And I'm NOT ready for that yet." So he kept the leg and he’s doing just fine. That kind of determination is infectious. The marine Corp eased his worst fear – that he would have to take off the uniform when they told him to get up and come back to work. His job is to let other marines know there IS a light at the end of that tunnel. He says one reason he can help them is, “These guys are all injured, but I'm injured too, and I've had my bad days already.”

He thinks of that day in Fallujah often. It’s a day he will live with for the rest of his life, but the one thing I found most incredible about this man, is the reason he won't give in –“Don't give the person who tried to kill you the satisfaction that you died inside” He says. “You didn't get me, I'm still in the Marine Corp., and I'm still fighting the fight. So tough luck!"

Baronie knows he has a long painful road ahead of him- and one day, he may have to loose that other leg. But his smile never dipped during our talk. He never lost his sense of humor or his sense of his importance to his marines. He is getting his Masters Degree and his fiancée - who was there with him through those dark days - will soon be his wife. Just recently the Marine ‘
Corp surprised him again. They gave Captain Baronie the helm as commanding officer of Alpha Company.

For information on the Wounded Warrior Bn. Try this website:
http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/mcb/winnershowmewhatyougot.asp

Ellie