Saturday, February 12, 2011

For CPL Andrew Hutchins

My name is MAJOR David Admire.  I'm an Occupational Therapist stationed at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at FT Campbell KY.  I met CPL Hutchins in my clinic after he fell off a guard tower last year and broke his wrist.  He was evacuated back to the States and had surgery to fix the fractured bone.  He worked extremely hard in therapy, pushing himself, striving to get back to his unit and contribute to the mission.  He never complained about the pain in rehab and was always positive and supported the efforts of other guys that he met in the OT clinic with encouraging words and a motivated - "leading from the front" example.  When he was finally cleared by his orthopedic surgeon to redeploy he was happy to finally be able to return to his unit to do his duty.  He could have easily gotten out of the deployment, but that wasn't Hutchins' style.

On November the 9th, 2010 I was in my office at the hospital at 0730, answering early morning emails and taking my first sips of coffee, when one of my NCO's came in and asked if I'd heard about Hutchins.  When I told him that I hadn't, my SGT related to me how he'd heard on the radio that a CPL Andrew Hutchins had been killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan.  I did a quick Google search of the mornings news and in fact found that the Andrew Hutchins that had worked so hard to rehabilitate his wrist had been shot and killed the day before in a fire fight.

I was stunned.  All I could do was sit and stare at the headlines on the computer screen.  Even before this horrible news, Hutchins was going to be one of those guys that I would never forget due to his amazing attitude and work ethic, not to mention his remarkable recovery from wrist surgery. 

Later that day I made up my mind that I needed to honor the memory of Hutchins in some way.  When one of my patients showed me a Memorial Bracelet that he had for another fallen hero, I knew instantly what I had to do.  A few days later, I checked the website and found Hutchins' name and vowed to order the bracelet.

I received my bracelet with CPL Andrew Hutchins' name engraved on it yesterday and immediately slipped it onto my wrist.  I have a feeling that it is going to be a part of me for a very long time.....probably for as long as his memory is a part of me.

Rest in peace Hutchins.

MAJ David Admire

5 comments:

Brower said...

great great message.

SSG Brower L Co. 75th LRRP

Anonymous said...

Thank you for wearing the bracelet to honor my husband.
I hope you dont mind that im posting this link on my facebook.
Wife of <3 CPL. Hutchins <3 .

Nichole said...

Thank you for posting this sir. I was Hutchins' platoon medic for a little while, and even though I knew him for only a short bit, his attitude and strength have affected me and have made me want to strive to be the best in everything I do.

Anonymous said...

this is great I grew up with Cpl. Andrew Hutchins and he made a huge impact on every one. i just ordered one of these bracelets

LTC David Admire US Army (retired) said...

To the wife of Andrew Hutchins,

On this 10th year mark of Andrew's passing.......

I'm not sure that you will ever see this, but I feel compelled to tell you that Andrew's memory shines brightly in my heart. I still have his bracelet and although scratched and worn, I continue wear it with pride and tell everyone who asks about Andrew' spirit, attitude and determination.

Please know that he will never be forgotten.

LTC David Admire (RET)