Brogan Returns to Knoxville after Iraq Injury
Mark Brogan ’02 was severely injured by a suicide bomber while serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq two years ago. After numerous surgeries and intensive rehab, he is back in Knoxville and hoping to reconnect with friends. Here’s his account of his ordeal, beginning April 11, 2006.
“I was leading a foot patrol in Anbar province in a town called Rawah on the Euphrates River. We were conducting an Iraqi police recruitment in the town that day. I had gone to the local market to check security. The suicide bomber ran out of a store in the market behind us. He killed the soldier behind me, SGT Kenneth Hess, and wounded me pretty badly.
My injuries included a severe penetrating brain injury. The shrapnel pierced my right temple and cracked my skull in three places. My right upper arm was severely damaged, my triceps was mostly gone. My right upper body was full of shrapnel holes. During my evacuation, half of my skull was removed, very similar to [ABC broadcast journalist] Bob Woodruff's situation, if you've seen his story.
I was subsequently evacuated through Germany, then to the States, first at the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center as they have a better brain injury trauma ICU. I stayed in a medicated coma for 17 days as my family was not sure if I would wake up.
I was stationed in Ft. Wainwright, Alaska, before leaving for Iraq. My wife had to fly all the way from there to D.C., panicking the whole way, to get to me.
I have had my arm repaired through a skin graft and was lucky to keep it. My skull has been rebuilt at Walter Reed using a state of the art 3-D system. The surgery is called a cranioplasty. I lost most of my hearing in the attack as well. I also have a piece of shrapnel lodged in my spinal canal, piercing my spinal cord but not cutting it, so I do not feel heat, pain, or cold on one side, barely dodging quadriplegia by millimeters. I went to a VA rehab center in Tampa after Walter Reed for a few weeks.
I have returned with my wife [Sunny ’03 business] to Knoxville where we met at UT years ago. Her family is from Lafollette, and I grew up in Kingsport.”
Brogan majored in political science and earned his commission through Army ROTC. He was a platoon leader in A Troop, 4th Squadron 14th Cavalry, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He is medically retired, and he and his wife recently bought their first house in West Knoxville. He would like friends to contact him at broganm@hotmail.com.
