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Lt. Brian Giroux stands tall

Stryker soldier's tale of perserverance

Lt. Brian Giroux graduated from the Career Course last month. He heads to Ranger school this weekend. Courtesy photo

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Certain his legs were cut off below the knees, Lt. Brian Giroux quickly tied tourniquets around both legs to stop the bleeding.

A roadside bomb on a dirt road in southern Afghanistan flipped the Stryker he was riding in. His lower legs were trapped beneath the armored vehicle.

"I thought my legs were gone," Giroux said. "I could just feel bones that were clicking back and forth."

A soldier dug Giroux's legs out from under that Stryker and within 15 minutes he was medevaced to a hospital for surgery, saving his legs. His brush with death was a life-changing moment.

"After having something like that happen, you appreciate things a lot more," Giroux said. "For me, it was also about reassessing where I was. Figuring out what I can do."

In July 2009, Giroux flew to Afghanistan with the Stryker Brigade out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Four months later, Giroux was injured and nearly killed Nov. 5, 2009. Just six months later, he began classes on his masters in business administration at Saint Martin's University. Education became Giroux's plan B.

"I had been banged up pretty bad," Giroux said. "Most of my life, I've been a pretty physical guy. My physical ability has gotten me where I am now."

Giroux, who would under go 12 surgeries and would nearly lose his leg to infection, was an all-conference linebacker in junior college and then at Wagner College in New York. In the months after the attack on Giroux's unit, he wasn't sure if he'd ever run again. His injury forced him to evaluate his future.

"It was all about finding a different path," Giroux said.

Rather than become overwhelmed with grief, with despair, Giroux made plans for his future and enrolled at SMU.

"It's all about going forward," he said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity."

On the day that was nearly Giroux's last, he was in the first of four Strykers that day as they made a resupply mission for a platoon in a remote post in the Arghandab River Valley in southern Afghanistan. It's a farming community on the outskirts of Kandahar.

"It's known as the birth place of the Taliban," Giroux said.

Giroux had ridden on the dirt road into the town many times before and had cleared the road the night before. In about 30 minutes after arriving, the water and food was unpacked and delivered. Giroux's unit of four Strykers and a truck then pulled out of the town, taking a different route as protocol requires.

"You don't want to be predictable," Giroux said.

But just 400 yards out of town, a pressure-plate bomb exploded, flipping the Stryker Giroux was in. The attack occurred at about noon.

Giroux was standing in the hatch in the back of the armored vehicle. He remained conscious and was never knocked out.

"It ejected me out of the hatch and I landed in the crater by the Stryker and it came down and landed on top of me," Giroux said.

The crater caused by the explosion was about 28 feet wide and 8 feet deep. If Giroux had landed on flat ground and the Stryker had landed on him, it would have cut off his legs. Within minutes, a soldier was at Giroux's side, returning gunfire at the attacking insurgents.  He dug out Giroux and pulled him to safety.

"He said he could see my legs," Giroux said. "I said, OK. Cool. He dug enough so I could free my legs and he dragged me out."

A Striker can carry 12 soldiers but only four were with Giroux that day. Two died - the driver and another soldier. It could have been worse. A 1,000-pound front section of the Stryker was hurled 300 feet.

"We were lucky in that case," Giroux said. "If there had been more there could have been more casualties."

For about 5 minutes, Giroux's unit exchanged fire with the Taliban before they fled. Giroux was helicoptered out in about 30 minutes. The flight to the hospital took about 10 minutes and Giroux was in surgery in 2 hours, putting in rods in his two badly broken legs.

A month after the attack, Giroux was walking and today he can run. His recovery was both physical and mental. His mental recovery was aided by his contact with the families who lost someone that day, helping them cope.

"Sure it effects you," Giroux said. "Losing anybody bothers me. But there's a lot of ways to go about being constructive. I like to keep in contact with some of the families that have had guys fallen."

Just being a listening ear is sometimes the best thing he could do.

"You do what you can do," he said.

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