What combat cameraman Ian Ives remembered immediately after the explosion was a strange calm.
“My first thought was: I’m in heaven” he recently told Business Insider’s Jake Gabbard for the War Journal video series. Then the pain came.
“Everything started to hurt,” he said. “I started hearing my buddies, you know, screaming, asking if they’re all right, and me attempting to answer them and not being able to say anything because of the damage I had to my face.”
He then had the realization: “I’m not in heaven. I’m in hell.”
The 2019 mission in Afghanistan left Ives with catastrophic injuries. The blast from an improvised explosive device, IED, tore through his right arm, face, and leg. He was evacuated from the battlefield and transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
That marked the beginning of a long recovery and an even longer fight to determine what came next for his life and career.
Being in the hospital
Courtesy of Ian Ives.
“Honestly, being in the hospital was the worst part of everything,” he said.
When Ives woke up at Walter Reed a month after the explosion, he learned how close he had come to dying. His right arm was gone. He was missing part of his right leg, and one of his eyes had been surgically removed.
“It was just pain. And I mean, pain sucks. But as I learned in the hospital, there are worse things than pain,” he said, adding what was worse. “Being immobile and not being able to move or not being able to speak, which I wasn’t able to do for about a month or so.”
The infection he contracted from the bacteria in the soil where he was injured in Afghanistan nearly killed him. “That is almost what took me out,” he said. “If I had not gone to Walter Reed and gotten the exact doctor that I had gotten, there’s a very strong chance I would not be alive.”
Leaving the military
Courtesy of Ian Ives
Ives eventually returned to active duty with his Special Forces unit as he recovered.
He found fulfillment as a training NCO, teaching fellow next-gen combat cameramen.
By 2021, though, he was forced to accept that his injuries limited what he could do.
He didn’t want to become a liability or potentially hurt somebody, so he left a job and life he loved and retired from the military.
Discovering a newfound purpose
Jake Gabbard / Business Insider
For Ives, retirement didn’t mean stepping away from the military entirely. Soon after, he accepted a position as the media relations officer for US Army Cadet Command, where he works with future officers.
“During my time in the Army, I learned there are two things I absolutely love. And one of them is combat,” Ives said. “I love being a warrior. I love going out, kicking in doors, shooting guns, and being with a small group of like-minded individuals who are trying to accomplish a mission. The other part, I learned, is I love to mentor people.”
He said working with next-generation cadets helps him stay connected to the service that defined his life. “I want them to see how leaders are, you know, being empathetic and compassionate and mission-driven more than anything.”
Couretesy of Ian Ives
When asked what his sacrifice means to him, he simply said, “Someone had to do it.” And he said he would do it again, if he had to.
“I would go out and lose my arm 10 out of 10 times if it means that we get to keep our country the way it is,” he said, adding “to make sure that the rest of America, the rest of the country, doesn’t have to put themselves in that situation.”
Ives received the Bronze Star award for his performance and professionalism as a public affairs sergeant and two Purple Hearts for his injuries in Afghanistan.