thedrifter
02-02-07, 02:56 PM
Injured Marine Turns Troop Counselor At San Antonio Rehab Center
Feb 2, 2007 12:41 PM
In San Antonio Monday, the U.S. military dedicated a $40 million rehabilitation center for troops with traumatic wounds.
The kind of severe trauma seen at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston is amputation and also unimaginable burns.
But this is one of those instances in which a picture is worth 1,000 words.
(The following is the transcript by KXAN's Jim Swift).
"We were conducting Operation Matador, sweeping from the Euphrates River, near the Syrian border to pinch off the insurgency, and in transit, in our convoy, we struck an IED," Cpl. Aaron Mankin with the U.S. Marine Corps said.
"We lost six Marines in that vehicle that day, and several others that were wounded and evacuated," Mankin said.
"I was thrown back inside the vehicle, never lost consciousness, realized I was on fire, and I needed to get out. Luckily, I had my goggles on, so spared my eyesight. But I dove out the back of my vehicle, trying to put myself out, and I couldn't. I couldn't put myself out on my own, and I stopped. I was done. I couldn't move anymore and essentially waited to die," Mankin said.
"I didn't know exactly how hurt I was until I saw myself in the mirror for the first time, and it's a work in progress. The masterpiece you see before you is not an overnight success. Everyone who arrives here has a whole new life, has a different life. They have to learn what it is they can do all over again," Mankin said.
Swift said: "And what's the process been like for you? What have you discovered about yourself and what you're capable of?"
Mankin said: "That's a good one. That's a good one. I can't narrow it down. I've got every right to be bitter, to be mad, to be upset. Everyone's got that right. We do. But I don't because I want to be the guy that my girlfriend fell in love with, the woman that I married. I want to be that guy. And it takes a lot to keep me from that because I'm still here. I'm still here."
With the opening of the new Center for the Intrepid, Mankin will serve as a primary counselor for wounded troops there and for wounded troops yet to arrive.
Ellie
Feb 2, 2007 12:41 PM
In San Antonio Monday, the U.S. military dedicated a $40 million rehabilitation center for troops with traumatic wounds.
The kind of severe trauma seen at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston is amputation and also unimaginable burns.
But this is one of those instances in which a picture is worth 1,000 words.
(The following is the transcript by KXAN's Jim Swift).
"We were conducting Operation Matador, sweeping from the Euphrates River, near the Syrian border to pinch off the insurgency, and in transit, in our convoy, we struck an IED," Cpl. Aaron Mankin with the U.S. Marine Corps said.
"We lost six Marines in that vehicle that day, and several others that were wounded and evacuated," Mankin said.
"I was thrown back inside the vehicle, never lost consciousness, realized I was on fire, and I needed to get out. Luckily, I had my goggles on, so spared my eyesight. But I dove out the back of my vehicle, trying to put myself out, and I couldn't. I couldn't put myself out on my own, and I stopped. I was done. I couldn't move anymore and essentially waited to die," Mankin said.
"I didn't know exactly how hurt I was until I saw myself in the mirror for the first time, and it's a work in progress. The masterpiece you see before you is not an overnight success. Everyone who arrives here has a whole new life, has a different life. They have to learn what it is they can do all over again," Mankin said.
Swift said: "And what's the process been like for you? What have you discovered about yourself and what you're capable of?"
Mankin said: "That's a good one. That's a good one. I can't narrow it down. I've got every right to be bitter, to be mad, to be upset. Everyone's got that right. We do. But I don't because I want to be the guy that my girlfriend fell in love with, the woman that I married. I want to be that guy. And it takes a lot to keep me from that because I'm still here. I'm still here."
With the opening of the new Center for the Intrepid, Mankin will serve as a primary counselor for wounded troops there and for wounded troops yet to arrive.
Ellie