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 Wounded Warrior Chad Brumpton
 May 8, 2005, Mothers Day – Al Qaim, Iraq – near the Syrian border –
south of the “Golden Gate Bridge.”
It's 4 a.m. on the first day
of Operation Matador, also known as “The Battle of Al Qaim” where
Marine Staff Sergeant Chad Brumpton was tank commander of
Company “C” 4th Tank Battalion. His platoon was attached to Company “A”
1st Tank Battalion. Staff Sergeant Chad Brumpton was the tank section
leader for the reaction force of two tanks and four Humvees.
Their mission: Assist a team from Camp Raider in securing a 50-foot
bridge on the Euphrates River, due to the team from Camp Raider getting
stuck somewhere in route to the Golden Gate Bridge.
As soon as
the team reached the city it was a fight to the bridge. Chad's team was
able to get to the “Golden Gate Bridge”, secure the bridge and waited
for the team from Camp Raider to arrive – which ended up taking five
hours. It was five hours of sporadic gun fire, mortar rounds impacting,
and rockets whizzing by. After turning the bridge over to the Camp
Raider team, Chad's section started to move out.
“All of the
sudden someone sets off an IED (improvised explosive device),” says
Chad. “It punched a hole through the tank, right under my left foot.”
The blast thrust Chad's head up into the hatch, knocking him
unconscious... Chad woke up two days later in pain on a flight to
Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Yes, Chad was alive. But
his injuries were severe.
“Both my legs from the knee down were
shattered to little pieces. My left hand, thumb, and wrist were shredded
up and broken. I received four compression fractures in my lower back.”
Over the
next two years, Chad endured 19 surgeries – many were attempts to
salvage his legs...
Here is the story and more in Chad Brumpton and his fellow wounded
Marines' own words.
Video is no longer available.
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