Warriors in Conversation

  • Published
  • By Leslie Finstein
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  "Did that just happen, did that really just happen? ..."

"I thought I was going to die, I should have died ..."

"I wanted everything to mean something after it happened..."

It was early on a Friday evening when 30 cadets gathered in the chaplain-run Oasis coffee lounge to hear from three wounded warriors from the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson.

Army Sgt. and Colorado Springs native Jeremy Madrid broke his back in 2008 while on his third tour in Iraq.

"I heard the crack, saw the flash, and fell backwards down 15 stairs," described Sergeant Madrid. "A rocket-powered grenade hit five meters away."

First Lt. Jason Mazzella from Warwick, N.Y., almost lost his leg in February 2010 during a rocket attack in Afghanistan. When Lieutenant Mazzella lifted his pant leg to show cadets, the scars from his limb salvage were clear cut on his skin.

"I came to, still standing with everything flying through the air and I had no idea where I was or what had just happened ... It felt like somebody had punched me in the face," Lieutenant Mazzella said. "I started walking, took three steps and realized my leg should not be bent at a 90 degree angle. I went to the ground. "

His platoon sergeant was a few feet away, face down in front of the mortar tube, dead.

"We had just been shoulder to shoulder," said Lieutenant Mazella, who wears that sergeant's bracelet every day.

Army Spc. Brandon Rethmel wanted to deploy ever since he joined the Army.

"I thought I was invincible; I volunteered five times for deployment," Specialist Rethmel told the cadets.

While on duty in the guard shack of his base in Bagram, Afghanistan, a rocket hit. He lost his right leg below the knee, his right tricep, and several pieces of his intestines.

Specialist Rethmel was seven days into his first deployment. He was back in the United States at Walter Reed Army Medical Center within a week.

These three wounded warriors came to the Academy to tell their stories, to talk to cadets in the first of what the event organizers hope to be many Heroes Endure And Relate, or H.E.A.R., sessions.

"This is a conversation, not a briefing," said Lt. Col. Kevin Basik, chief of the Scholarship Division at the Air Force Academy and an organizing force behind this event.

Cadets asked questions about the WTU, about what goes through your mind when you are attacked, how their families were affected and why they stayed in the Army; questions the warriors willingly and candidly answered.

The warriors also gave the cadets something more - their advice on how to be good leaders.

"Know your job inside and out, no matter what it is," Lieutenant Mazella shared as he told stories of his first assignments as a second lieutenant.

Specialist Rethmel told them that when they are officers they should talk to their troops, share knowledge with them.

"We want to know what you know," he said.

Army Capt. Nathan Miles, who accompanied the soldiers and is a member of the WTU staff, also chimed in to add his advice.

"Know that you don't know everything, and everyone knows you don't know everything. Also, heed the advice of those with experience," Captain Miles said.

The seeds of H.E.A.R. were planted in December 2010, when discussions began with the WTU exploring partnership ideas with the Academy. The idea for a unique forum for discussion between cadets and wounded warriors came from those discussions. Further progress was made when Colonel Basik came together with Cadet 1st Class Nicole Johnson to make this their project for their class BS 310, Foundations of Leadership Development. Their work brought the event to life.

The result was an event that touched both the warriors and the cadets.

"It was the most inspiring event that I've ever been through," Cadet 4th Class Alivia Berg of Cadet Squadron 11 said afterwards. "Just knowing what they went through and being able to ask questions and having it be so personal ... it gave you the confidence to ask questions about their injuries and what they went through ... it was awesome."

"I thought it was a great way to get in touch with the people who have gone before us," said Cadet 4th Class Cole Donnelly of CS 25 on why he came to the session. "I just wanted to connect with them; I wanted to get to know them, to say thanks."

The soldiers agreed that it was great to tell the stories and felt they really got through to the cadets.

"It means a lot to us to be able to affect a large group and to know that maybe one day they might say, 'Hey I remember when Lieutenant Mazzella or Sergeant Madrid said this when we were meeting with the wounded warriors and I am going to apply that in my job.' I think that is one of the greatest outcomes that could come out of this," Lieutenant Mazzella said.

"This was a good chance to come talk to cadets about what it's like to embrace the suck, smell the dirty stinky trash in Iraq and tell them about how you get through everyday life," explained Sergeant Madrid. "It's the opportunity for me to say, this is what it's truly like."

Scheduled to last an hour, the session officially wrapped up on time, but the conversations carried on. Cadets approached the soldiers one on one for another half hour.

The soldiers each received a plaque in commemoration of the event and everyone in attendance received a piece of camo-colored rope. It was Colonel Basik's idea; he wanted everyone to have a tangible reminder of the night as a way to bind the participants to the experience.

Colonel Basik said he hopes to have another H.E.A.R. session next semester, and from what the cadets said after this one, it will certainly be another full house.