Even though Shelby High School graduate Brad Hamrick has spent eight of the last 11 years away from his family, he has much to be thankful for.
“I think God has been protecting me about 4 million times when I shouldn’t have made it,” he said.
Purple Heart
In 2003, while on patrol in Kirkuk, Iraq, Hamrick was thrown from his vehicle after it was struck by an improvised explosive device. When a quick reaction unit arrived to transport the injured for medical evacuation, Hamrick stayed and continued to fight.
When the fight was over, Hamrick received care. He suffered from burst ear drums, resulting in 90-percent hearing loss, which remains to this day. Hamrick also experienced a traumatic brain injury.
“I still do my job,” he said. “You can get around it.”
During the attack, Hamrick said there was a lot going through his mind.
“You fall back on your training,” he said. “Survive, think of your family and making sure nobody else gets hurt.”
Hamrick recently received a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in the 2003 attack.
An inspired decision
Hamrick, previously a full-time Morganton firefighter and police officer, made the decision to enlist in the Army in August 2002, inspired to take action after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Since then, after six different deployments that kept him away from his family for a cumulative eight out of the last 11 years, Hamrick has moved up in the ranks from private to major.
“Survival, working and making sure I’m protecting my soldiers,” is what Hamrick said keeps him going when he is away from his family.
Hamrick is the son of the late Margaret Kane Hamrick and Fain Hamrick. He is the grandson of Virginia Hamrick and the late Broadus F. Hamrick and Florence Kane and the late Col. Douglas T. Kane. A graduate of Shelby High School and Western Carolina University, Hamrick is married to Memorie King Hamrick and has a daughter, Makayla, and a son, Easton.
Remembering the heroes
Hamrick said the real heroes, to him, are all of the soldiers who have lost their lives, and those who are still fighting.
“I think of all the heroes that have died and are true heroes, and I think I’m nowhere near that caliber,” he said. “We still have soldiers fighting all throughout the world that aren’t reported or talked about — to me, that’s the most important thing, remembering them.”
Even after another close call in 2010, when his vehicle was blown up by a suicide bomber, Hamrick said he wouldn’t do anything different.
“It’s all been worth it, definitely,” he said. “Most war vets come home with a Bronze Star. I’ve come home with four Bronze Stars — not a lot of people have been that lucky, to still be able to come home and talk about it.”
Blessed
Hamrick is now serving as a special liaison officer for corporate FedEx, which allows him 9 to
10 months at home without deployment. He will begin pursuing his master’s degree at the Naval War College in June, where he will study strategic planning.
“I think I’ve been blessed with a good career, because I’ve had great people to look up to,” Hamrick said.
Even though he only has six years left before he is eligible to retire, Hamrick said he doesn’t think he will.
“I’m still kicking; I can still do my job pretty well,” he said.
Hamrick said his success has been a combination of being in the right place at the right time, and the support of his family through everything.