TSgt Bryenna Brooks-Mcconnell speaks on the harrowing RPG attack her convoy was hit with on June 3rd, 2011, being awarded the Purple Heart, and a 12 Outstanding Airman of the Year for the Air Force. All seemed well on the outside, but on the inside she was barely keeping it together.
During her year long celebratory trip visiting base after base, representing the Air Force, and telling her story, she was feeling even more isolated as the days went on. With each story told, she was forced to relive the traumatic event without fully processing it herself, and the more numb she became. What should have been one of the best years of her life became a time in her life where she did not want to live at all.
Bree goes in-depth on the day she was attacked and the depression, PTSD, and TBI struggles that played a major role afterwards. She also gives us hope and inspiration as we hear how she has fought for herself and her family to live a happy and purposeful life and is still serving to this very day.
More on Bree from DVIDS.com:
She was the secondary medic for the convoy. When the soldiers of the 59th and the airman were rolling down the road, the mine resistant ambush-protected vehicle Brooks was in with four soldiers started taking small arms fire. As the crew prepared for the attack, a rocket-propelled grenade was shot at the MRAP. The RPG entered the vehicle over Brooks’s left shoulder, injuring herself and three of the soldiers inside with shrapnel. After the attack, the crew continued down the road to the nearest combat outpost as Brooks aided the other wounded service members. “We were all very lucky to come out with minor injuries,” Brooks said.
More than a week later, the gun truck crew came out to a ceremony outside the 101st Sustainment Brigade headquarters. Soldiers from the three companies that the medics went out with looked on as they said goodbye to their medics. Air Force Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, the commander of the 455th Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Air Field, made a special trip to the 101st Sustainment Brigade headquarters to award Brooks and the ten other airmen. A Purple Heart is not a common award for deployed airmen, and anytime one is awarded to an airman a general officer must personally recognize and pin the awardee, Roberson said. Roberson pinned the eleven Airmen with Joint Service Commendation Medals.
He reminded the group the importance of a Purple Heart, and its role as the oldest award in the United States military. Brooks walked around after with the most medals hanging off her pocket of the group, a sign from her mission the previous week. “I feel honored to receive it, but mainly I’m very happy we all survived,” Brooks said. During the next week, the small group will travel back to their home stations. The 11 medics deployed from various bases across the United States. Brooks will return back to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and her job in the ambulance services on the flight line there. Most of the medics work in a clinic or hospital stateside, and opportunities to deploy as combat medics rarely arise.
0:00 - Intro
2:45 - what celebrity would play you in a movie
3:43 - What’s you dream assignment?
4:40 - What are you reading right now?
8:40 - Proudest Air Force moment?
10:30 - Whiteman AFB Wall of Heroes
13:08 - Why being a 12 OAY is the best (and worst) thing ever
18:00 - Where Bree grew up (hint: she’s a Packers fan)
21:33 - Bree’s Purple-Heart Story (Taliban Attack)
31:20 - The Aftermath - Medal Ceremony
35:30 - How did your co-workers treat you upon return to the U.S.?
38:20 - Real world mission (deployed) versus creating work (stateside)
41:27 - The struggle of making rank
47:50 - “If not promoting brings you to tears, you’ve gone too far”
52:30 - The WORST time you missed out on promotion (the is brutal)
57:00 - Step promotion surprise!
1:00:20 - The KEY to making MSgt quickly
1:02:20 - The power of mentors
1:05:00 - “My lowest point” - Representing the AF w/bout of PTSD/TBI
1:10:15 - When being labeled “the best” backfires - Toxic workplace reaction
1:13:40 - Traumatic Brain Injuries and Mental Health Therapy
1:21:20 - Placing “Therapy appointment” down on your shared workplace calendar
1:26:22 - The pressure to save lives mid-crisis
1:28:40 - Retirement plans
1:29:50 - What does having a Purple Heart mean to you?
1:34:50 - Why I love Bree so much
1:35:30 - My afterthoughts on the talk w/Bree and I read some fan mail (Cory Deschenes)
