Home » Archives » "Soldier gives thanks for medics who saved his life"

Soldier gives thanks for medics who saved his life

Nov-23-2007 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Keri Brenner, The Olympian

LACEY — After being wounded in three life-threatening explosions that finally sent him home from Iraq in mid-September, Sgt. Gregory Rayho is most grateful this Thanksgiving for the combat medics who "go through hell to get to you and heal you," he said.

"They are the real armor," said Rayho, 30, a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade. "We have thick metal plates on our vehicles, and we wear 40 pounds of armor, but I'd take all that off to have the combat medics behind us."

Rayho, deployed to Iraq for the second time from June 2006 to Sept. 18, has received three Purple Hearts for wounds during the war. He was one of the soldiers honored during halftime at the Seattle Seahawks NFL game on Veterans Day,

"I feel very lucky," Rayho said Thursday, surrounded by friends and family at his Lacey home for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. "I've made almost full recovery, and I'm still able to fight."

Rayho will begin training in January to prepare for his third Iraq deployment next October.

"A lot of guys who have Purple Hearts are missing arms or legs," he said. "I have lost teeth, gotten metal stuck in my body and broken bones, but I will recover, and I'm still well enough to go back out and fight."

[...]


Advertisements