Soldiers' Angels

Jeremy Feldbusch rubs his dog Misty's belly while talking about his experiences after being injured in Iraq
Eric Schmadel/ Tribune-Review By Joyce Shannon TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, February 8, 2004
A group that helps injured soldiers asked Jeremy Feldbusch what it could do for him. Instead, he offered to assist its mission. Despite living without sight for nearly a year, Feldbusch's outlook on life is optimistic. Feldbusch, 24, was blinded after being injured in Iraq. As the first anniversary of the day he was injured approaches, Ranger Feldbusch is preparing for discharge from the Army. The dedicated military man still embraces life, despite the changes wrought by war. A 1997 Derry Area High School graduate, Feldbusch was determined to become a Ranger after he enlisted, following his graduation from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in biology. "It's a whole different lifestyle," Feldbusch said. "Everything we do, even the training, it's all top secret. You want to be part of the stuff that people don't talk about." It wasn't easy, making it as a Ranger. Of about 45 men from his basic-training platoon who took the physical test, few passed. After the five-mile run, only four soldiers from his original group remained. Feldbusch graduated No. 1 out of 228 soldiers in his Ranger class. Even after Feldbusch became a Ranger mortarman, he set other goals. He wanted to try for Special Forces, Delta Force, or maybe go to officer training school. But April 3, 2003, changed his path in life. The 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, had been assigned to guard the Hadithah Dam, several hundred kilometers north of Baghdad. Feldbusch stood watch for 36 hours before he was hit in the face with shrapnel during action. He first was evacuated to a local unit, then to a Kuwait hospital; Rota, Spain; Landstuhl Hospital, Germany; and finally to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Shrapnel destroyed Feldbusch's right eye and injured the frontal lobe of his brain. He underwent several surgeries, including one that installed titanium mesh in his head to keep his brain from sinking down into his sinuses. The injury and surgery also damaged his left eye, rendering it sightless. When Feldbusch awoke, his parents waited two weeks, on the advice of the doctor, to tell their son that he probably would never see again. "That's one thing that really scared me, becoming blind," Feldbusch said. "I was quite angry at first." But he moved past that anger. "I've been dealt a new hand of cards," Feldbusch said. After returning home, he didn't interact much with the public or media -- despite both clamoring to hear his story and see the person they called a hero. But that changed after a welcome-home parade that Blairsville threw him over the summer. He began visiting schools -- Blairsville and New Derry elementary schools, Blairsville Middle School, Homer-Center School District, to honor Veterans Day and, most recently, his old stomping grounds: Derry Area High School. "There's been a lot of things that's happened to me," Feldbusch explained. "I wanted to see what everyone thought." The kids get a kick out of seeing their hometown hero. When Feldbusch spoke to the entire student body at Derry on Wednesday, "there wasn't one sloucher in that whole auditorium," said his mother, Charlene Feldbusch. At first, Feldbusch was just going to speak to a small group at Derry, about 170 kids. But he didn't want anyone to feel left out, so he suggested that everyone attend. Feldbusch's former wrestling and football coaches helped to introduce him. Feldbusch's midget football coach, Bob Slezak, told one story about a game they were about to lose. Slezak was feeling frustrated when he felt a tug on his pant leg and looked down to see Feldbusch. "Coach, give me the ball. I can do it," he said. Feldbusch often talks to children and fields their questions about the military. Once, a young boy at New Derry Elementary asked if he had ever killed anyone. Feldbusch explained how, as a soldier, it is his job to protect the lives and freedoms of not only Americans, but of others who don't live in this country. "Yes, I did have to kill people," he told the child. Though Feldbusch still feels the butterflies when preparing to speak to a group, he said he's getting more comfortable with public speaking. The practice has led him on a new path: becoming a motivational speaker. "I need to talk to people and let them know: Whatever your goals are in life, do them and keep producing," Feldbusch said. Feldbusch has received numerous letters from people across the country. Even more arrived after he was featured in a December article in The New York Times. The Soldier's Angels Foundation saw the article and called him. But Feldbusch didn't want any gifts from the Angels. Rather, he wanted to take their gifts to the wounded who were still in hospitals. Pending the results of a Monday visit to the doctor, Feldbusch will travel Feb. 21 back to Brooke Army Medical Center. He'll thank the medical professionals who saved his life and bring gifts from the Angels to soldiers still there. He wants to "let them know that life isn't over." There are other trips that Feldbusch wants to make: to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., and to Florida to visit new and old friends. "I honestly have too many short-term goals to think about the long-term goals," he said with a grin. His plans include getting a graduate degree and a seeing-eye dog, and getting back into body building. But for now, he mostly takes it one day at a time. That was also on the advice of a doctor, who said, "Don't worry about that stuff right now." "We could be bitter," Charlene Feldbusch said. "But we're not." "It wasn't my time to go," Feldbusch said.