Profiles in Courage: Josh Fruen

My next installment in the PIC series features Josh Fruen who was injured in Iraq and drowned in a river. Notice that I didn't say that he almost drowned. He was revived by a Captain (what? an officer did something? ...kidding) and suffered severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his accident.

Information from the WWP site:

Josh is currently enrolled in the WWP's TRACK program, which offers wounded warriors an integrated approach to address long-term needs for education and training, advocacy, and secondary rehabilitative care for the MIND, BODY and SPIRIT. This unique program offers participants a range of college classes and services customized to their needs, helping them build career skills, train in veterans’ advocacy, and continue recovery toward a more independent life. The warriors attend college classes as a group, with the ability to draw from their shared experiences. Each TRACK facility has three state-of-the art classrooms, as well as a gym, and individual workspaces for the warriors and instructors.

Days after Josh Fruen’s family had heard he was injured in an accident that killed one of his comrades; they finally got the call they were waiting for. It was Josh providing reassurance that he would be okay.

But their joy of hearing Josh’s voice turned to shock when he revealed there was a time during the mission when he was indeed dead.

As he shared his ordeal – the convoy to secure the perimeter around a supposed Saddam sighting, and his Humvee plunging into the river after an embankment collapsed – they were speechless at the details of Josh trapped in the water-filled vehicle.

“I remembered my training – find an air pocket. But there was none. As I’m drowning, my heart said, God, I’m in your hands. I’ve got a baby on the way back home. You do with me as you see fit.”

 

It immediately seemed like Josh would be a casualty of war.

“I remember seeing a white light at the end of a tunnel. I saw my grandmother and a few other dead relatives. I remember people, their arms around me, and I remember this beautiful being.”

The being had a message for Josh:  It’s not your time yet; it’s time to go back.

Josh continues, “I remember coughing and looking up, and there’s a guy in my face. I asked, ‘Are you God?’ He said no. He was a captain who had just resuscitated me right there in the water.”

Josh was alive. But the event triggered a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that led Josh to a moment after his medical discharge where he wished he were dead.

“I couldn’t sleep. And when I did, I dreamed of drowning in the submerged Humvee. I was hyper-sensitive to everything. I was having a lot of flashbacks. There were times when I would just space out, and other times when I would take my aggressions out on everyone.”

Although Josh returned home to Texas in August 2004, it wasn’t until three years later that he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury from the time spent unconscious underwater. Today, he still struggles with short-term memory loss.

“Things got so bad after we moved to Jacksonville in 2007, that I often considered jumping off the Dames Point Bridge. But it was around that time when I first came into contact with the Wounded Warrior Project. TRACK turned me around, big time.”

Josh says his attitude has changed, along with his outlook on life and the future.

“Being around the other guys helps. Many of them have different forms of PTSD. We can lean on each other. It helps to have that peer understanding.”

He’s doing well in school, and his future career plans include getting a degree in psychology.

“I want to be a counselor, so I can help people. And I want to be a good dad. I’ve seen death, and I’ve come back. Now I want to live life for my family.”

 

Josh, I doubt you'll ever see this, but just in case...thank you for your service and for sharing your story. Your courage is amazing.