Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
First Sgt. John Blue, of HHC, 1-23 Inf., and Capt. Damon Armeni, of HHT, 1-14 Cav. once both faced punishing physical therapy and uncertain futures in the Army after being severely injured in Iraq. Today, however, the company grade officer and senior NCO once again lead Soldiers.
Two Soldiers deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis and returned with broken bodies.
One lost his right leg and the other, his spleen and sections of other internal organs.
But facing punishing physical therapy and uncertain futures in the Army, the junior officer and senior NCO set the same goal to once again lead Soldiers. They turned what for many is a sad, not uncommon story of struggle against challenges into an inspirational one of achievement and hope.
During the first week of February, Capt. Damon Armeni and 1st Sgt. John Blue put on green leadership tabs as a cavalry troop commander and an infantry company first sergeant in 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. For Armeni, it was almost four years after his Stryker vehicle was hit by a modified rocket-propelled grenade. For Blue, only a year had passed since his Stryker hit an improvised explosive device.
Though men of radically different temperaments, they shared many common values, including the strong desire for no special favors.
The stories of Capt. Damon Armeni and 1st Sgt. John Blue are known by word-of-mouth in their units, though with the brigade well into the reset process, many who knew their stories have departed. Thanks to local news accounts, their grievous injuries are also known throughout the Tacoma and Fort Lewis area.
Less known is the determination they shared to resume their lives and military careers despite the daily challenges of their combat injuries.
“It’s not like Vietnam,” Blue said, with its accounts of returning Soldiers ignored and disdained. A more responsive wartime medical system took into account their desire to serve and facilitated their return to duty. “I want people to understand that the Army will keep you,” Blue said. “The Army doesn’t want to get rid of you. The Army has invested all this time and money to make you knowledgeable and if you want to stay, they will find something for you, a job for you to do and get you back in to pass on that knowledge.”
With improvements in medicine and emergency transportation, more Soldiers than ever are surviving their combat wounds. Leaders say the Army is responding by not automatically looking for ways to discharge wounded warriors.
“There are a lot of Soldiers throughout the Army ... who have been wounded and come back to leadership positions,” Lt. Col. Joseph Davidson said, of 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, now Armeni’s commanding officer. “Most of them don’t want recognition for overcoming the odds. (Armeni and Blue) are humble guys and I think that’s part of their healing process. If you weren’t humble before, I think it makes you humble. It makes you reassess your life, your goals and aspirations.”
Wounded warriors
Armeni described himself as an overly confident lieutenant to the point of “cocky” when his Stryker suffered a direct hit from a powerful variant of a rocket-propelled grenade on Aug. 4, 2004 during 3rd Bde., 2nd Inf. Div.’s first deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom. He had just begun transitioning into the executive officer position in Black Hawk Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
The projectile tore a softball-sized hole through his body armor, scrambled his internal organs and shattered his leg and foot. He barely survived the medevac to the combat support hospital. Immediate first aid by his young Stryker crew saved his life, as did a bold drive through enemy fire to move the stricken truck out of harm’s way and back to the forward operating base.
Blue was injured during the brigade’s second OIF deployment.
While serving as the 1st Sergeant of Apache Company, 1st Bn., 23rd Inf., he lost most of his right leg on Jan. 27, 2007. He was riding in the commander’s hatch of his Stryker when the force of an improvised explosive device ripped through the vehicle. Three other Soldiers were wounded in the incident, though Blue was the only one evacuated to Germany, then Walter Reed Army Medical Center and finally to Brooke Army Medical Center.
“I really, honestly, truly didn’t know it happened,” Blue said. “It wasn’t bad. I had a heel and part of the foot was all taken off, I think from the blast. It sounds crazy but I was worried, upset that I was taken out of the picture before my time. I was upset that it was not time for me to leave. I felt that it wasn’t fair, because they all still had to stay and I had to leave.”
Those who knew him best detected no self pity then or now in the senior NCO.
Given his option to keep the “limp salvage” that angled forward and upward from his heel and ankle or have it taken off “below the knee” to resume his former active lifestyle with a prosthetic limb, Blue chose to become a full “BK” amputee.
Blue returns
He was back in the battalion by October, taking the reins as the acting 1-23 Inf. command sergeant major. He became Headquarters and Headquarters Company 1st Sergeant of 1-23 Inf. the first week of February.
Blue described himself before the incident as an NCO who enforced high standards, someone who aspired to be the classic firm-but-fair leader. He said he feels no different today absent a leg.
“My leadership philosophy hasn’t changed at all,” he said. “I think I’m still the same person mentally. Physically I’m a little slower. But I still run, I still do everything.”
Strangers have no idea Blue’s leg is missing unless he is leading physical training wearing his curved “running (prosthetic) leg.” In his Army combat uniform on his “walking leg,” he bears no sign of injury beyond an almost imperceptible limp.
