Tony Odierno will leave his desk at Yankee Stadium on Friday and make the brief walk to the field to throw the first pitch. He said he planned to climb the mound, stare at the thousands of fans and then toss the ball with his right arm — his only arm.
Odierno lost his left arm when a rocket-propelled grenade smashed through his Humvee in Iraq almost four years ago. As an Army lieutenant, he was leading three vehicles through southwest Baghdad when his life changed. The grenade cost Odierno an arm and his driver his life.
Odierno calmly but vividly described what happened that night. As he spoke Wednesday, he sometimes clutched the prosthesis under the sleeve of his gray shirt. His story validates why the Yankees consider him an overqualified intern in their stadium operations department.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to me,” Odierno said. “You have so many guys serving our country, and we’re all willing to give that. I just happened to give a little more. Not because I wanted to. It’s just, sometimes, things happen. Even when you’re doing everything right, sometimes things go wrong.”
Odierno, 29, is tall and lean with brown hair, blue eyes and an easy smile. He graduated from West Point in 2001 and served six years in the Army. He is from a proud, decorated military family. His father, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, has been nominated to succeed Gen. David H. Petraeus as the top American commander in Iraq. {His nomination was confirmed today}
The Yankees invited the Odiernos to participate in the ceremonial first pitch as they play the Boston Red Sox on Independence Day, but the lieutenant general had a previous commitment. So Tony will represent himself, his father and other military personnel, past and present, whose service is particularly poignant on a holiday that celebrates America’s freedom.
Tony Odierno said he had no regrets about the choices that led to him being a platoon leader. He looks forward, not backward.
“And, for me now, this is how it is,” Odierno said. “This is normal to me now.”
Normal to Odierno means finishing two standard-course triathlons, it means using a special prosthesis to shoot an 83 in golf and it means skiing, all accomplished since his left arm was amputated. Odierno credited the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps injured service members make the transition into civilian life, for renewing his affinity for sports.
It was Odierno’s connection with the charity that led to him being hired by the Yankees. When the Yankees’ Johnny Damon won a community service award at the New York baseball writers’ dinner last January, it was in part because of his work with Wounded Warrior. Odierno, who played baseball in high school, presented the award.
On a dais crowded with star players, Odierno gave the most riveting speech of the night. He recalled how he woke up in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington after his injury and saw a backpack with Wounded Warrior by his bed. He said the pack filled with modest items reminded him that someone cared. Damon wept.
“He exemplifies someone who has done one of the greatest things you can ever do: serve your country,” Damon said. “He had a serious injury and he’s come back with so much pride and a smile.”
Lonn Trost, the Yankees’ chief operating officer, was there that night. He met with Odierno afterward and offered him a paid internship.
As a child, Odierno, who is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration and finance from New York University, followed the Yankees because his father, who is from Rockaway, N.J., worshiped them. The elder Odierno pitched at Army and faced the likes of Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph when the Yankees played an exhibition game at West Point in 1976.
“He understands how to operate under pressure and stress,” said Raymond Odierno, who joined Tony in throwing out the first pitch on July 4, 2005. “He’s an amazing young man. People just like being around him.”
Tony Odierno has been involved with planning for the All-Star Game and the new Yankee Stadium. Doug Behar, the senior director of stadium operations, called him a natural leader who “brings out issues that even the most seasoned people didn’t think of.”
Odierno compared his role with the Yankees to his military work because each is contingent on managing people and executing assignments. Still, in Odierno’s current position, he noted dryly, “the risk of losing your life isn’t there on an everyday basis.”
For seven months in 2004, Odierno took that risk while leading a platoon of 50 soldiers. Shortly after midnight on Aug. 21, 2004, he was in a Humvee that was picking up a team of snipers. His vehicle was ambushed and struck by three grenades.
“I was in the front right passenger seat,” Odierno said. “The first one went through my door. I was holding the radio with my left arm. It kind of took a little piece off my right arm, kind of scraped across my chest and took off my left arm and killed my driver.”
Initially, Odierno did not know how severely he was hurt. But then he realized he could not move his arm. Odierno said his arm “was kind of barely hanging on.” Two more grenades followed, but they missed.
“I was thinking, I can’t just sit here; I have to get out and continue to leads these guys,” Odierno said.
Odierno radioed the base for help. The enemy started to retreat. Because Kevin Cummings, the driver, was dead, and others had sustained injuries, Odierno decided against having one vehicle pursue the shooters. He requested a medical evacuation helicopter. Only then did Odierno stop and have a tourniquet applied to his shredded arm.
“I was losing so much blood I couldn’t really stand up anymore, so I kind of just laid down on the street,” Odierno said.
Odierno’s arm was amputated to near his biceps. A day later, he was flown to Germany, where he was reunited with his father and mother, Linda. He spent three months at Walter Reed as an in-patient and had nine more months of therapy.
Once Odierno was able, he met with Cummings’s mother and sister. He said it was his responsibility and that he wanted to do it. Odierno’s eyes were moist when he talked about losing Cummings.
Lt. Gen. Odierno said his son told him that he wanted to live his life for Cummings and live normally because of how fortunate he was.
“He could be dead,” Lt. Gen. Odierno said. “He had a very serious injury. We’re lucky he’s alive.”
Damon said Odierno was a “far better hero” for a child than a baseball player. But Odierno deflected the notion that he was heroic, saying he was one soldier who was doing what he was trained to do.
“Being over in Iraq, we know that, at any moment, being on patrol or on a mission, you know, potentially, something bad can happen,” Odierno said. “You go over there and do your job. You can’t worry about that. You just do your job.”
