WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 10

Hey everybody,

Released a couple days ago from Hopkins and it feels great to be back. I'm hoping that in a few weeks I'll be fully healed up and ready to go again. Just not to a war zone. No more of that. I have a lot of admiration for guys who constantly risk their lives getting these stories, but given the fact that the first thing I did when things went south was go into some pretty bad shock, I guess I'm not cut out for this stuff.

Many thanks again to all of you for the prayers, cards, meals and most of all friendship. I'm doing absolutely nothing between now and January, so hopefully I'll have a chance to connect with each of you sometime between now and then.

Thanks again,

Ryan

 

 

BALTIMORE, MD - NOVEMBER 7

Hi everyone,

Just found out that I'm going to be discharged tomorrow (Wednesday). I'll be going home to Mt. Rainier and probably keep coming back here every few days as an outpatient. My face has healed up remarkably. Outside of a few freckles I never used to have it just looks like a sunburn at this point. My left arm and abdomen have also healed up well, but my right arm still has a ways to go. I need less and less pain medication every day which is encouraging. A lot of you have asked about how I'll be making out at home. For now I'm fine since my parents are around to help, and by the time they leave this weekend I should be able to do my own dressings and take care of stuff. That's not to say I won't need any help with things but I think overall I should be in pretty good shape.

I don't have any updates from the rest of the team but Steve returned the same day I did and is recovering well.

Some of you have asked about bringing over food and the only thing with that is if you're going to do that then you better stick around and eat it with us. That's the rules. I want to see all of you guys so come over any night, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Thanks again for all the phone calls, visits, balloons, and the awesome smiley face mug. You guys are the best!

Much love,
Ryan

BALTIMORE, MD - NOVEMBER 4

Ryan was moved from Germany to the Burn Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  He was admitted as an inpatient and will be there until further notice. His Phone Number while there is 410.550.3800

 

GERMANY - NOVEMBER 3

UPDATE: Ryan will be flying home to Washington D.C. on November 4th and will be treated as an outpatient at a burn clinic in D.C.

Hey everybody. First off, thanks so much for all of the phone calls. There are two groups of people who called over here, those who called me and heard normal Ryan and those who caught me in the middle of my double-dose of perkoset or however you spell that stuff. For those of you in pain right now, hold on. Help is on the way. I'm smuggling as much of that junk as I possibly can out of here and I'll share it when I get back. Promise. I'm in love with that stuff. But back to the phone calls... my phone has been ringing off the hook over here and it has been great. Thanks soooo much for calling. My TV's broke, I still haven't been able to check email since before the accident happened, and I have some magazines, but all I can do is look at the pictures. So to catch up with all you cats in a drugged or non-drugged state has been fabulous. Secondly, thanks for all the prayers and support for both me and my parents. We feel well-loved, and are so grateful for all of you guys. I have the best friends in the whole world. Thanks.

Well I was supposed to be on a flight to San Antonio now, but it looks like Ernie's going to be the only one in San Antonio this weekend. He bought his ticket a few days ago before the Army decided to stop everything in its tracks, so he'll be there by himself checking out the Alamo. As of now it looks like I won't be going to San Antonio at all. Since I don't need any skin grafting (which is why you would go to the burn center in San Antonio), the main care I need are for people to change my dressings on my arms and abdomen. All of the bandages on my face have come off and I'm now putting something like Noxema on it. The only pain I'm in is from my arms, especially where they took the shrapnel out of my right hand, but other than that it's the burns running up and down my right and left arms that causes the most pain.

The good news is that everything from all the doctors has been good news. I saw the ophthalmologist yesterday, and he told me my left eye is healing up great. I couldn't even see out of it a few days ago and already the vision is 20/40 and soon headed back to 20/20. I have blown both my ear drums, but I did that a few years ago diving in Mozambique so I'm kind of used to it. They should both heal just fine. And my face-- which was messed up before the trip-- should grow back to look just the way it did. The biggest thing is that I need to keep it out of the sun for the next year or there could be pigment change. I'm going to be wearing one of those goofy sombrero hats you buy at REI.

