Photo By Spc. Shea Butler | Sgt. Gregory Rayho, a native of Collinsville, Ill., and a team leader with 2nd...... read more read more
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By Spc. Shea Butler
7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Imagine being a wife at home back in the states with your husband far away in a war zone. You go about your life filling every minute of your day with anything to keep your mind off of the inevitable, when suddenly you get a phone call. The voice on the other end says, "I'm at the hospital. I've been injured. Don't worry I am fine." Your heart sinks and you are helpless. There is no way to assure yourself that he is ok.
Sgt. Gregory Rayho's wife has taken that dreaded phone call not once, but three times since July 2006.
Rayho, a team leader with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, received his second Purple Heart on Sept. 12. He is waiting to be presented with his third when he gets back to Fort Lewis some time later this month. He earned all three during his 15-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08.
The phone calls to his wife never got any easier, he said. It got to the point where she didn't believe him. She always thought it was worse than it was.
The first incident occurred in Mosul in October, 2006.
"We were patrolling a road they call the 'wall of death' when an IED (improvised explosive device) hanging from a tree detonated," the Collinsville, Ill., native said. "The armor in the Stryker soaked up most of the blast, but the force was still strong enough to sheer all my back teeth out of my mouth."
"I felt like I got hit with a shovel, it knocked me out pretty good," Rayho,30, said. "You don't realize how many nerves you have in your mouth until they are all exposed and throbbing."
Rayho had to get temporary teeth all through out his mouth. He said that they have held up surprisingly well.
"I had to relearn my entire mouth again." Rayho said. "That's something you take for granted. One day everything is fine and the next you are teaching yourself to eat without food falling out of your mouth."
When Rayho made it to the medical station he had to make the phone call home to his wife and let her know what happened.
"I down played what happened because I didn't want her to worry and I knew she wouldn't understand," he said. "I did call my Dad and tell him the whole story. He is a colonel in the Air Force and I knew he would understand."
Word of the full story eventually got back to his wife and it worried her, he said. From then on, she made Rayho's commander call to confirm all injuries for extra assurance.
The second incident happened in May just outside of Sadr City. This incident came as a surprise to Rayho and his troops, he said.
"The truck behind us got hit with two IEDs," he said. "Time just stopped because all my buddies were back there and I didn't know how bad it was."
Rayho and his battle buddy immediately started returning fire. It was a complex attack with sniper and rocket propelled grenade teams opening fire after the IEDs went off, Rayho recalled.
"They started assaulting us after they hit us with the IEDs. That was the first time I had ever seen anything like that," Rayho said. "They thought we were in a lot worse shape than we were, but we put up a good fight.
"I remember turning to another guy in the truck and his face was covered in blood. We came down from the hatches to reload our weapons and examine ourselves, he said. "My arm started to go numb and I realized the blood on his face was from my wrist."
Rayho still doesn't know if it was shrapnel or a bullet, but whatever it was is still in his wrist to this day, he said.
"After the fight I got taken to Taji to get medically evaluated," he explained. "They took x-rays and said that it hit a major nerve. They adjusted the object out of the nerve cluster to help him get feeling back."
This incident took him out of the fight for 10 days, the first incident had only taken him out for three days. Rayho was anxious to get back on the battle field, he said.
"I didn't want to get gun shy, so I try to get back out there as soon as I can," Rayho said. "I have to be out there for my guys. If something happened to one of them I don't know what I would do. They keep me going out there day after day."
The final incident was enough to take him off of the battle field, he said.
It was July in East Rashid when Rayho and his battle buddy were pulling concertina wire off of the back of the truck when a deep-buried IED went off, he recalled.
"My gunner miraculously only got a concussion and I got rocked pretty hard," he said. "I broke two ribs and there was nothing we could do. There was no enemy so we just had to roll out.
"There isn't much you can do with broken ribs," he said, "and as much as it killed me, that injury finally took me out of the fight."
Most people would be nervous to go outside the wire after being injured so many times, but not Rayho. You just have to go out there and conquer your fears and set a good example for your Soldiers, he said.
"The first days back after an injury you find yourself riding a lot lower in the hatch," he said. "You might not be as good as you were before the injury but it doesn't take long to get back in the swing of things."
Rayho advises others who have been injured to conquer there fears and get back on the horse, he said.
"My Soldiers keep me on the road. I don't know what I would do without them," he said. "Also, our combat medics are amazing they have come to my rescue every time.
"I know my medics would fight like hell to get to me and get me better," he said. "Just short of instantaneous death, I know I am coming back alive because of them."
He said that he's tried to explain all of this to his wife, and even though she doesn't understand it, she is still very supportive.
Rayho will be reunited with his wife and two stepchildren at the end of this month, he said, where she can finally examine him for herself. This time, she won't need his commander to tell her how he is doing.
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 09.21.2007 07:49 |
| Story ID: | 12476 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 1,332 |
| Downloads: | 1,242 |
This work, Stryker Soldier is Still "At Bat" After Three Strikes, by SPC Shea Butler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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