Harrison Marine Survives IED, Reflects on Afghanistan

It was a 90-degree day in late October of 2009 when Scott Santoro and his fellow Marines were hit by an improvised bomb.

Santoro, 23, was with seven other infantry Marines and 10 Afghani National Guardsmen in the Nawa District, an area in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province where the Americans had difficulty telling the Taliban from the locals.

"We couldn't tell who was who," Santoro recalled. "You don't know who's Taliban and who's not, and you don't know if [villagers] are telling them things. You couldn't trust anybody."

They were in a small tribal village, conducting searches and gathering intelligence, when an IED – improvised explosive device – detonated, severely wounding two of the Afghans. 

Santoro and another Marine, Staff Sgt. Kevin Cameron of North Carolina, had been dangerously close to the IED and were counting their blessings when another buried bomb exploded–this time, Santoro, Cameron and 20-year-old Lance Cpl. David Baker took the brunt of it.

Baker, of Plainsville, Ohio, was killed in the blast. Santoro and Cameron were heavily wounded. Shrapnel lodged in Santoro's eye, face, neck and shoulder. He blacked out, and although he remembers details from the attack, there are gaps in his memory from unconsciousness that have since been filled in by the recollections of the other Marines who were there that day.

"My friends told me what actually happened. I was knocked unconscious," Santoro said. "I guess I played something out that wasn't really true. When I did wake up, I do remember parts that matched my story and their story."

His friends told him training and muscle memory took over. Despite the catastrophic injuries, Santoro's fellow Marines told him he had helped treat his own wounds, digging through medical kits and holding bandages to his face as the small patrol group waited for help.

Santoro and the other wounded men were evacuated by helicopter to Camp Bastion, a British base that housed a field hospital. Overall, Santoro was treated at two hospitals in Afghanistan, a military hospital in Germany, another in Washington, D.C., and finally a recovery period at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Santoro's home base. 

Five hospitals, four surgeries and a year later, Santoro is back in Port Chester. He's classified as an inactive reservist–while the Marines can call him back, he said it's unlikely due to his injuries. The Harrison native, who moved to Port Chester at 17 years old, has scars and pains, and doctors have told him it's likely there are still small pieces of shrapnel in his body.

Now that he's back home, adjusting to civilian life and heading to work every day, Santoro plays down his injuries in typical Marine fashion.

"There are still some things I've gotta live with, but they're not too bad," he said.

Santoro works at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, and he's pursuing a degree with the hopes of becoming a physician's assistant.

Here stateside, it's easy to forget there are two ongoing wars – Iraq has faded from the headlines, and Marines and soldiers continue to battle insurgents and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, more than 7,000 miles from home. 

News reports and debates about the war often put the conflicts in the abstract, but although the details are often overlooked, the hardships are very real for the men and women on the ground. In the years since the 2002 invasion of Iraq, a common theme in war debates has centered around a military that is overworked and spread thin – truths that are reflected every day in Afghanistan and Iraq.

When most people think of bases, even in war zones, they think barracks, phone banks, mess halls and hot showers. For Santoro and his team, those were unattainable luxuries. 

"Of the five months I was there," Santoro said, "I think I showered maybe three or four times."

The number of Marines at Santoro's "base" – a series of tents and holes dug in the ground – fluctuated between eight and twelve. They had access to phones once every month or so to call loved ones.

Other than that, news, entertainment and luxury boiled down to hand-written letters and care packages from home. Santoro served the majority of his seven-month deployment–his second, after an initial deploy to Kuwait the year before–at the makeshift base before the IED explosion.

"We got dropped off in the morning, 2 a.m., and pretty much set up [camp]," Santoro said. "We literally built holes and stayed there for seven months."

Like many Marines, the decision to join the military wasn't taken lightly. For Santoro, it was a mix of doing the right thing, challenging himself, and gaining life experience and maturity before deciding on a college and career path. 

Despite the hardships, the injuries and the pain of losing friends to war, Santoro said he has no regrets. Like others, he's aware of the debates among talking heads and in newsprint, but he said he simply doesn't think about the naysayers.

"It doesn't really effect me," he said. "What other people think about me is not going to change what I did. Some people hate us, some people love us, so there's no point in worrying."