Photo By Sgt. Geoffrey Ingersoll | Corporal Damon D. Mulazzi's latest and greatest installment took place at TQ Surgical,...... read more read more
Subscribe
Lance Cpl. Geoffrey P. Ingersoll
I Marine Logistic Group Public Affairs
CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq - When his mother passed away, he turned feelings of grief and loss into a motivation for higher service.
Now whether it's at Taqaddum Surgical or during his weekly appearances at TQ's main side chapel, people here recognize Cpl. Damon D. Mulazzi as a 'hook up' for higher morale.
"We call him 'corporal angel'," said Cmdr. Tracy R. Bilski, a trauma surgeon at TQ Surgical, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
Bilski, 38, from Bellmawr, N.J. said that Mulazzi once went above and beyond to fulfill the request of an Iraqi girl. The girl returned to the hospital almost fully recovered from a nearly fatal head injury and mentioned a desire for strawberry bubble gum.
Unable to find any in the hospital, Mulazzi hopped into his all terrain vehicle and headed toward the chapel, where public care packages awaited anyone in need.
The girl said goodbye to her new friends that night through a mouthful of strawberry bubble gum.
A month into his deployment, Mulazzi heard that the church choir had no choice but to use an old, substandard keyboard. So he hooked churchgoers up with a new 70-pound, seven-foot keyboard, complete with a 190-pound, six-foot pianist with ten years worth of lessons in classical music.
"The Protestants came in for (church) and said they had heard about an awesome new pianist playing for the choir," said Mulazzi, 22 from Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
"I said 'yeah, the guy's pretty awesome all right,'" continued Mulazzi, who added that the Protestants were wondering if he could get the pianist to play for their service.
The church members were surprised when Mulazzi promptly sat down at the keyboard and asked what they wanted to hear.
"I believe what goes around comes around," he said, "and I believe helping people out is priceless."
Mulazzi is the type of guy who would spend all day helping someone he just met move all of their furniture. He greets new people with firm handshakes, smiles, and cigars. When he drives his ATV, he offers pedestrians a ride to wherever they're headed.
Besides hooking up music, rides, and better morale, Mulazzi hooks up Armed Forces Network cable television with Communications Company, 1st MLG (Forward).
"I install, troubleshoot, maintain, fix and expand any (AFN) cable system on the whole base," he said. Since there was no official name for his job when he got here, Mulazzi is the self-proclaimed "Combat Cable" guy of Camp Taqaddum.
Mulazzi's latest and greatest installment took place at TQ Surgical, where he went out of his way to make sure wounded service members had cable in the recovery room. He also makes an appearance there with his keyboard to take music requests after Sunday mass.
"The doctors there do their best to care for people and help them live," said Mulazzi, "But I don't think you can order happiness from (medical logistics)."
Perhaps Mulazzi's most important 'hook up' is the connection to the worried families of wounded sons and daughters. He sends them photos of their recovering kin and short messages via email.
Mulazzi even started the "Wounded Art Project:" his most recent crusade to gather stateside art donations to liven up the plain, white walls of TQ Surgical's recovery ward. So far the "Wounded Art Project" has received donations from Joulie Gouloski, an advertising representative with Smith and Wesson, and Barbera Bergstrand, an independent artist.
But not every one of Mulazzi's crusades meets with strawberry-bubble-gum smiles. His most memorable dose of cold reality came when he received the first shipment of paintings for the "Wounded Art Project."
He rushed the new art to Taqaddum Surgical and burst through the door smiling like a jolly, cable-equipped Chris Kringle. Mulazzi said he would never forget the silence offered in return.
"The doctors were all lined up at the sides of the hallway," recalled Mulazzi, "and then it hit me, I came into the hospital to bring life and was greeted by death." Mulazzi had unintentionally walked in on what corpsmen and surgeons call a "fallen angel."
"That's why I never quit and try to help out as much as I can because I know death is always going to be doing his job," said Mulazzi.
"This is a guy who just gives constantly," said Bilski, "he gives constantly of himself, and the American people need to know that that's what the Marine Corps is made of."
Wishing to serve his country, Mulazzi enlisted after the thousands died in 9/11. But his motivation to serve peaked after his mother died a few years later.
Mulazzi says that everything he does is in living memory of his mother.
(Shortly after the writing of this story, officials medically evacuated Mulazzi out of theater. His inspirational enthusiasm will be missed.)
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 11.22.2006 09:44 |
| Story ID: | 8360 |
| Location: | AL TAQADDUM, IQ |
| Web Views: | 325 |
| Downloads: | 220 |
This work, Combat Cable Marine connects wounded with parents, plays piano, improves morale, by Sgt Geoffrey Ingersoll, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT