On July 15, 2010, nine months after deploying to Afghanistan, Army Capt. David Inbody’s life exploded. An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that had been set for Inbody’s convoy hit its target.
David Inbody stands for the first time with a temporary prosthetic foot at the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio. On November 16, Brazos Charities will raise funds for the Warrior and Family Support Center at the Center for the Intrepid where Inbody and his familly recovered. Details about the "Saluting Our Wounded Warriors" event are below.
“A lot of violent groups didn’t like the Americans or Afghan government presence there,” says Inbody. He was riding in a large armored truck when the bomb went off with devastating repercussions. Inbody suffered life-altering injuries including one that lead to the amputation of his right foot below the ankle.
Inbody’s army commanders began trying to reach his wife Tiffany at work, many time zones away at Texas A&M University’s General Services Complex in College Station. Tiffany had stepped out of her office for a meeting, and for the first time since her husband’s deployment, left her cell phone behind.
Tiffany returned to 10 missed calls on her cell phone, but no messages; she knew something was horribly wrong. Tiffany says she was in shock: everything was in slow motion as the phone once more began to ring. She answered to hear Major Normand on the line telling her that her husband was injured and that all the injuries were confined to his right side.
Now it was Tiffany’s job to make calls: to hers and David’s parents and to make arrangements for the couple’s two children. All the while David was enduring a grueling journey that included bare-bones military planes and minor surgeries as he was transported from Afghanistan to Germany and then to the United States. Back in the USA, David and Tiffany would finally end their long separation with a tearful reunion, along with David’s parents, at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C.
Ten days of operations and treatment later, David was reunited with his children, Daniel, 5, and Morgan, 3, when he was transported again, this time with his wife, on a 14-hour trip in a military plane to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
Inbody would spend a month as a medical center inpatient undergoing surgeries and another one and a half months being fitted for a prosthetic foot.
Once he became mobile, Inbody moved next door to one of the nation’s premiere poly-trauma rehabilitation facilities for America’s service men and women: The Center for the Intrepid.
“Center for the Intrepid is an amazing place for wounded warriors, but what made a big difference for the entire family,” says David “was the Warrior and Family Support Center and the community built up there to support all warriors and their families.”
From August through November, David learned how to use his replacement limb and worked through intensive physical therapy. Tiffany recalls how difficult it was to see her husband go from being able to run and walk to not being able to take a step without crutches until late October of his rehab.
Today, David has come full circle able to live much as he did before his tour of duty: active, working, caring for his family, and staying in shape.
“I get up everyday and live life,” he says. The only difference for David now, he says candidly, is that he can run when he wants to and not when the Army tells him to. David was fittedwith a special running spring-foot prosthetic, similar to the ones most people saw during the 2012 summer Olympics worn by Oscar Pistorius. David says that most people tell him they cannot tell he has a prosthetic when he is wearing jeans or pants.
“I am still dealing with small things,” he says, “but they’re minor irritants in the bigger scheme.” David and Tiffany have reached another family milestone since David’s return to health. The couple’s third child, Matthew, recently turned one year old.
The aftermath of David’s injuries presented challenges for both David and Tiffany including months of a life of hospital visits and physical therapy sessions. The Inbodys, like many other families of wounded warriors, found comfort at the Warrior and Family Support Center (WFSC) located at the Center for the Intrepid; the people there were a constant source of help in their time of need. Being able to get away from the hospital environment and escape to a haven at WFSC or what Tiffany likes to refer to as the “living room,” proved invaluable.
The Inbody’s say sharing their story of David’s injury and recovery is a way to say thank you to the WFSC. “You get dropped off in San Antonio and do not know anyone and then you have people at the WFSC wrap their arms around you and say they are going to give you the help you need,” says David. “That support is really critical.”
David’s message is that a place like WFSC that allows for family to stay close is a vital part of every injured warrior’s healing and recovery process.
“Its like a living room to the community while you are there,” Tiffany says. “[WFSC] created a comfortable structure that gives you an opportunity to get out of the hospital and do something that isn’t related to what you are dealing with. This may not seem like a big deal normally, but it makes a big difference when your world becomes medications, decisions, movement; your whole world becomes the injury and being able to get away from that helps so much.”
David talks about the amazing variety of activities that the WFSC makes available. “They provide good food on a busy hospital schedule. They help fly down additional family to visit that the army can’t provide. They give out tickets to see the Spurs or minor league hockey, and there are trips for the kids to places like the Children’s Museum or the San Antonio Zoo.”
The WFSC also offers free counseling services. Mothers and spouses get to be a part of weekly sessions about coping with emotional stress and learning how they can best help their wounded loved ones. Tiffany says they were a noteworthy help to her own morale during that time.
“Its important for people to know there are a lot of hard things to sort through in that experience,” explains Tiffany. “It’s a process to get to where you can talk about what happened in a way that is helpful to others. We can help give perspective to others that there are places [like WFSC] that do great, great things to support the wounded warriors in our country.”
For more information about the Warrior and Family Support Center, visit http://www.bamc.amedd.army.mil/military/wfsc/
For more information about how to support our local wounded warriors and to help repay the debt all Americans owe for the sacrifices they have made in service to our nation, visit BrazosCharities.org.
A new nonprofit in town has as focused its first-year mission on raising funds that will help care for wounded veterans and their families. Founded by Mitch Morehead and other Brazos Valley residents who had a desire to support deserving organizations, Brazos Charities will select a worthy organization to support each year.
This year, in honor of Veteran’s Day and those who serve our country, Brazos Charities will raise funds for the Warrior and Family Support Center at the Center for the Intrepid, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio.
Saulting Our Wounded Warriors on November 16
The community is invited to join Brazos Charities for its inaugural fundraiser, “Saluting Our Wounded Warriors,” featuring former Navy SEAL and New York Times best-selling author Marcus Luttrell on November 16.
Sponsorships, tables and individual tickets are all available for this reception and seated dinner at the George Bush Presidential Library Center. For more information
on the event, visit http://brazoscharities. org/2012-saluting-our- wounded-warriors/, call (979) 822-3520 or email information@ brazoscharities.org.
