Posted on 03/30/2023 4:48:35 AM PDT by nuconvert
Douglas “Mike” Day, a highly decorated U.S. Navy SEAL who survived being shot 27 times while deployed to Iraq, passed away earlier this week on March 27. Day served 21 years in the Navy and later worked as an author and an advocate for wounded military veterans.
On April 6, 2007, Day was nearing the end of a deployment to the Anbar province of Iraq, and leading his SEAL platoon on a raid against an al Qaeda cell in the city of Fallujah. With two Iraqi scouts behind him, Day breached the door of a room and was immediately struck with multiple bullets, knocking his rifle out of his hands.
“I took a left-hand turn and they just started shooting at me,” Day said on the Team Never Quit podcast in 2020.
Falling to the ground, Day transitioned to his pistol and shot one of the four terrorists in the room. As a second man pulled the pin on a grenade and began running towards the hallway, Day killed him as well. The grenade fell to the ground and detonated, wounding Day with the shrapnel. He briefly lost consciousness, but when he awoke he continued engaging the other men in the room, shooting them with his pistol even as he was struck yet again multiple times from less than 10 feet away with AK-47 fire.
“After I realized that I actually was getting shot, my second thought was, ‘God get me home to my girls,’ and then extreme anger,” Day told Fox News in 2015. “Then I just went to work. It was muscle memory. I just did what I was trained to do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
How can someone go through things like that and not carry it around with them the rest of their lives is beyond me. But that is one of the realities of combat.
Some men come back and are able to move on and live out their lives, and some cannot.
I grieve for him and his family. And I have prayed for them all.
Why would you post ‘being reported’ without confirmation?
Who is reporting?
Also!!!!!
Let the man have dignity….he earned it!!!!!!
….your post was so unnecessary!
Remember this warrior for his courage!!!!…NOT what someone is reporting!!!!
Wow!
RIP sailor
I imagine there was residual physical pain also
Maybe you should take the time to do a google search.
I knew people would be wondering, as I did, so I reported what I found when I searched.
Mike Day is not the first combat veteran to be killed on the battle field, only to die years later.
PTSD, as it is now called gives these heros dreams (and other symptoms), they simply cannot live with.
Rest In Peace Chief Petty Officer Douglas “Mike” Day.
I also did a search after your post…..
…the only ones suggesting this were forums I had never heard of!
The man served our country!
He fought through his injuries for many years!
He was a hero!
Bless him…..Praise him!!!!…..Stop trying to diminish him
“..Some men come back and are able to move on and live out their lives, and some cannot...”
My dad suffered with it his whole life all the way to his grave. He was a WWII USMC BAR rifleman on the first wave to hit the beach of Okinawa. Those boys went thru hell.
More recently, I’ve become friends with a couple of Iraqi war vets that saw a lot of tough combat and had trouble coping when they got back stateside...mostly drugs, alcohol, etc.. Both of em today will tell you that the way they cope and continue on thru everyday life is thru their commitment and faith in Christ and the infilling power of the Holy Spirit. Both of em have decent jobs, happily married, raising families. Still, I’m sure it’s not an easy path at times, but it’s one that works for them.
Yes...hold em up in prayer.
Valid point.
But, we cannot know what was going through this warriors mind.
Dieter Dengler was a classmate of mine in Pensacola. He eventually committed suicide. Nobody in our class could carry Dieter’s jockstrap.
I’d look him up and post a link, but I have an appointment in 10 minutes. (HTML neophyte and 8wpm typist)
I am in no way trying to diminish him. He’s an incredible hero.
I had tears in my eyes as I posted the thread.
Strike below Shipmate for your well deserved rest. We will assume the watch now.
When I joined the Navy, I never fathomed I would spend a good amount of my time on land with a rifle and electronic surveillance/targeting gear. Instead, I found myself being guided and protected deep inside Beirut by guys like Mike.
I was — and continue to be — in awe of these guys. Their coolness under fire and their good humor was inspiring. I wish I had the fortitude and guts to have undergone the training they had, but I was thankful for every day they encircled me and kept me safe while doing the work I did.
RIP Mike. Another hero goes home.
🙏🙏🙏
Rest In Peace Chief Petty Officer Douglas “Mike” Day.
Fair winds and following seas wherever you are.
Amen.
Sometimes those of us who never served do not know how deep war scars are and how it forever changes the life of a person.
Many seem to have taken it well on the outside so that they can try to feel normal, but the trauma and sorrow are hidden within and take their toll.
RIP Mike
One of my best friends was a tank commander. His four tanks were the first into Iraq.
Of the five battle buddies he made in Iraq, three have committed suicide.
This is a veterans care issue, and if he did commit suicide, then perhaps his death can be turned into something good if it brings some light to the work being done to treat PTSD.
I have another very good friend who spent the bulk of his officer career outside the wire. Big time PTSD. Working with him to get him into studies where microdoses of lsd and psylocibin are used to treat PTSD. He’s had three of his friends take their own lives.
When I owned a software company, the very best support tech we had was a VietNam vet. Absolutely, far and away the best we ever had.
One day he comes in and quits. We begged him to stay, gave him a raise, etc. He protested and said that he had enough money, and he loved working there.
He said he was quitting because he didn’t want to put us in danger any more. That one day he’d come in and either hurt us or kill us. Then he started crying and left. We never saw him again, and would not return email or phone calls.
Nobody is talking about this.
God Bless and RIP, Mike. Prayers going up.
You’re barking up the wrong tree.
I, too, would like to know, and it has NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on his character...save for those with a bias towards such personal action as a response to desperation, regardless its origin (pain/disease, VA, finances, etc.).
Thanks, nuconvert, for posting.
I understand what you’re saying…every word!
I know PTSD is a huge issue with returning Vets….
But the first thing we need to know aboutNavy Seal Douglas Day is not how he died!…but how he lived!
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