Three Marines from the Wounded Warrior Battalion East brought a message of survival and perseverance to NAS Meridian recently.

    Purple Heart recipients Sgt. Joseph Dodson, Cpl. Kyle Carpenter and Cpl. Dominque “Dom” Davila, along with their Battalion East Coordinator Staff Sgt. Roger Herrera, visited Marines and sailors at Marine Aviation Training Support Squadron One and Naval Technical Training Center, Aug. 22-24.

    “Our mission is to answer your questions. Please ask us whatever you want — nothing is off limits,” Dodson said.

Carpenter’s story

    Carpenter admits he was a typical teenager and joined the Marine Corps seeking adventure like many young men do.

    “II didn’t want to wake up when I was 60 years old and think, ‘Why didn’t I try that,’” Carpenter, a native of Flowood, said. “I do not regret a day of my service. I continue to serve my country today and wear my uniform.”

    Carpenter was injured in Afghanistan when a grenade exploded on a rooftop he and his best friend were guarding. Carpenter shielded his fellow Marine from the blast. Carpenter, 22, still serves on active duty in the Marine Corps and is stationed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md. For his act of courage and sacrifice he has been nominated for the Medal of Honor.

    During his speaking engagements, Carpenter never tells the audience that he is nominated for the Medal of Honor, but his fellow Marines Davila and Dodson always recognize his achievement.

    Carpenter is the youngest of the three Marines and has served 3? years in the Corps. His injuries are extensive. In addition to burns and scars over 75 percent of his body, Carpenter lost his right eye in the explosion. He now has a prosthetic eye, and being the dedicated Marine he is Carpenter has the Marine Corps emblem in the place of the eye’s pupil.

    “The brain is a very delicate thing, and the explosion rocked me pretty hard. I’m lucky that I woke up, period,” said Carpenter, who remembers very little from the attack or the following five weeks he was in a coma. “The doctors had told my family that if I did wake up I would be a vegetable. So when I consider my progress and where I’m at in my recovery today … I’m very lucky. I remember physically doing the act of jumping on the grenade and how his body was on the rooftop, but very little else.”

    It’s been two years since his injury, but Carpenter has moments that still come back to him of his buddies shaking him and the hospital corpsman trying to administer first aid.

Davila’s story

“Dom” as his friends call him had dreams of being a police officer. He thought joining the military would give him an advantage in his career goal.

    “I joined just thinking I would do a couple of years and get out,” Davila said. “I fell in love with the Marine Corps and wanted to stay forever.”

    Davila experienced two very different deployments overseas, first in Iraq for eight months in 2008. Then in May 2009 he deployed to the Helmand Province of Afghanistan where the vehicle he was riding in hit a 100-pound improvised explosive device (IED). Two of his fellow Marines were killed in the attack on July 23, 2009. Davila’s injuries were severe. His right leg was amputated below the knee.

    Davila, now 24 years old, is out of the Marine Corps after serving six years. His plans for the future may not include being a police officer anymore, but he is achieving one of his goals. Davila starts college in Massachusetts in a few weeks pursuing a career in the medical field.

    “I can do anything I want – it took time to realize that after my injury but now I’m focused on the future,” said Davila, who participates in Wounded Warrior projects when he can.

    “I knew nothing about the Wounded Warrior Battalion when I joined the Corps,” he said. “The experiences I’ve had since my injury have been rewarding. The program helps so many men and women from all services — you sacrifice your time and self and you want people to realize that you are still the same person after your injury. I’m still a Marine.”

    When Davila introduces himself to audiences he says, “I know you’re wondering how I lost my leg. While I was surfing a huge bull shark bit it off.”

    It breaks the ice with young Marines and sailors and they feel comfortable asking him questions, he said.

    Davila spent the last two years learning to walk again with the aid of an artificial leg barely noticeable under his camouflage pants. He even wears his Marine issued boots.

    Davila has this advice for the audience: “When you get to the fleet you’re going to hate it at first and you’re going to get called a ‘boot,’ but remember your training and learn from what your instructors are teaching you. You will use what you learn in boot camp when you go into combat.”

