Overcoming Adversity

Portrait of a Hero: Retired SGT Richard Yarosh

September 1, 2006 found the (then) Private First Class (PFC) Richard Yarosh manning the turret of a Bradley assault vehicle.  He was back out on patrol going down a road they had been on "a million times."  PFC Yaroshand his group had been in Iraq since December of 2005.  He joined the Army as a Cavalry scout back in 2004.  PFC Yarosh started as a driver when they first arrived in Iraq, later becoming the gunner.  They had been patrolling in Abu Ghraib region of Iraq when the Bradley he manned was hit by a roadside bomb.  PFC Yaroshs' life took an unexpected turn.

The fuel tank blew, engulfing not only the Bradley in flames, but also Yarosh, who jumped blindly from the turret.  In the process of jumping from the Bradley, Yarosh broke his leg, severing an artery.  To compound that, he was on fire, engulfed in flames.

Sergeant Merlin German, USMC

Passing of Sgt. Merlin German

By Lt. Col. Olbrich, Officer in Charge, Marine Patient Affairs Team, Brooke Army Medical Center

Sgt Merlin German’s death on 11 Apr 08 shook Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) unlike any other that we have seen in the past three years.

(L to R) Lt. General James Amos, Sgt. Merlin German, and Sgt German.s Mother, Yvonne German at his meritorious promotion to Sgt. In December of 2006.

Word of his unexpected death, on a Friday night the day after his 100+ surgery, spread quickly among the hospital staff. Within an hour, the commanding general, all of his deputy commanders, and most of the Burn Center’s off-duty nurses, therapists, and doctors were coming in to the ICU room and say goodbye to Merlin and grieve with his parents.

On 21 Feb 2004, then LCpl German, 2/11, was on convoy duty traveling through Ramadi when his humvee was attacked with an IED. He arrived at BAMC on 25 Feb with 3rd degree burns covering 97% of his total body surface area and a 3% chance of living. He was an inpatient for 499 days, celebrated two birthdays, and was meritoriously promoted twice. Despite countless setbacks and seemingly unrecoverable illnesses, Merlin simply refused to quit.

The first time I saw Merlin, I was looking at him through the ICU room window. I was thinking, "Please don’t make me go in there please don’t make me go in there..."

"I am here today because my team saved my life"

Wounded warrior, wife, share experiences with Schweinfurt community

By Mark Heeter (USAG Schweinfurt)

Oct 1, 2009  SCHWEINFURT, Germany -- One hundred twenty-nine pints of blood poured into Lt. Col. Greg Gadson's body in the single night that Soldiers, doctors and a vast team of others brought together by a roadside bomb fought together to save his life.

Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who lost both legs in an IED attack in Iraq in 2007, shares a moment with fellow artilleryman, Capt. David Evetts, commander of Battery D, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, at the Ledward Theater, Sept. 29. Photo credit Mark Heeter (USAG Schweinfurt)

"I am here today because my team saved my life. And I like to say it twice. I am here today, sitting here on the stage, or walking through the room, because my team saved my life," said Gadson, joined on the Ledward Theater stage by his wife, Kim, for a talk with the Schweinfurt community Tuesday.

Gadson, a four-year letterman as a football player at West Point, talked at length about teams, especially the one comprised of his Soldiers that night.

He has returned to avenge the IED attack

Face of Defense: Wounded Paratrooper Returns to Fight

By Sgt. Stephen Decatur
Special to American Forces Press Service

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept. 21, 2009 – Sometimes, you just gotta laugh – even in combat. That’s the attitude of Army Sgt. Simon Baum, and one of the things his fellow infantrymen like most about him.

Sgt. Simon Baum, an infantry team leader with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, who was wounded in an IED attack in 2007, found out his wife was pregnant with triplets two days before returning to Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Stephen Decatur   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Two years after being severely injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Baum jokes that he has returned to avenge the IED attack – for his injuries and the death of his iPod. “I was really pissed my iPod was broken!” he said.

Although Baum, a sergeant and team leader with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, jokes about the injuries he suffered in Afghanistan, it would take two years, five surgeries and a possible medical discharge before he returned to the job he loves.

Baum, of Saginaw, Mich., was driving a Humvee in a convoy in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province on June 5, 2007, when he was seriously injured by a roadside bomb – but never lost his sense of humor.

The two dozen vehicles of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Squadron, Troop C were escorting a group of engineers past barren, rolling hills when suddenly, there was a violent explosion.

“We were listening to Led Zeppelin inside the truck, I will never forget that,” Baum said. “I heard ‘Good Times, Bad Times,’ and that’s the last thing I remember.”