Patterico's Pontifications

6/11/2011

“I Think I Was More Happy to Be Alive Than Upset;” Brendan Marrocco Comes Home

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 1:04 pm



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.  Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

(Please do make sure you jump below the fold and learn how to help two worthy charities.)

If you are feeling icky from a scandal where one of the better outcomes is if you can say “[w]ell at least [the politician] didn’t sext a minor,” maybe this will give you a little spiritual renewal: U.S. Army infantryman Brendan Marrocco came home today.

Here’s Brendan himself:

And this picture, drawn back a little, is important to see, too:

So as you can see this American hero lost three of his limbs and most of the fourth.  As we will learn in a moment, it appears that they reattached much of his left arm, but still there isn’t a hand or foot left.  Here he is talking to CBS News about how this happened:

The excellent website of the excellent charity Building Homes For Heroes gives a few more details:

On Easter Sunday 2009, 22-year old Army Specialist Brendan Marrocco, 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment , was at the wheel of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.  He was driving the last vehicle in a four-vehicle convoy which was returning to Forward Operating Base Summerall in Bayji Iraq.  He had just escorted other U.S. soldiers to the Siniyah Joint Security Station.

The first three trucks passed the sophisticated roadside bomb without incident.  The bomb, known as an “anti-armor IED”, or an “explosively formed projectile” (EFP) exploded into Marrocco’s vehicle.  The armor-piercing projectile punched through the middle of the driver’s side door.  The blast tore off both of Marrocco’s arms and his left leg.  His right leg was mangled beyond saving.  His carotid artery was severed, his body badly burned, and vision in his left eye was severely damaged.  Brendan was kept from bleeding to death by his platoon’s 21-year old medic and his fellow soldiers.

Do read the whole thing, but I don’t want to focus overly much on the tragedy element of the story so much as the triumph, for the homecoming he had was to no ordinary house:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Brendan Marrocco, the hero soldier from Staten Island who lost his four limbs to an explosion in Iraq in 2009 accepted the keys today to his new “Smart Home” overlooking Wolfe’s Pond Park in Prince’s Bay.

The custom-built two-story, three-bedroom, maintenance-free, high-tech house was donated to Marrocco and itis fully equipped to meet his needs.

“I have no idea what to say,” Marrocco said before about 300 people gathered for the event. “I just want to say thanks.”

The house features wheelchair ramps, an elevator, sensors that operate lights, and electronic controls that raise and lower the sink, stove and kitchen shelves. There’s also a three-car garage for the NASCAR enthusiast, who enjoys restoring stock cars.

On hand for the ceremony were Borough President James Molinaro, Rep. Michael Grimm, Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano.

“It’s just great,” Marrocco said afterwards. “Everything’s going to be simple. I.m happy to be here.”

Marrocco, 25, a former Army specialist is the first U.S. soldier to survive a quadruple amputation. He has spent the past two years in military hospitals.

I just saw the house on Fox News and thought, “crap, I need one of those.”  Many of the countertops actually rise and fall using machinery  And the cabinets are just cool.  Using machinery, the entire interior of the cabinets can drop down through the floor of the cabinets, shelves and all.  Seriously, look how cool that is:

That is a screencap from video you can find at this site.

And there is hope that he will be able to live a truly independent life, too, which I have said before is the ideal.  The Fox News video talked about how he was progressing with prosthetics and these photos give hope on that front, too as he rocks his prosthetics:

And let’s give credit where credit is due:

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, Building Homes for Heroes, Northfield Bank and local builders constructed the home. The foundation is named for Firefighter Stephen Siller, killed responding to the Sept. 11, 2001. terrorist attack.

And once again you get verification that Gary Sinise is a stand up guy:

[Gary] Sinise, who currently stars as Det. Mac Taylor on “CSI: NY,” is probably best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Lt. Dan, an amputee, in 1994’s “Forrest Gump.” He began touring to entertain troops through the USO in 2003, and took the Lt. Dan Band on its first USO tour the following year. They perform 30 to 40 concerts a year, with 75 percent of those for charities, benefits or the USO.

Sinise, who was unavailable for an interview, discussed his motivation for helping in a video from a benefit concert for Brendan Marrocco, another quad amputee war survivor.

“It’s long overdue that we honor the sacrifice of these heroes who have given up so much for us,” Sinise said.

(Emphasis added.) And I like his self-awareness on the musical front:

“I like to play concerts where people walk out thinking it was better than they thought it was gonna be,” Sinise said in an excerpt from the documentary “Lt. Dan Band: For the Common Good,” which hasn’t been released yet. Laughing, he added, “Because people don’t have high expectations for an actor with a band, let’s face it. But I like to surprise ‘em.”

Anyway, both of those charities mentioned above appear to be excellent organizations, so why don’t you go to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and Building Homes for Heroes websites, and give them a couple bucks, huh?

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

11 Responses to ““I Think I Was More Happy to Be Alive Than Upset;” Brendan Marrocco Comes Home”

  1. Brendan Marrocco sets the how-to-live-one’s-life bar unbelievably high. Thank God there are people around who still do that for the rest of us. My deep and humble thanks for giants like him.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  2. Dana is correct.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  3. I cannot express how grateful I am to men like that.

    And if he ran against Rep Weiner for Congress, in NY9, he would probably lose.

    We need to wake up as a country, and stop pretending devotion, honesty, and patriotism are worthless compared to elitism.

    I know this man served because he loves his country, and not for power and prestige, but we could trust this man with representing us. Why do we trust the sort of people who actually do wind up representing us?

    But he’s from Staten Island, which is practically the sanest part of that region. I’m not surprised, and God bless his entire family.

    Dustin (c16eca)

  4. dustin

    i will add that virtually the money that went into building that house…?

    privately donated.

    we do not need government to provide a safety net.

    Aaron Worthing (73a7ea)

  5. What a wonderful young man. I know a seat in congress that may be opening soon – maybe….

    Janetoo (84c5f6)

  6. I can always admire someone in possession of more character than I.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  7. Bless him.

    MayBee (081489)

  8. I don’t watch CSI stuff cause it always comes off as scooby doo for adults but if I did I would watch Mr. Sinise’s one cause of he seems like a right proper good guy

    I bookmarked the homes for heroes thing thank you for that

    also calling him “Iraq War Amputee” like CBS does is just the sort of tacky reductionism you expect from dirty socialist CBS propaganda whores but Mr. Brendan outclasses this CBS loser without breaking a sweat and I doubt CBS is very happy with the interview they got

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  9. also calling him “Iraq War Amputee” like CBS does is just the sort of tacky reductionism you expect from dirty socialist CBS propaganda whores

    Yes. Thank you for pointing this out. It’s so disheartening that even today, the main reason this man gets publicity from the MSM is simply to bash the war effort, rather than recognizing this man.

    He’s important and worth knowing beyond the Iraq War issue.

    Dustin (c16eca)

  10. yes Mr. Brendan goes on the hero board with hideaki akaiwa and paul ryan

    you know… looking at it, it isn’t a particularly crowded board what he is on

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  11. oh. here is a kooky amputation video … the lead singer is really very very good at the lead singer thing… but wtf?

    I think it’s supposed to be a metaphor.

    here listen they’re actually very very tight and I like their musics I just don’t get the amputee video.

    happyfeet (3c92a1)


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