Rebuilding Warriors

SGT Nickolas (Mattle) Stowman graduated from Skyline High School in Mesa, Arizona. He joined the Army in February of 2001, completing 16 weeks of basic and advanced individual training in C Troop 5/15 Cav, 1^st Armor Training Brigade at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Nick was assigned to Fort Hood in Texas for his first duty station. He was then assigned to C Troop 10^th Calvary Regiment as 1^st Brigade's Reconnaissance Troop in the 1^st Calvary Division, deploying with his unit on March 11^th of 2004.

While in Iraq the unit sustained many IED (improvised explosive device) explosions and insurgent attacks as their job was to clear a route of IED's and ambushes. Six months into the deployment an IED exploded at the right rear of his Humvee spinning it 180 degrees and igniting the fuel tank, which subsequently burned the vehicle almost to nothing. Though everyone was able to evacuate the vehicle with the help of the crew of the vehicle behind, each sustained some kind of injury; the driver and truck commander both got concussions, the interpreter had shrapnel through his ankle, and Nick caught the brunt of it being in the gunner's hatch.

Shrapnel went through his right forearm, the back of his right knee and into his right buttock. He was patched up by his brothers there at the scene, put on a litter, and rode on the hood of a Humvee back to the Ironhorse FOB (forward operating base) where the medics improved on the field dressings and sent him to the Baghdad CASH on a helicopter. From there, he was sent to Lanschtul, Germany for holding until a plane could take him and many others to the States for further treatment.

He underwent extensive surgery at Darnall Army Hospital in Fort Hood, Texas where the doctors made a fantastic attempt to fix the damage. The shrapnel shattered his right ulna bone, severed the ulna nerve and caused tendon and other soft tissue damage in his right arm and leg. The injuries were of little consequence at that point; Nick was grateful to be alive.

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After getting out of the military and working for a few years, he realized the explosion did more damage than was obvious at the time. The force of the explosion injured the soft tissues in his back and hip and since he had to compensate for his right side being injured, he walked differently adding damage to his already injured back. PTSD also crept in as his spirits dropped making it obvious his most difficult battle was not in Iraq.

Thanks to God and his persistent wife, he sought help from the VA. The VA increased his disability compensation and treated him for PTSD in Waco, Texas. It has been a longer, harder road he admits, after the war than he ever considered possible. "I really thought I was somehow more mentally strong than those who had PTSD; it has been humbling to say the least." He continues to work on his PTSD and physical therapy and is very positive both his mind and body can and will heal.

He is now living in Killeen, Texas with his wife and three little ones.

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Jeff Anderson
CEO/Founder, Rebuilding Warriors