'He has been through so much': Fort Liberty soldier recovering after Iraq air strike
An 82nd Airborne Division soldier injured in a Christmas Day air strike in Iraq is recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center after returning to the U.S. last week.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Garrett Illerbrunn was the only 82nd Airborne Division soldier injured in the attack, said division spokesperson, Maj. Dierdra Johnson, on Thursday.
Johnson said that Illberbrunn, a pilot serving as the 82nd Combat Aviation’s Brigade standardization officer, has been with the brigade since September 2021.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum wrote on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, that Illerbrunn is a Langdon, North Dakota native.
The mission in the Middle East
Illerbrunn and the two other service members were injured following strikes on Erbil Air Base in Iraq by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iran, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a Dec. 25 statement.
The brigade has been deployed to the region since the fall to support the U.S. Central Command in advising, assisting and enabling partner forces in the region, with a mission to defeat ISIS.
Since mid-October, Pentagon officials have reported drone activity and missile attacks, primarily from Iranian-backed militia groups like Kataib Hezbollah in Syria and bases where U.S. troops are staged in Iraq.
“While we do not seek to escalate conflict in the region, we are committed and fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities,” Austin said in a statement on the day of the attack.
Fort Liberty soldier's recovery
In a Facebook message Thursday, Illberbrunn’s sister, Alison Brooks, said that he’s been in the Army for more than 18 years with 3,600 hours of flight time, and this was his fifth deployment.
She confirmed to The Fayetteville Observer on Thursday that a GoFundMe page set up for Illerbrunn and his family is legitimate. As of Monday, more than $124,000 had been raised.
In a Jan. 2 post to the GoFundMe, Melissa Young, organizer of the fundraising page, wrote that during the drone attack, a piece of shrapnel struck Illerbrunn in the head, "lodging from about his temple to almost the back end of his ear."
Illerbrunn was taken to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he was in a coma, Young wrote.
“It has made a really, really horrific situation a lot more bearable, to have that love and support and to be able to pass that on to Garrett,” she said. “Despite the severity of the situation and the devastating nature of the injury, my heart is still hopeful.”
Illerbrunn's wife, Lorna, told Stars & Stripes that after learning about the attack, she told the couple's 7-year-old son that metal went into her husband's brain, and that he was "fighting for his life."
Brooks has provided subsequent online updates about her brother’s condition for family, friends and supporters on the Caring Bridge website.
In a Jan. 4 post, she wrote that her brother had an infection in his spinal fluid and doctors found a blood clot in his leg, while a head scan showed he also suffered a “pseudoaneurysm.”
In a Jan. 8 update, Brooks wrote that doctors determined her brother needed open brain surgery to insert metal clips to block the aneurysm and allow for normal circulation, while a head scan showed shrapnel remained in his brain.
By Jan. 10, Brooks wrote that her brother was off sedation and partially opened his eyes
Illerbrunn had another surgery Jan. 11 to prevent spinal fluid from collecting between the skull; and brain, and by Jan. 19, he arrived back in the U.S., she wrote.
On Thursday, the 82nd Airborne Division spokeswoman said Illerbrunn was transferred from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
“The 82nd Airborne Division leadership has been involved every step of the way of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Garrett Illerbrunn’s recovery and liaising with the family,” Johnson said.
Jones wrote that her brother was even more responsive on Jan. 21, by focusing on his wife and moving his eyes in her direction as she moved in the room.
“He makes eye contact with whoever was talking and he even smiled!!! And my parents were there to see it all!!! He even made his nurse cry when he followed her commands,” she wrote.
In a Jan. 22 post, she wrote that he continued to make eye contact and squeeze hands, while he had another procedure to drain excess fluid from his spine.
On Wednesday, he was able to sit in a chair for the first time since his injuries, followed commands and shook his head “no” when Jones asked if he was in pain.
“He has already surprised the doctors on how well he is doing so soon ... He has been through so much in the last month and has a lot of healing to do and we know not every day will be amazing but will certainly celebrate the ones that are," she wrote.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at [email protected] or 919-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Liberty soldier recovering back in states after Iraq air strike