Dodson’s story

    Dodson joined the Marine Corps at age 26 and became a member of the Marine Special Forces.

    At age 32, he was deployed to Afghanistan. Seven months into his deployment his unit had completed 40 combat missions. That day that changed his life seemed routine as his unit traveled in a convoy with six other vehicles down a narrow road in a small Afghanistan city.

    It was only 11 days until Dodson was to return home.

    “We were the last vehicle in the convoy,” Dodson said. “Six other vehicles passed on the same road safely, but it was our Humvee that hit the 200-pound IED. It blew a hole in the road big enough to sallow our entire vehicle. I opened my door and fell out into the hole and had to climb out.

    “I had so much adrenaline rushing through my body I didn’t realize that I was hurt as bad as I was. I remember the smoke and looking up at the sky after falling out of the vehicle and guys shaking me out of unconscious.”

    The roof of the Humvee that Dodson was driving collapsed on him and the steering wheel struck his head. After the trauma to his brain, Dodson suffers from visual and speech impairments as well as numbness and body shakes on the right side of his body that require him to walk with a cane.

    “It has been hard to learn to accept the physical challenges,” he admits. “It’s hell for me to walk through the airport. It’s very difficult to get on a plane because of the turbulence. I do not like to be in front of people, but I talk myself through it because I have a mission to educate people about the wounded warrior program.”

    After 19 months of therapy and rehabilitation, Dodson is just learning how to do basic, everyday functions.

    “I’m a 34-year-old man who has to learn again how to take care of himself,” said Dodson, a father of two sons. He credits his wife, Jordan, for supporting him through his recovery. “She is a hospital corpsman in the Navy so she understands more than some wives would. But remember injuries come in all shapes and sizes – just like Marines – some are physical and can be seen, but others are hard to detect. It doesn’t mean that the injury is not as severe.”

    He has this advice for the young Marines and Sailors.

    “It’s the details that add up to the event,” Dodson said. “We couldn’t have done it without the support of Marines like you doing your job. If you think your job in the Corps is not valuable … think again. Navy or Marine Corps be proud of what you do — take care of each other.

    Dodson’s proudest day in his career was when he reenlisted before his deployment.

    “I would give my life any day of the week for any Marine. I believed in what I was doing. I was good at what I did. If I could deploy again I would,” Dodson said.

Proud Marine

    Ramirez organized the visit from the Wounded Warrior Battalion. Ramirez spent 13 months on special assignment from December 2010 to February 2011 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he met Carpenter and Davila.

    “I would do anything I could to help my fellow Marine or sailor,” Ramirez said. “Being in the military, you have a lifetime pass to a very special club. Each one of us still has our own struggles – we are away from our families for six to eight months at a time. But our fellow Marines and sailors are our support during these times. That is why the Wounded Warrior program is so very important.”

    The focus of the Wounded Warrior Battalion is taking care of wounded, ill and injured Marines and their families as they proceed through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System process. Despite their injuries, Marines are focused on their abilities and highly motivated to contribute to the Marine Corps’ war fighting mission.

    The Marine Corps needs and employs their skills, experience, and dedication in order to meet its mission to our nation. The approach to care ensures that recovering Marines return to their units as quickly as their medical conditions will allow.

    The most thrilling part their time spent at NAS Meridian for Dodson, Carpenter and Davila  was participation in the MATSS-1 Motivational Competition on Aug. 24. Dodson was there to cheer on the teams, but Carpenter and Davila did a little more. Carpenter participated in the three-mile run and the fireman’s carry relay, while Davila, a boxer, was excited to get to the pugil stick competition.

    Their last stop was at Naval Branch Health Clinic Meridian. The room was filled with hospital corpsmen and civilian medical personnel.

    The three agreed that speaking to hospital corpsmen was the hardest audience because each had a special corpsman that helped save their life after their injury.

    “We all have nothing but respect for corpsmen,” Carpenter said.

    “Sometimes it is our job to take lives in times of war,” Dodson said. “It is always the job of corpsmen to save lives and we each thank you for that.”