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thedrifter
09-10-08, 07:34 AM
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008
Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2008
Back from the brink of death, combat medic is still full of fight

By CHRIS VAUGHN
cvaughn@star-telegram.com

ROUND ROCK — Alan Babin will load up on his bicycle Saturday morning, tighten the chinstrap on his helmet and take off on a 12-mile trek through the streets of Northeast Tarrant County.

He will pedal the whole way with his arms, a small 82nd Airborne flag whipping behind him.

Americans are perhaps accustomed to seeing severely disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan do things unimaginable to the Vietnam generation: snow skiing, water-skiing, jogging, white-water rafting, big-game hunting.

What often isn’t seen is how much determination and stubborn will it takes to resume that kind of physical lifestyle, overcoming not only horrific physical wounds but also the emotional scars that come with a radically changed body. And then there are the memories of friends whose names are etched onto memorial walls.

Alan is one of those young men, a 28-year-old Texan who by all rights should be a dead man several times over.

"God has blessed me with the aptitude of, even after five and a half years, of still being blown away by where he is in his recovery," Alan’s mother, Rosie, said. "Even with all the work he still has to do, I have not ever lost sight of how far Alan has come through God’s grace and Alan’s hard work."

Dozens of recovering soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen — many of them from Fort Hood and Brooke Army Medical Center — will join Alan this weekend in Southlake, where they will be honored for their sacrifices and raise money for the Independence Fund, which supports disabled veterans.

It is a cause close to the Babins’ hearts. Over the past five years, they have fought the government — and usually won — and ceaselessly tried to raise the profile of wounded veterans. As a self-taught expert at prevailing over bureaucracy, Rosie is often asked to intercede on behalf of families new to the veterans’ system.

"She has been instrumental in opening other doors for our soldiers and Marines, not only through the VA but through service organizations who are dying to help," said her husband, Alain, a captain in the Round Rock Police Department. "It’s her zeal, her determination, to make sure every soldier gets the help they deserve."

'Our kid’

It is impossible to accurately describe the depth of Alan’s injuries and the miracle — more than one doctor has used the word — of his ongoing recovery.

Alan, a combat medic in the 1st Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, was shot in the side on March 31, 2003, on his second day of combat. Caught in a crossfire in Samawah, Alan was running to the aid of a wounded soldier when an AK-47 round hit him in one side and went out the other, laying waste to his entire intestinal system.

He lay on the hood of a Humvee for three hours waiting to be evacuated, and by the time he was, the damage had exponentially increased.

"I remember screaming 'Oh crap!’ when I got hit," he said, which remains his only memory of that event.

He doesn’t remember deploying, training in Kuwait or moving into Iraq as the invasion started. He barely remembers basic training, which was a full year before.

Someone mentions to him that maybe it’s better that he doesn’t remember.

"I’m sure that time was rough, but I would still like to have the memories," he said.

In nine months, Alan endured more than 70 surgeries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He contracted bacterial meningitis, which caused his brain to swell and resulted in a major stroke.

Still, he soldiered on, always coming back from the brink of death, his occasional fits of frustration never giving way to bitterness.

Almost two years to the day he was wounded, he was allowed to go home, with 42 different medications. Just before that, doctors removed the tracheotomy tube from his throat, finally allowing Alan to speak.

He spoke so much the first day, he went hoarse.

"We all wanted to hear him talk," his mother said. "Nurses were coming by to hear him say their name."

Alan’s Angels

In January 2004, the Star-Telegram ran a long piece on the Babin family’s journey and the thousands of people across the nation who became known as Alan’s Angels.

People all over North Texas joined the ranks and started checking Rosie’s near-daily updates on a Web site, www.caringbridge.org/tx/alansangels.

They called the family, they came to visit, they sent cards, and they became part of the Babins’ considerably extended family.

"I still correspond with some people who read that first story, and I’ve never met them," Rosie said.

The number of Alan’s Angels is still growing, for Rosie continues to update the Web site — though much less regularly — and she travels far and wide to speak to veterans’ groups, civic organizations and government agencies about her son.

"I said I would not let anyone forget Alan’s story," she said, not just because of who he is as a person but of who he represents as a wounded war veteran.

She has campaigned on behalf of better medical care, faster government benefits and less bureaucratic red tape, and she has succeeded in getting audiences with a number of major officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department.

"For some of us, the war will be going on a long time," Rosie said.

