CPT B.

Today I want to share with you an excerpt from a letter that I sent to a few of my colleagues about a month ago. I wrote this letter while at CRC which is a week long training program for replacement soldiers heading overseas. It is located at Ft. Benning, Ga. So enjoy the letter but first click here for a few laughs.

29 July 2008

Something very special happened today at CRC and I wanted to share it with you. Some of you may remember 1^st Lt B. who came through WRAMC ICU around May of 2006. He was a tall white kid from Ft Leonard Wood who had a terrible facial injury secondary to an IED. He was in the ICU and went through about 3 surgeries to repair his facial bones and save his eye sight. He was at WRAMC for about 3 months and recovered quite well. Unfortunately, he did lose his right eye and has such poor sight in his left eye that he is legally blind. He is such an amazing and inspirational guy for so many reasons. He was about to be med boarded out of the Army but fought very hard to be sent back to his engineering unit. He is now returning to Iraq for his second deployment. He faces his disability head on with such courage that I am totally humbled. He has a prosthetic in his left eye once was. His prosthetic has a white sclera and a big American flag for the pupil and iris. It goes quite well especially when he smiles. We just recently went to the range to qualify on the M-9 and he passed! Remember….he is legally blind! Today, all of CRC had the honor of attending his promotion to Captain Ceremony. It is an understatement to say that it was very moving.

The most special part of this for me is that of the hundreds of soldiers whose care I have been involved in, I have never come across any of my former patients after leaving WRAMC. I have a lot of memories of those soldiers and often wonder what became of them. I have feared that some of them may not be doing well and have struggled with adapting to their new lives. I am sure all of you have had these same thoughts at one time or another. We can all be happy to know that CPT B. and his family are doing exceptionally well. Additionally, he had very good things to say about his care and wanted me to pass his thanks on to those of you who may have been involved. Also, He prefers not to have any more requests for interviews or notoriety. What else would we expect from such an exceptional soldier?

Regards,

Peter