In Their Own Words: David Avila
Learning to Live Again
The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes pitched in when retired Army Specialist David Avila thought the worst was behind him, but with more challenges, the CSAH offered more help
Spec. David Avila, U.S. Army (Ret.), first enlisted in the Army in October 1978. He served four years and didn’t look back.
But then came 9/11. He re-enlisted and was injured badly. After years of surgeries and hospitals, Avila found the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes. They lifted his tired spirit with a trip to Disney World for his family and money to keep him afloat. “They really cared about me,” Avila said. “They really want to help those who help our country.”
Re-enlisting
“Right after 9/11, I started thinking about how I could help our country,” said Avila. He was still recovering from the injuries he suffered after his first enlistment. “Back then I got goosebumps looking at the flag and thinking about what happened on 9/11. I still do. I feel so blessed to live here.”
So when Avila spotted a recruiting station at a San Antonio job fair, he asked the Sergeant about re-enlisting. It took some time, but he got his wish, deploying to Iraq in February 2004, as a specialist with the 340th Quartermaster Company out of San Antonio.
The Convoy
Avila and his fellow soldiers thought they’d survived everything delivering their first convoy of supplies from Kuwait to Fallujah. They had endured everything from sandstorms to snipers to mortars. But on the return trip, just three months after Avila arrived in the war zone, a suicide car bomber drove into a fuel truck in front of his Humvee.
“I heard a boom, the loudest thing I’d ever heard and then the flash,” Avila recalls. “I was a driver’s assistant. I don’t know how far I was thrown out of the vehicle, but I landed, rolled, signaled I was okay, then jumped up and ran to help the other guys.”
Although he was treated by battlefield medics, his injuries went undiagnosed and he was assigned to guard duty with a unit of Marines in Fallujah. But the pain grew worse. In less than two weeks, Avila was sent to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany and then on to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
The Road To Recovery
Avila didn’t realize how badly he was hurt. He spent the next two years in the medical centers operating rooms and rehab centers, undergoing two back surgeries and two wrist fusions. Today he walks slowly, stiffly, and carefully, learning to live with limited mobility, and a low pain that doctors say will never totally go away. He also requires a hearing aid in his right ear.
Avila was introduced to the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes at the start of his medical procedures.
“After about seven months of treatment, the Coalition flew me and my family to Disney World to celebrate what we thought was the end of all the medical procedures.” said Avila, still smiling with the memories. “We had the best time, but unfortunately it was only the beginning.”
Avila would face more surgery and more rehab. Avila was medically retired in July, 2006. Not long after that, he was divorced.
“I was at the lowest point ever, depressed, alone, and in debt, but the Coalition came back to help again,” said Avila. “They gave me a laptop and $7,500 to help with bills. But beyond that, it was their support and encouragement and love that kept me going.”
Avila knows he’s still recovering in many ways, but he’s hoping one day to start a business with his brothers. For now he’s helping raise his two boys and taking care of his puppy, DJ.
“I’d recommend the Coalition to any veteran who needs help,” said Avila. “It is an organization that really cares.”