Facing challenges

Although he doesn’t act all that excited about it, Alan is returning to school. He has enrolled in a U.S. government class at Austin Community College.

At one time he had hoped to become a nurse after he left the Army, but now, he said, "I wouldn’t do much good there." Instead, he jokes that he’ll be looking for a desk job.

"I’m thinking maybe still in the healthcare field, so that I still get to play in it a little," he said.

At the time of the Star-Telegram’s first story, Alan could not talk or eat, and he could barely swallow. He weighed 125 pounds and was all but unrecognizable to anyone who compared the young man in the wheelchair with photos of him as a high school baseball player and amateur kickboxer.

Today, he talks in complete sentences, feeds himself and has mastered text-messaging. He weighs 160 pounds and looks like the young man in the family albums.

But whether it is because of the stroke or because of the weakness in his trunk, or more likely both, everything physically is a challenge.

Four days a week, he receives therapy, working on basic moves such as getting in and out of bed and standing up, which requires dozens of muscle movements that people don’t ordinarily have to think about.

It wasn’t until late 2005 that Alan’s belly was finally closed. Doctors put his insides back together, and he could resume eating real food instead of having it piped straight into his intestines.

And now he is taking exactly four medications, one of them an allergy pill and another a multivitamin.

Alan’s last surgery, in 2007, corrected most of his vision problems. He still has double vision peripherally but has 20/30 vision straight ahead.

"That was a huge deal," Alan said of getting rid of his "coke-bottle glasses." "Everything is clear and defined."

Next steps

Alan is officially retired from the Army, as a corporal. He gets a fair amount of ribbing about that.

"People have asked me how it feels to be retired," he said. "I tell them that considering all the crap I’ve been through, it’s not that great."

In recent years, he has gone downhill snow skiing, scuba diving and deer hunting and he would like to convince his doctors that he can go tandem jumping out of an airplane. Of the few memories he has of his service in the Army, most involve jump school.

"One of the biggest differences between the Vietnam generation and these young guys is the sports rehabilitation," Alain said. "It gives the guys a semblance of their old lives back. It’s made a huge difference for Alan."

But all of it pales in comparison to what he really wants: exactly two steps. By himself.

"I don’t need to take off running," he said, smiling. "I just want to take a couple of steps."

His mother has never doubted him. Looking at how far he has come, she doesn’t see the point.

This is the young man, after all, who has a standard answer when people approach him in his wheelchair and thank him for his service and his sacrifice.

"No problem," he tells them.

Southlake Independence Weekend
Thursday 6:30 p.m.: The Carroll school district salutes service members with the Patriot Parade at Southlake Town Square. The route begins at Barnes & Noble and travels along Grand Avenue, ending in front of the gazebo.

Friday 5:30 p.m.: Book signing by Navy Cmdr. Richard Jadick, author of On Call in Hell, and Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch, author of Once a Marine, at Barnes & Noble in Southlake Town Square.

7:30 p.m.: Salute to the military during Carroll’s football game against Houston Bellaire. Fans are asked to wear red, white and blue. All profits from the sale of Southlake Independence Weekend T-shirts will be donated to the Independence Fund.

Saturday 8 a.m.: Patriot Pedal Bike Rally, beginning in the Dragon Stadium parking lot. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. and costs $30.

6 p.m.: Tailgating starts before the Gary Sinise and Lt. Dan Band concert at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church. The concert was moved from Dragon Stadium because of weather concerns. Free for active military, Guard and reservists with current IDs and their families on a space-available basis. They must still reserve a ticket. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the concert.

For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.southlakeindependenceweekend.com. For more information about the Independence Fund, go to independencefund.org.

Other 9-11-related events
Thursday 7:40 a.m.: The 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial Foundation is holding a ceremony in Grapevine to honor the 33 flight crew members killed in the attacks. The ceremony is at 1000 Texan Trail in Grapevine.

7 p.m.: Navy Cross recipient and former SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who authored the bestseller Lone Survivor, speaks at the Heroes of Denton County banquet at the ballroom at the Speedway Club. More than 700 police officers, firefighters and other first responders are expected to attend.

8 p.m. A candlelight vigil will be held at the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial at 1000 Texan Trail in Grapevine.

Alan Babin Age: 28

Hometown: Round Rock

Army service: 82nd Airborne Division medic

Wounded March 31, 2003, in Iraq

Medically retired as a corporal

Medals: Bronze Star for valor, Purple Heart

Ellie