Former commanders and staff Soldiers agreed with Blue’s assessment that he hasn’t changed his approach to his duties.
“He’s the consummate NCO,” Maj. Ted Kleisner said, the former B Company, 1-23 commander, “ridiculously professional. I would often use him as a second command sergeant major, because I could always confide in him and he was always quick to advise an officer.”
“I’ve know him for a long time,” said Lt. Col. Vann Smiley, who turned out of command of 1-23 Inf. upon its return from Iraq last fall. “He was a young and very strong first sergeant. I put him in that position as an E-7, betting the farm that he would make the promotion list and voila, he was frocked and the rest is history. From the minute I saw him at the CSH and knew he would probably lose a foot, he was positive, and immediately demonstrated a ‘thanks to be alive’ and ‘will I be able to be a first sergeant in this battalion?’ mentality. He showed incredible fortitude.”
His current battalion commander knew Blue as a young sergeant first class who worked in the S3 shop in 2002 when he was the battalion operations officer.
“He was there for a short time until he moved down to Apache Company to be a platoon sergeant,” Lt. Col. Chuck Hodges said, commander of 1-23 Inf. “He’s always been an outstanding NCO. I had a great amount of respect for him and what he’s done prior to it and since then. For him being wounded and the injuries he’s taken, he’s even more inspirational. He’s the kind of guy, no negative views come out of his mouth ... even after the injury. He’s the most positive role model I can identify with.”
After his injury, the battalion and brigade staffs and chains of command kept close tabs on the popular, always positive NCO as he moved through the medical system from Germany to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Unofficial greeter
His battalion commander said he wasn’t surprised at the accounts he received of Blue’s activities at the facility.
“At BAMC, he was greeting other wounded Soldiers and taking them under his wing while rehabilitating himself,” Smiley said. “One of them was one of his platoon sergeants who lost both legs. First Sergeant Blue was simply incredible through the ordeal.”
As an amputee, Blue said he barely sees himself as altered at all — certainly not handicapped.
“To the best of my ability I tried to make a conscious decision about what I wanted to do,” Blue said. “My life is only changed at night time and in the morning. It’s when my leg is off, when I’m going to bed or when I’m getting up to go take a shower and I’ve got to use crutches. Honestly, that’s the only time my life is really changed.”
When it was apparent that Blue’s warrior spirit had survived his injury, 1-23 Inf. leaders quickly found another leadership position for him in the headquarters company. Though his company commander, Capt. Chuck Noll, hadn’t known Blue prior to coming to the company, he was unfazed by his senior NCO’s injury.
“From his reputation I knew I was getting a good first sergeant,” Noll said. “I had no reservation about his injury, about his coming aboard.”
The captain’s confidence has been rewarded. Blue does everything other senior NCOs do, from PT to rigorous infantry tasks during battalion off-site leadership events. Blue came in first in his age group in a 5-kilometer St. Patrick’s Day run.
“I’ve been lucky,” Noll said. “He’s outstanding. He’s truly my senior tactical advisor. He fits that role perfectly.
Soldiers look up to him. He’s an inspiration. I think to myself coming in every day. With his injury, it’s just amazing to me.
Everything we’re doing, I’ll always be going into his office, getting his feedback, bouncing stuff off him.”
Armeni takes command
Armeni enjoyed the same level of trust after his injury, perhaps more so, among the officers in his chain of command.
Davidson similarly had no reservations about offering Armeni a company in his cavalry squadron. He took command Feb. 5 of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1-14 Cav.
“Damon obviously was in a different place as a lieutenant,” Davidson said, who knew Armeni since he arrived to 3rd Bde., 2nd Inf. Div. as a second lieutenant. “He had a lot to learn but he matured a lot. Whether it happened faster as a result of his wounds, it’s impossible to know.”
More introspective than Blue, Armeni said the experience made him an even more thoughtful leader. His primary concern immediately after his injury was its effect on his Soldiers.
“The only thing I felt I let my Soldiers down about was them having to take care of me,” Armeni said. “I felt bad; I had some young kids on my truck. It hurt a lot. There was no way those kids could have walked away OK from that experience with my intestines laying out. I’d like to think my Soldiers cared about me as much as I cared about them.”
From that day in August 2004, he began a roller-coaster period of improvements and reversals that lasted eight months.
Because Armeni had housing on post, his family lived in Tacoma and his mother was a nurse practitioner, the Army returned him via Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. to Madigan Army Medical Center just two weeks after his injury.
“The deal was on the 29th, I got to go home for my son’s birthday,” Armeni said. “They let me out some time in mid-September. The deal was I could go home and sleep at home every day.”
He became an out patient a matter of weeks after his wounding, which lasted until late October when he returned to the medical center for routine surgery. What was supposed to be one surgery led to seven. He went under anesthesia at the end of October and was shocked when he awoke after Thanksgiving.