The even better news is that I'm coming home to DC. Most likely this weekend. They're taking me out of the military system and I'll be rolling business class back to DC either tomorrow or Sunday (which means Sunday or Monday). But either way that's great news. I'll be home with y'all and will most likely need to get down to a hospital once a day to get my dressings changed, but other than that I'll just be resting, chilling, watching some Bollywood movies, and trying to figure out how to milk the sympathy from you guys as long as I can. It breaks my heart to say this, but I'm not going to be strong enough to shoot the final episode of Kidspace. I might still show up though, to help Jenny lay out the cous cous and Sweet & Salty bars.

The rest of the team that was injured in the blast took off for San Antonio today. They're all great guys, and we need to continue to pray for them and their families. The one interpreter who was riding in the backseat of the truck that was hit is still here in Germany

and is barely hanging on. He has had both legs amputated and is blind in both eyes. He's not doing well. Steve, the producer I was traveling with is recovering well and on his way to a full recovery. Most likely we will be on the flight together back to the States.

Thanks again everybody for all the love.
Ryan

 

GERMANY - NOVEMBER 2

TV Crew Injured in Afghanistan - 2006/11/01

TMZ has learned a National Geographic Channel crew embedded with a U.S. Army Special Forces unit in Afghanistan suffered serious injuries over the weekend when a vehicle in their convoy struck a landmine.

According to reps from National Geographic, executive producer Steven Hoggard and a cameraman working on the upcoming special "Inside the Green Berets" were treated for ear and eye injuries after the vehicle in front of them detonated a landmine. The cameraman also suffered second degree burns.

Hoggard was immediately airlifted to Germany to receive medical attention and the cameraman is expected to arrive back in the U.S. for additional treatment by the end of the week. Both men are expected to recover. A soundman that was also with the crew during the explosion was uninjured and is still filming in Afghanistan.

Status on soldiers injured in the event has not yet been released. Calls to the Department of Defense were not immediately returned.

 

 

NEAR KANDAHAR - OCTOBER 27

Went out on my first patrolling mission today. There are a few nearby villages where these guys had some nasty firefights with the Taliban over the last few weeks, and this was their first trip back to those places. I didn't catch how the one fight started, but it lasted for over 6 hours. My nerves peaked last night when we got to the base and I didn't know my blood type, so the medic had to test me in case things went south on our patrol. Then I found out that although there are two A-teams here, there's only one captain, since the other one had his arm blown off by an RPG and is at Walter Reed now. So this morning before we leave the very first thing I get are instructions for how to drive the GMV and where all the spare ammo is in case all hell breaks loose. Then our driver, Tim, pulled out a tourniquet from his pocket and taught me how to use it. Needless to say I was pretty much like a deer in headlights when we finally rolled out.

As they drive through villages they grab handfuls of tootsie rolls and blow pops to throw at the children. Where the firefights were they handed out radios, shoes, and cookies to everybody. You kind of forget that you're in a war zone, and that anything can happen. It's like a few people have said, everything is normal until all of a sudden it isn't. Fortunately for us nothing has been unexpected. Besides that you have faith in the abilities, training, and confidence of these guys. One of them told me during training that you need to feel like you're invincible out here to do the work they do. It sounded crazy at the time, but after being out with them I can see why he said that.

We went out today with two A-teams, thirteen trucks, and at one point had an A-10 flying overhead, simply to display force. It's so overwhelming to see these guys roll through that I can't imagine anyone wanting to fire a shot at them, with any type of weapon. Not only do they have their trucks tricked out with every type of gun known to man, but when they engage they have helicopters supporting them, jets they can call in, and there are guys sitting back here at the base with huge guns tracking their every move, always ready to fire at targets here from the base.

The patrol was quiet, and except for hearing some talk on the radio of Taliban spotting us, there were no other known threats. There are a couple more missions we'll go on while we're in Afghanistan, but I feel a lot more comfortable than I have over the last few days, and we're getting the material we need.

When we returned to the base this afternoon there were a bunch of village elders waiting to talk to the team captain. After the battles they had at neighboring villages over the last few weeks, the elders made the risky move to band together and walk to the base, asking for help against the Taliban. It was a risky move for these guys, since they will no doubt be at in trouble when word gets out that they came, but it was gratifying for the team to see that their work is having the results they want, and it was fun to shoot since it happened during the golden hour, and the content will work great in the show.

