West Point Class of 1989

Tom Deierlein (C1) ’89 is still recovering from a serious hip injury sustained by a sniper round in Iraq.  His spirits are high, though, during his recovery as this video on Fox NY news shows.  As always, Tom is making us proud.

Nate Lamar (A3) ’89 won one of four district seats (three at-large seats are elected in Presidential years) on the Henry County Council (a county legislature in Indiana) with 62% of the vote and won all precincts in the district.  He says:

I didn’t realize this until yesterday when I finally crunched all the numbers (a little difficult for us HPA types!), but I’m thankful that I also "led the ticket," garnering the highest percentage of votes of any Republican candidate with major party opposition in my county.  The 89 year-old female dairy farmer incumbent finally decided to retire, so this resulted in the open seat for which I ran for a four year term in this rural district.

Congratulations, Nate! 

Tom is being transported to the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital via Germany.  We are expecting him in the US by the Weekend.  He was shot in the left hip Saturday Morning and has since had at least one surgery.  He is expected to go through 4-6 months of recovery and will no doubt be in touch with everyone via email shortly. 

His Family and I are doing fine and will be joining him as soon as the doctor will allow us to.  He will be coming home for good and is finished with his tour.

He still took a moment to remember Sept 11th also sends his "Best Wishes" to everyone.  I will send out more updates as I receive them.

~Hiwot

Thank you everyone for well-wishes and prayers! 
  
Tom is on his way to Walter Reed Army Hospital today, Fri the15th.  He is expected to arrive sometime after Midnight.  His pelvis was shattered from the gunshot and will have to be reconstructed by an Orthopedic Surgeon.  This is expected to take 4 -6 months of rehab at a minimum.  
 
He is still in a lot of pain but is getting good meds.  Depending on his next surgery, he might be able to take visitors as early as next weekend, Sep 22nd.  No doubt, an email to follow with directions and visiting hours will follow shortly.  He’ll still be a little uncomfortable and cranky (His words) so we’ll have to take his visits slowly in the beginning.  
 
I’ve spoken with him regularly and have relayed your messages.  Dynamic Logic has been kind enough to create a very thoughtful website to consolidate a lot of the well-wishes.  I will continue to check my email daily as well.   The website is:

www.dynamiclogic.com/tom
 
Thank you again for your Love and Support.  It really means a lot to all of us, including our Families.  Many of you have asked about an address to send cards.  I will include the address in the next email after we are sure that Tom will remain at Walter Reed.  There is still a slight possibility that the Army may move him to a different hospital to recover.

All, once again, we can’t thank you enough for all of your prayers, well-wishes, and support.  Tom looks better as the days pass.  He’s been at Walter Reed for a week now and most of the tests, diagnoses, prognoses are complete.  Tom’s left rear pelvis, most of his Sacrum, and right rear pelvis were shattered by the tumbling round that pierced him. (7.62mm caliber)

The most important thing for him, is to start his 3 months rehabilitation that entails a non-weight bearing restriction on his pelvis.  Basically, he will be confined to a bed and reclining wheelchair while we wait and see how much his body will heal itself.  Early to mid-next week, he is planning on heading down to one of the top spinal cord injury rehabilitation centers in the VA system for his injury that is located in Tampa Bay Florida, Home of Special Operations Command. 

He has a continued positive attitude about the future, however, there is very little that the doctors can tell him until he recovers and heals over the next 3 months. 

For those of you that are close by and are interested in visiting him at the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, he is now up for short visits of 10 to 20 minutes.  Many visits may be interrupted by doctor rounds or therapy.  He has switched rooms to room #5861.  You can also simply call him on his Temporary Cell phone number of (703) 655-0162.  We are still waiting for his belongings to return from Iraq and then his old cell phone of (917) 287-5961 will be valid. 

Walter Reed Medical Center

6900 Georgia Ave

Main Hospital, Ward 58, Room 5861

Washington, DC

The best hours are: 12pm-3:30 and 5pm-9pm.  Feel free to contact me at (212) 729-1781 and I will be able to let you know how he is feeling for the day as far as visiting goes.  He has a single room and it can get a little cramped. 

We are still not exactly certain that Tampa will be his next stop for Rehab, but there is a high chance.  Once we are settled in to Tampa, and have an idea of his new rehab schedule, Tom will definitely love to have visitors to help alleviate the boredom of 3 month’s bed rest as well as personally say "Thank you" for everyone’s support.  While he would really like to have visitors in Walter Reed, he is mostly interested in visitors in Tampa.

Thank you again for all of the emails.  We have been without Internet for the past week and are now re-connected thanks to Dynamic Logic.  If anyone has further questions, don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Heartfelt Thanks,

~Hiwot