Military News, News From Iraq & Afghanistan - Military Times

2nd lt. overcomes severe combat wounds

One of 2nd Lt. Peter Sprenger’s goals in life is to lead soldiers in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He eventually wants to command a battalion and even a brigade.

His goals are not unusual for a young officer candidate who has already led men in combat, but Sprenger, 26, was not supposed to make it this far. On Nov. 19, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, he beat the odds — and the naysayers.

He was blinded by a car bomb blast in Iraq on Dec. 9, 2003, after nearly nine months in country, with 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry. The attack also shattered his teeth, blew out his eardrums and peppered him with shrapnel.

The suicide driver of a car laden with explosives smashed a jagged ribbon of concertina wire around the perimeter of the soldiers’ outpost and rammed through concrete barriers before one of Sprenger’s fellow soldiers, a squad automatic weapon gunner, sprayed the driver with gunfire. But he still blew his 1,000 pounds of TNT near an open door where Sprenger was sitting on duty. As Sprenger turned to run for the radio, the blast rocked his body and knocked him down.

Dozens of others were also wounded in the attack. As he was being medically evacuated from Tal Afar in northern Iraq, Sprenger remembers thinking he didn’t want to leave because he hadn’t helped the battalion finish its mission.

Will to achieve

That dedication to his unit, and his personal drive to be the best, has marked a string of achievements and inspired some influential supporters.

“He obviously was dealt a very tough blow when he lost the sight in one of his eyes. But he refused to let that stop him,” said Gen. David Petraeus, former commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, who met Sprenger at Fort Campbell, Ky., before the division deployed to Iraq in early 2003.

Petraeus, who now heads Central Command, became one of Sprenger’s mentors over the years and, with others, helped champion his return to duty and eventually, to Officer Candidate School.

But Sprenger, who prefers his black eye patch to the sparkling blue prosthetic eye made for him, said he knows there’s one thing even a four-star general can’t help with: He must prove himself again, and again.

“If you have a marginal disadvantage, like a missing eye, even if people don’t say anything about it to you, it’s still in the back of their minds and in the back of your mind. It’s about trust,” said Sprenger who encourages other disabled soldiers to push their commanders to trust in them by proving themselves every day.

“If you show your capability and will, it’s the best you can do. Instead of saying, ‘I can do this,’ get them to give you a chance to prove right now that you have the capacity to fill some need or bring a solution,” Sprenger said. “I think the human body is remarkable in the way it lets us heal. My injury is really minor compared with others out there.”

After arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in December 2003, Sprenger rebounded almost immediately, regaining the sight in his left eye — his shooter’s eye — and pushing hard through the painful demands of recovery.

He was surrounded by other wounded soldiers, and many of the people there discouraged him from holding as much hope as he did for getting back to normal, much less getting back to his platoon in Bravo Company.

“There were people I respected who said, ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to do this,’ ” Sprenger recalled.

But there were others, including his doctors, who saw his potential and helped him get where he was going.

Second deployment

In less than a year, during which he underwent several surgeries to repair his teeth, face and what was left of his damaged right eye, Sprenger made it back to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, the “Rakkasans” of the 101st Airborne Division, and showed his commanders he could do everything he did before he was wounded.

He shot 39 out of 40 on the rifle range, maxed his physical training test and “generally did things better than everyone else,” Col. Randy George, one of Sprenger’s former battalion commanders, said in a Nov. 5 e-mail from Afghanistan.

“He went out of his way from day one to be the best soldier in our unit despite his injuries — he demanded to be treated like everyone else,” George said.

When Sprenger said he wanted to go to Ranger School, George said, “we didn’t think twice about sending him.”

At Ranger School, where less than half the students who begin the punishing two-month course make it through on the first try, Sprenger was one of the few who did, graduating in July 2005. He deployed to Iraq again two months later, wearing dark sunglasses out on patrol and his black eye patch among his men on base.

“Peter was an incredible combat leader in a very tough fight during our second deployment to Iraq. Occasionally you would notice Peter’s eye patch, but more noticeable was his big smile, positive attitude and eagerness to lead the way,” George said. “It’s easy to believe in Peter — he’s extremely talented, always positive, an expert soldier and very humble.”

A keeper

When the unit redeployed to Fort Campbell in September 2006, Sprenger said his goodbyes and headed west in January to get his bachelor’s degree from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. His lean physique and exuberant confidence give him a natural military bearing, one the Army decided was worth keeping in the ranks.

Sprenger is one of a few physically disabled soldiers who have been through OCS at Fort Benning, Ga., which doesn’t keep statistics on combat-wounded candidates. But Sprenger fought to get a waiver to enter, and one of those responsible for signing off on it said he would do it for Sprenger again.

“We looked at it and said this is an extraordinary young man who deserves an opportunity to serve his country, he’s a combat-wounded veteran,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, commander of Accessions Command. “I’d want my child to be in an organization with a leader like that.”

When the soldiers graduating from B Company, 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, take the oath of office on Nov. 19, it will be from Petraeus, who will travel to Fort Benning, in part, to pin Sprenger’s butter bars onto his uniform.

“He’s a truly inspirational individual, one who’s had a serious rock added to his rucksack but has borne the burden truly admirably,” Petraeus said. “The way he’s dealt with adversity is truly inspirational.”

George, who now commands 4th BCT, 4th Infantry Division, said he wouldn’t mind having Sprenger as one of his own new platoon leaders. But Sprenger said his heart is still with the Rakkasans, and he hopes to be assigned to 1-187 Infantry again.

“There is a very lucky unit out there that will soon get an outstanding platoon leader,” George said.