Soldier vows life will go on despite injury
By Staff Sgt. Cheryl Hackley
National Guard Bureau


Photo by Staff Sgt. Cheryl Hackley
Spc. Austin Philips stands on crutches as his physical therapist, Robert Bahr, looks on. Part of his PT requires him to be able to walk before getting his prosthetic leg.
ARLINGTON, Va. – Today, one can turn on the news and hear how many of America's brave men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, in the war on terrorism. That number is now over 1,000 and climbs higher on almost a daily basis. But there are also those unknown numbers of men and women who have returned from the war with injuries. Here is the story of one man, a Soldier, who lost part of his leg in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but not his will to live.
Austin Philips was 20 when he joined the Army National Guard. He was working at a Wal-Mart distribution center loading and unloading trailers, but wanted to earn some extra money. He learned about the Guard from a friend, and in 1997 enlisted as a mortarman in Charlie Co. 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry, 39th Brigade, Mena, Ark.

He attended basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. "Home of the Infantry – hooah!" said Philips, "it was challenging, both mentally and physically."

In 1999, he was deployed for four months to Kuwait as part of a Guard rotation . "I performed vehicle searches while I was there," he said.

In the fall of 2003, he was notified that he would be deploying to Iraq.

The specialist began his deployment October 2003 at Fort Hood, Texas. Next, he attended the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La. By mid-March, he arrived in Kuwait for the second time. On April 1, 2004 he convoyed through southern Iraq, headed for Forward Operating Base Head Hunter in Baghdad.

"It was nice to get to see a lot of the country," he said. "As we progressed through Iraq, we went from the desert through parts of the country that was irrigated. You could see knee-high grass. It was green as could be."

Upon arrival, everyone was a little confused as to what exactly they were doing.

"All of our training was for vehicle patrols, but we quickly learned everything we did would be on foot," he said.


Photo by Staff Sgt. Cheryl Hackley
Phillips lies with his leg on a bolster as part of strength training in physical therapy.
A platoon of up to 14 Soldiers would go on patrol, searching an area between two and seven miles. Each patrol could take up to six hours and they were conducted night and day. The commander would talk to Iraqi citizens and try to figure out what kind of problems they were having. All the while they had to be careful of their surroundings.

"You couldn't pick an enemy out of a crowd," he said. "It's not like they wore a uniform or anything, you basically had to wait until the insurgents shot at you or something until you knew who the target was."

Until the morning he was wounded, Philips had never been fired at. "I was injured May 20," said Philips as he prepared to share his combat experience that changed his life.

A platoon had gone out at midnight on patrol. An explosion went off, a grenade or something was thrown, but no one was injured. The quick reaction force he was part of rolled out to assist at about 3 a.m. The group rounded a corner and suddenly insurgents remotely detonated a bomb, he said.

"I was immediately knocked to the ground. My boot was blown off my foot, and my pant leg was shredded," he recalls. "I could tell I was going to lose my leg."

He never lost consciousness. It hurt a lot and Philips was screaming, he said. But his primary concern was locating his M4, which he had lost in the blast.

"Right away I started looking for my gun. My lieutenant eventually got it to me; I wanted to try and protect the others around me. Blasts were going off all around us and insurgents were firing from the roof tops."

Within 30 minutes, two other platoons came in and secured the area. A Soldier performed self-aide buddy care on him and put a tourniquet on Philips' right leg. He was rushed to a combat support hospital were this leg was amputated a few inches below the knee. From there he was sent to Germany and within two days of the explosion, he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

In a sad tone, Philips explained that three people were killed in the blast, including the Iraqi interpreter Philips had befriended. In his downtime, the interpreter had been teaching him how to speak in Arabic. Two others were also injured.

"I later found out the bomb was a 155mm artillery round," he said.

Philips wanted to be the one to tell his wife what happened to him.

"I was really nervous," he said. "I asked a nurse how to explain this to my wife."

She told me just to be honest with her, so I called and told her at work I had bad news.

"When he called and said that, I figured it couldn't be that bad since he was talking to me," recalled Pam, his wife. It took a few days to get to Walter Reed, but Pam was by his side as soon as possible and hasn't really left it since.

"One thing I learned over there for sure is that you can't do this without your family," said Philips, "Without them, I wouldn't be able to continue on. I push myself harder for them."

The couple has a 2-year-old son, Jacob. He hasn't seen his father since he deployed last October. "I want to wait and see Jacob after I get my prosthetic leg," said Philips. "That way, he can see me walk. I can explain to him that I am still Daddy. I can tell him what happened and show him my new leg, but that I haven't changed."

Philips also suffered shrapnel wounds to his back, but it's his leg that keeps him on the orthopedic ward of the hospital. Like all other amputees, he must go to physical therapy to gain strength and prepare for his prosthetic leg.

"Once someone gets injured and they come to Walter Reed, we have a program to get them ready to use their prosthetics," said Robert Bahr, a physical therapist, "After the sutures heal, they are fitted for their prosthetics and we teach them how to use it."

Philips plans to request a medical retirement from the military and then go to college, which the Veterans Affairs will help pay for. He thinks he wants a business degree, maybe go into politics someday. Either way, this Soldier is motivated. "I have to continue being outgoing," he said, "I can't hate what happened to me."

His experience can't be put into words. "The friendship and camaraderie you build with Soldiers in that environment, you can't find that anywhere else," he said.

"I would do it all over again," he said, "even knowing I would lose a leg."

Philips shows what it means to be a Soldier. He lost his leg, but not his love for his country or his family. As of press time, Philips had been released from the hospital and continues to look forward to the rest of his life.