‘Never leave a fallen comrade’
Soldiers share story of leadership
Retired Sgt. Brandon Erickson remembers well the July day in 2003 when he lost his right arm in the Iraqi desert.
“ All of a sudden, I woke up and heard gunfire everywhere and the swishing sound of mortar overhead,” he said. “I thought, holy cow, I have to fire back.”
Erickson’s weapon, though, had been blown apart in the rocket-propelled grenade blast that had just hit his vehicle. Trapped in the cargo truck and quickly losing blood from his arm, he began to panic.
“ I looked over and saw (Spc. Jon) Fettig was mortally injured,” Erickson said.
Soon after, Erickson saw a familiar helmet running in front of his vehicle, back through the gunfire and blasts.
“ I knew it was Sergeant Major Remington — who else could it be?” he said.
Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Remington, then 1st Sgt. Remington and a former Green Beret, had briefed the convoy soldiers the night before, going over all the details of the three-hour route to Ar Ramadi and telling them no one would get left behind.
“ I’m gonna get you out of there, hold on,” Remington said to the trapped Erickson, as the attack continued.
He pulled Erickson and Fettig out of their vehicle, putting each person behind a tire for protection. The Humvee that Remington had told to drive off and cover him returned and picked up Erickson, who continued to lose blood.
A fellow solider used a wrench as a tourniquet to save Erickson’s life.
By the end, Remington and the soldiers in his vehicle would drive back into the kill zone four times to continue fighting and retrieve Erickson and Fettig.
Erickson said that while he lost his right arm, he considers himself lucky because he survived.
“ We lost Fettig that day,” Erickson said. “The hardest part was that two of us were in that truck, and only one walked away from it. … Hopefully by telling this story, he can live on.”
Leadership through crisis
Erickson, a recent UND graduate who now lives in California with his wife Dana, was deployed in Iraq with the Bismarck-based 957th National Guard company.
He joined Remington April 12 in the Memorial Union Ballroom to tell their story of leadership during crisis.
“No way did I think I’d be 23 years old and sharing war stories,” Erickson, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient, said of his first semester back at UND, calling it a tough transition.
Erickson said it was Remington’s leadership that got the soldiers through that harrowing day in July 2003.
“ A lot of us were very naïve,” he said. “Sergeant Major Remington knew what was going on. We spent a lot of time in the field training, a lot of time going over little details and respecting superiors.”
Remington said that while his decisions were not always popular with the soldiers, he was always honest with them.
“ That day, we did not have time for discussion or a vote,” he said. “We needed to do things, and we needed to do them now. I had never lied to (the soldiers), so the trust was in place.”
Remington, a Silver Star recipient, said he is not sure about the word “heroic,” but knows that people can demonstrate heart.
He said if there were heroes to be had that day in the desert, it was the soldiers who drove in and out of the kill zone four times, being fired at each time.
“ Fear is natural,” Remington said. “Fear is not bad. Do not feel guilty when you feel fear. It means you have a brain.
“ It’s what you do with that fear that counts. Do you overcome that fear, or does that fear overcome you?”
Remington went on to say resources are managed, while people are led.
“ People deserve the best leadership you can provide,” he said. “It comes down to basic human decency.”
Remington said leadership is based on courage, integrity and desire.
He concluded by offering five leadership tips:
1. Leadership must be character-driven.
2. Character can be developed.
3. Leaders are made, not born.
4. Be a true leader, not just in a leadership position.
5. Tomorrow’s leadership is today’s youth.
Remington said that the younger generation has been sold short, earning names like the “me” generation and the “Nintendo” generation.
“ I haven’t seen that,” he said. “I demanded a lot of those (soldiers) and they continued to produce. … Do not accept mediocrity in yourself. Continue to demand excellence in yourself.”
Keith Bjerke, vice president for university relations who introduced Erickson and Remington, said they “gave more than anyone should ever be expected to give for our state, our nation and our world.”