Gulf Breeze Sertoma Fishing Rodeo

from AHERO Magazine -Spring.Summer 2019

Come Home to (Vet) Church

Pushing Past My Bounderies

By Ricky Mamoran

The best thing about AHERO is not the fishing or hunting trips. It’s not the food or the accommodations. The best thing about AHERO is the rekindling of brotherhood during positive social interactions, when there is tactical awareness of what the needs and concerns of each participating Veteran may be.

I was a sergeant in the US Army. My unit was 1AD 1/36inf out of Friedberg, Germany, and I served with them from 2004 to 2007. We had been operating in the Al Anbar province in Iraq and it was exactly my last 15 minutes in station in the red zone, when suddenly 36 mortars barraged our helipad hitting eight of us, including me.

Blown into a barrier, I was knocked unconscious, with seven hits of shrapnel peppering my right thigh with entry and exit wounds. So I was deemed “urgent surgical” and medevaced out.

I was later told that, during surgery, that my heart had stopped twice. There was a 30 percent muscle loss to my right leg and lower extremities, and I eventually became partially paralyzed due to the trauma to my spinal cord. In addition, the total of 13 concussions I’d suffered during deployment, including this one, had resulted in traumatic brain injury (TBI), a PTSD diagnosis, and 80 percent hearing loss in my right ear.

These days, for as much personal independence as possible, I rely on an exo skeleton to help mobilize me, as well as my manual wheelchair and track chair, and my service dog, Asa. But it’s my wife, Summer, who is my caregiver and my greatest asset of all. Summer always has my six, which is what AHERO showed me they did when I first participated in AHERO’s Pensacola Warrior Hook-Up 2018 weekend.

It was a stress-free and truly adaptive social experience that pushed past the boundaries of what a disabled-Veteran like me would normally encounter. The atmosphere was relaxing and the secure setting was perfect for service members and their spouses to unwind and recover. You knew that this was where your brothers and sisters of combat always had your six. And later on that September, the Music4AHERO on Pensacola Beach was another event I was able to attend.

AHERO didn’t only have my six. They had my service dog Asa’s six, too! AHERO was fully prepared with any adaptations needed to accommodate Asa. It’s just the kind of thing they do.

I had learned that AHERO was partnering with Guns To Hammers (GTH), an organization helping to make the homes of Veterans ADA-compliant. Last year, I was invited to travel west with GTH to get a first-hand look at what they are accomplishing. In Las Vegas and San Diego, we attended a handover of an ADA-compliant bathroom that had received a makeover. While there, I saw the appreciation and admiration the Veterans had for the program, and how people would come together to help complete a project for a Veteran in their community.

Seeing organizations with Vets at the helm is what truly gives me the focus and ability to enjoy myself during an AHERO event. It’s all in knowing that someone with an experience and situation similar to your own is in charge. I can’t wait till the next time I get invited!