“There were a million complications,” he said, complications that led to surgeries and continued daily in- and out-patient treatment for four months.
Later, surgeons reconstructed his leg, breaking four of his toes to fuse together the bones to combat the nerve damage that curled them like a claw. A pin stuck out of his great toe to hold the bone in place.
Meanwhile, he had transferred from battle captain in 1-23 Inf. to 1-14 Cavalry, deploying for his second tour in Iraq as a troop executive officer, then becoming the squadron supply officer for the remainder of his second tour in-country.
When the brigade returned last fall, Davidson began considering captains to fill his headquarters troop command position in February. He chose Armeni without hesitation.
“He has some physical limitations and will the rest of his life, though he continues to work hard,” Davidson said. “He’s a good combination of determined and hard-headed with a good heart. He has a base of credibility where he comes from. It comes from all guys who are seriously wounded and come back to full status.”
Armeni does everything any troop commander would do, his squadron commander said. He passes the PT test, though his injuries preclude his performing at his former extended-scale standard above maximum scores.
“You’ll find most Soldiers in Headquarters Troop that Damon commands don’t even know that he was wounded,” Davidson said. “He’s very low-key about it; he doesn’t talk about it. If I polled Soldiers, I’d be surprised if 10 percent of his Soldiers knew.”
Though Armeni always took leadership seriously, even back to his days as a Pacific Lutheran ROTC cadet. His injuries have focused his attitudes, earned him credibility and made him look at Soldiers differently.
“I’m both more and less tolerant of Soldiers who are hurting,” he said. “In the sense I’m more tolerant, I know how bad it hurts, I’ll work with you and not drum you out just because you’re hurt. (But) I’m less tolerant of the guys riding a profile that aren’t really hurt.”
He said his experience has made him slower to judge his Soldiers, especially the under-performing ones.
“You can’t pigeon-hole Soldiers. You can look at a guy and say, ‘I don’t think he’ll do well,’ but you can’t say he won’t until you see how he acts ... A bad Soldier today is tomorrow’s hero. It happens all the time. It sounds cliché but it’s the truth.”
Army training has taken on a new urgency for him, Armeni said. First-aid classes he formerly joked his way through with fellow lieutenants now have taken on a whole new meaning.
His leadership calculus hasn’t changed. He is still willing to take aggressive action when the situation warrants, he said.
“The difference is (now) when I send Soldiers out (into harm’s way) they know I’ve done everything I can to mitigate the risk, because I understand. And I think they know Capt. Armeni hasn’t said to do this just to do it.”
Hodges said as his (then) battalion executive officer, he made it his business to be toughen newly arrived lieutenants, including Armeni. He said that history of learning from mistakes makes the young officer’s transformation even more satisfying.
“That young officer has grown more than anybody I have seen,” Hodges said. “It’s very rewarding for me to see what a young, immature lieutenant he was and what he’s grown into, a junior captain leading a troop. And like 1st Sgt. Blue, if anyone out their feels sorry for themselves, look at that young man and quit your crying.”
Taking command of the headquarters troop ranked among the highlights of his career and life, Armeni said.
“It was incredibly fulfilling,” he said. “Standing there handing me the guidon was the colonel who kept me in the brigade, and standing around me were people who played integral roles in making me an officer that was worth saving. It was a tremendously fulfilling thing to go from as little as I knew about the Army to as hurt as I was to accepting the guidon of a troop. It was hard keeping my eyes straight.”
Making a difference
Both leaders still look for ways to make contributions, to put their love of the profession of arms into practice. Blue said he finds great satisfaction in counseling wounded Soldiers as they progress through the medical system. Armeni hopes to take a troop back to Iraq.
Blue’s and Armeni’s current contributions would likely have been lost in past armies, Davidson said. Wounded Soldiers can still contribute to the mission. They require, however, a new level of understanding.
“Sometimes you have to take a step back and say ‘OK, what has this guy been through?’”
He now encourages his leaders to learn the histories of newly arrived Soldiers.
“Sometimes it takes asking the hard question,” Davidson said, “asking the doc to screen medical records. Everyone now has some baggage. You have to approach things differently.”
The commander of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Lt. Col. Adam Rocke, served as 1-23 Inf. operations officer during the brigade’s first deployment, and the 3rd Bde., 2nd Inf. Div. operations officer during the second. He knows both wounded leaders well.
“It was unfortunate that both Capt. Armeni and 1st Sgt. Blue were severely wounded in combat,” Rocke said, “but their moral and physical courage to continue to fight for what they believe in and return to leading men is an example for all Soldiers to strive to emulate. They are shining examples of true patriots. These men have the skills to motivate and encourage Soldiers to be the best and their combat experiences only compound what they have to offer to their units.”
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