ONE LAST BATTLE
Navid Garshasb during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm / courtesy photo
Dying Veteran Seeks Insurance Reinstatement by Jesse Farthing Navid Garshasb is dying. The 49-year-old decorated Air Force veteran sits in a hospice bed, looking frail, unable to speak and subsisting on a diet given through a tube. Doctors have given him only weeks to live. However, Garshasb is no stranger to difficult challenges. He has been fending off death since 2003 when he was diagnosed with brain cancer and given three months to live. Garshasb emigrated from Iran with his mother, brother and sister in 1976 to Syracuse, N.Y. where he attended high school and college and met his wife, Joani, before enlisting in the Air Force in 1986. He served for 19 1/2 years before being medically retired in 2006âsix months shy of the 20 years required to draw pension. In his time with the Air Force, Garshasb was deployed to multiple locations in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm, where he provided infrastructure support like driving water trucks before transitioning to the intelligence field 88
so that he could make use of his fluency in five different languages to further his career and support the military. Garshasb was first assigned to Navarre as an airman basic in 1987, just after he and Joani married. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Garshasb was sworn in as a citizen of Pensacola before being shipped off. The Garshasbs moved around many times over the years before again landing at Hurlburt Field in 1999, where Garshasb served as an airborne linguist with the 25th Intelligence Squadron. âWe didnât realize it was going to be our last assignment,â Joani said, with a crack of sadness in her voice. âBut, it is a joy to come back to the beach and have our kids grow up and graduate high school here.â
HISTORIC HELICOPTER CRASH
Garshasb was deployed to Afghanistan one month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. At the beginning of November 2001, Garshasb was involved in the first helicopter crash of the war. Chronicled in two separate booksââNone Braver: US Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorismâ and âOn a Steel Horse I Ride: A History of the MH-33 Pave Low Helicopters in War and PeaceââGarshasb was part of a medical evacuation mission in the mountains of Afghanistan when the high altitude caused a loss of pressure, forcing the helicopter down in enemy territory. The crash fractured two vertebrae and
a rib, damaged a rotator cuff and caused the onset of hypothermia. Things went from bad to worse when the crashed helicopter drew the attention of several natives in the area that began to descend on the site. Without knowing for certain whether the oncoming group was friend or enemy, Garshasb put down his weapon and approached them in an attempt to defuse a potentially volatile situation. He managed to utilize his language skills to encourage the men to turn back, preventing possible catastrophe, while ignoring his injuries. For these actions Garshasb was awarded a Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal and also became the first non-rescue aviator to be awarded the William H. Pitsenbarger Award for Heroism. Garshasb went through several surgeries to get him back into shape after all of his injuries, but nothing slowed him down for long. âI remember this one time, he was pulling a Jet Ski out of the water after his surgeries and he dislocated one of his shoulders,â Garshasbâs son, Shahine said. âWe asked him if he was alright, or if he needed any help, and he just pushed it right back in. He used to wake up, run 10 miles, do push-ups and then run back. He was strong.â
needed surgery immediately, but doctors didnât know how successful a surgery would be. âWhen they did the surgery, they said, âPlease get your affairs in order. We donât expect him to live more than three months,ââ Joani said. âAnd that was April 23rd of 2003.â He made it through with aggressive chemotherapyâthe maximum allowable radiation for the brain and spinal areaâand managed to walk with a cane. Though he had to medically retire from the Air Force in 2006, Garshasb seemed to be doing well. âHe was good again,â Shahine said. He wasnât good for long, though. Exactly 10 years after the helicopter
âI may not be able to save my husband, but I really want to save my family.â Joani Garshasb crash, in November 2011, Garshasb had a stroke. While undergoing treatment for the stroke, the family also learned of a blood disorder he had contracted as a direct result of the chemotherapy, which would require a bone marrow transplant to treat. He bounced back quickly after that, went through rehabilitation and physical therapy and made every effort to live a normal life. He would regularly attend events hosted by his old squadron, volunteered for his church in Navarre and by all accounts seemed to be doing well. Then a second stroke attacked him,
BRAIN TUMOR
Garshasb was deployed back to Iraq after his recovery, but it wasnât long before his next trial began. It was in Iraq when an alert flight surgeon noticed his gait was off, sent him out for a brain scan and discovered a mass in his head. He was medically evacuated in April 2003 to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for further tests. Garshasb had a gradefour brain tumor. He
Garshasb with his wife Joani / courtesy photo inweekly.net