31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
9/15/2014 - AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- A 31st Security Forces Squadron K-9 handler from Magnolia Village, Ohio, was awarded with the highest and oldest honor given to service members for wounds received in combat, the Purple Heart, Aug. 29.
During a deployment to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2012, Staff Sgt. Gabriel Travers and his K-9 partner, Tora, were tasked to search for improvised explosive devices.
The duo was the only two Air Force members working alongside a small Army unit around the time of August 2012, when Travers was tasked with what he calls 'one of the most difficult missions.'
After several hours of searching and clearing buildings for weapons caches and IEDs in the desert heat, the unit finally arrived at a small town closing in on the end of the team's mission for the day.
Approaching a perimeter wall, Travers and Tora proceeded to the right and found nothing. However, approximately 40 meters away from where the two teams parted ways, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit had come across an IED while checking the left side of the alley.
The officer in charge of the mission then told Travers he wanted to confirm with the EOD team and get more information about the devise they had found.
Wanting to ensure safe passage for the OIC, Travers offered to clear the area again just in case something was missed. However, he didn't get the chance.
Moments later, the officer took two steps left inside the compound and three steps down, stepping on a pressure plate causing an explosion, sending Travers five feet backwards.
"The last thing I remember is seeing a flash of white light and then somebody waving to me, while smacking me on my shoulder," explained Travers. "I know the guys were helping me up, talking to me and trying to get my attention, but I couldn't hear them. I didn't know what they were saying. I didn't know where my dog was."
As a result of the blast, the officer and two EOD members were severely injured. While coming to terms with his own injuries, Travers attention quickly turned to finding Tora and helping the members of his unit.
"The medevac helicopter wanted to initially take me, but I know if I were to go, my dog has to come with me and that's a whole helicopter full," explained Travers. "I told them to get the people that needed more medical attention than me."
Travers and the rest of the shaken team headed back to the forward operating base to seek medical attention, where he would found out he had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
"The doctors told me I had a concussion, but I told him I felt fine and nothing was wrong" he said.
With three months left of his deployment and facing a TBI, the doctor asked Travers if he wanted to go home.
"I told him no," he said. "I knew what I was up against. I didn't want them to have to train someone to come out here and then potentially have the same thing happen to someone else. I know the threat that's out here, I know what I need to do and I wanted to finish my mission. You're not going to stop me unless I can't move."
Back from the hospital, Travers wanted to walk around and go to the gym, but instead was put on quarters and told to rest.
"Most of the time I hate being told I can't do something," Travers said. "There a things that I used to do and things I used to remember that used to be easy ... that is no more.
"Everything is different," he furthered explained. "I now have a prism in my lenses because my brain no longer sends a signal to my eyes. There are conversations I have with my wife, and then five minutes later I don't even recall talking about it."
Travers' also endures severe headaches and dizziness at times, but says there is nothing that can keep him down. He says he no longer lets little things at work or home get to him and wants to share his knowledge with other Airmen.
"People always ask how I'm doing and I just respond with 'I'm breathing. I'm here. We're all good'," he laughed.
Travers and Tora completed two more missions before finishing their deployment. Two years after returning home, the nine-year veteran and 11-year-old K-9 are still together and going strong he says.
The experience and knowledge Travers has overcome allows him to further educate the Airmen around him; but he says the path to where he is now, couldn't have been done without his K-9 friend.
As a father, husband and service member, Travers continues to prove that a TBI won't keep him from reaching his goals. He is currently taking college classes and working on getting his bachelor's degree in counter intelligence.
"I face a lot of challenges these days, but I don't let them get to me," he said with a smile. "I'm hardheaded, but with my family and friends behind me, I don't ever plan on giving up."
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