Bryan Anderson: Triumph Over Adversity

By Jessica Klem Health.mil

Former Army sergeant and triple amputee Bryan Anderson offered a message of perseverance and courage at a recent event held in McLean, Va.. Anderson, who received the Purple Heart for his injuries suffered during a deployment to Iraq, urged those in the audience to “experience life and have fun – you only live once.”

Enlisting in the Army in 2001, Anderson was first assigned as a prison guard at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. His first deployment to Iraq came in 2003. He says he landed in Iraq and found women and children in front of their mud huts, cheering the U.S. troops’ arrival.

“Once we saw that, we said ‘we need to help these people,’” Anderson said. “No one bitched about the sand and heat anymore.”

Upon arriving home after that first deployment, Anderson told family and friends about the excitement and camaraderie he enjoyed in Iraq. Four months later, the letter came in the mail: Anderson was to redeploy to Iraq in another four months.

“Then I started paying attention to the news, to how Iraq [had changed],” he said. “I didn’t think it could be any worse than the actual invasion.”

He deployed to Iraq for a second time in January 2005. On his way to the base after arrival, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in the road nearby his truck.

Anderson had seen a few IEDs in 2003, but he said those were made out of soda cans – these IEDs were bigger, harder to spot and were capable of doing much more damage. During his second deployment, Anderson says he saw about 60 IEDs explode daily in just the six-mile radius he patrolled as a sergeant in the Military Police.

“We joked about the IEDs just to stay sane,” he said.

On Oct. 23, 2005, Anderson set out with his unit at 11 a.m. to visit an Iraqi police station but they never made it there. While driving the last Humvee in the convoy, Anderson was lighting a cigarette when he saw a flash of light and black smoke engulf the vehicle.

Anderson knew what was happening, that an IED had exploded and that he needed to get out of the Humvee immediately. But he couldn’t move. He remembers his friends pulling him out of the truck and laying him on the sidewalk.

“I was just trying to get to my gun – we were being attacked,” he said.

It was then that he realized his friends acting strangely, so he started assessing himself – he was missing his left hand and a fingertip on his right hand was gone. His friends tried to stop him before he looked down. Both his legs were gone. “I asked my buddy if I would ever be with a woman again, and we all laughed – we sat there for 12 minutes joking around until the helicopter came.”

Seven days later, Anderson woke up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington with his whole family there to support him.

“The accident hurt [my twin brother] Bob more than it hurt me,” he said. “It hurt to see my family suffering.”

Anderson ultimately spent 13 months at WRAMC in surgeries and physical therapy, where he says he received excellent care.

But four months into rehabilitation, Anderson hit a dark place. “I realized I’m half a person,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, I was having panic and anxiety attacks. I didn’t want to be alone, but I didn’t want to see anyone, either. But after a while, I just realized I couldn’t live like this.”

Realizing he needed a “real life” away from both the Army and rehab, Anderson went to Las Vegas. He tried to not think about his legs or what had happened – he just had fun. He quickly realized this was his new life goal – to just have fun. He began rock climbing, snowboarding, wake boarding and white water rafting. Nothing about his new body would stop him from fun activities. Anderson has prosthetic legs that enable him to walk but still spends most of his time in his wheelchair.

As Anderson is one of only a few triple amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, he has learned a valuable lesson with his new life.

“You never know when or how an opportunity will come up,” he said. “People are scared of new things or changes, but that’s what I’m about. Life can take you in so many different ways. Get out there, experience life and have fun – you only live once.”

Bryan Anderson is the national spokesman for Quantum Rehab, the maker of Anderson’s powered wheelchairs and other assistive devices, and a spokesman for USA Cares, a nonprofit organization that provides military families with financial and advocacy support in their time of need. He appeared in the HBO documentary “Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq.”

For more information on Anderson, visit his Web site at www.andersonactive.com.