Just found out that we're headed out of the base on the 3rd, a few days later than we had planned, but it could potentially work well for us since we'll have extra time with the guys, and a combat camera team could cover the stuff we were supposed to up near Kabul. Fine with me. These guys have been extremely hospitable and don't mind being filmed. We're having a great time.

NEAR KANDAHAR - OCTOBER 26

After getting in to Kandahar last night around 3AM, we sorted gear and went to bed around 6, getting up at 7 to come out here to the base. We caught a ride in a Chinook with a Blackhawk and Apache following us flying security. The highlight from today was that I was able to film out the back of the Chinook. Finally we have been able to start rolling tape, and things are going really well.

We got in this afternoon, and the guys out here are great. They have some crazy things lined up for us the next few days, and we'll most likely leave here on Sunday or Monday. I'm not totally sure what all's going down, but I think the helicopters will be flying security on any missions we'll be involved with. Seeing an Apache flying behind you is reassuring. Very strange to be out here. The guys I'm traveling with are great, and I'm counting the days till we're on a plane headed back to DC. Time's going fast. One day at a time.

KABUL- OCTOBER 25

This is our final shoot for 'Inside the Green Beret' for Geographic. For those of you who care, we're shooting HD with the new Panasonic HDX. We began filming in June but this will be our first time 'downrange'- and into a combat zone with a Special Forces A-Team.

We took off last Sunday from North Carolina aboard a Special Forces C-17 transport. The highlight of the trip so far has been sitting in the cockpit of the C-17 over the Black sea as the pilots refueled in mid-air on a cloudless, starry night. Below, we could make out the lights of Turkey to our right, and the Georgia shoreline ahead. As the pilots brought the plane to a near stall, a C-135 Aerial Tanker appeared above us out of nowhere. It had about 100,000 pounds of fuel for our plane.

As the pilots guided their C-17 toward the rear of the other jet, winds and light clouds rattled the cockpit. They were aiming for the lights of the other plane and a huge boom trailing the tanker. Slowly they pulled to within ten feet of the other plane. Then, the two planes were connected at about 300 mph. Fifteen minutes later, after getting bounced off and thrown around, they finally got word that all of our tanks were full, pulled back and the fuel plane disappeared. Quite a rush. They called us back up to the cockpit to film the landing at Kabul- no running lights and using night vision goggles, with a third guy manning the chaff and flares knobs in case anyone shot a stinger missile at us.

Two days in country and we haven't left Bagram yet for our ultimate destination. Which is fine with me. Yesterday we had a meeting with the Lieutenant Colonel running all Special Force Ops in Afghanistan and he told us that the A-Team on the remote fire base we're visiting is rocketed regularly and 'hit' almost every time they go out on patrol. That's just great. We're basically guaranteed that when we go out somebody's going to fire at us or set up an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). As one Sergeant coming with us said, "...it's not so bad when you get used to it. They're really bad shots. They blast away, scream 'Allah Akbhar' and then melt away."

We were scheduled to fly down to Kandahar last night to meet up with the A-team we're going to be spending time with but the AC-130 we were going on had a problem. The AC-130 is the plane that can cover a whole football field with lead every two feet or so. The problem was that they had trouble pressurizing it, so we would have had to fly below 10,000 ft., which they could have done, but the mountains between here and Kandahar are 8,000 to 9,000 feet high. We're supposed to leave here tonight at 1AM, arrive in Kandahar, meet the team, then tomorrow start training to go out with them. They waived all of the embed rules for Geographic, so instead of spending only 48 hours with a team, we're permitted to spend as much time as we need to get the story. According to Steve that means we need a beginning, middle and an end. I think he wants to start the show on the fire base out here, so we've got our work cut out for us. I'm just excited to use the jib I schlepped out here. If we don't get at least three jib shots in the final show I'm going to be extremely disappointed. Do you hear that Steve?

I'll probably be able to write a little more in a few days when we're back here at Bagram. Next week there is some type of 'hit' we're going to be filming. They won't give us any details of it, but in some ways I feel a lot better about filming a hit than a patrol because I'll most likely be the second to last guy in, and somebody will be watching my back. Oh yeah, one other thing about the team we'll be meeting up with tonight is that their medic is Delta Force. Which is cool. Especially because Delta doesn't exist. Should be interesting. Thanks to those of you who are praying for our safety.

Ryan