America's North Shore Journal

Voice of San Diego

Arm Missing, Heart Intact, By Tom Shanahan

In sports, heroes, warriors and courage are words thrown around too loosely in an effort to explain that athletics build character.

But Capt. Dawn Halfaker (U.S. Army retired), a women’s basketball star at the Army as a West Point cadet from Rancho Bernardo High, understands the ultimate definitions.

On June 19, 2004, Halfaker (then a lieutenant) was the commanding officer in a military police platoon gathering intelligence in Baqouba, Iraq, a hot spot northeast of Baghdad. Halfaker and four soldiers were in an armored Humvee when insurgents fired upon them with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The explosion left Halfaker’s right arm hanging from her shoulder by only the skin, the humerus bone having been blown away. She was covered with blood, her face was burned and she struggled to breathe, but she still had her West Point-trained presence of mind.

Halfaker, fighting to remain conscious, gave orders. She saw that Staff Sgt. Norberto Lara, seated in front of her in the passenger seat, had lost his arm.

“Get out of the kill zone!” Halfaker shouted to the driver.

The driver found cover and medics arrived. She was bleeding and lying in dirt. As she was treated, she wondered about the condition of Lara and the others in the patrol. [snip]

If you accept the notion that the United States is a nation of reluctant warriors — we fight only as a last resort but respond fiercely when provoked — Halfaker’s story plays to the American theme.

She’s not from a military family, and when Army recruited her to play college basketball, the 9/11 attacks and war on terrorism were conflicts in the future. But she served her country when called upon.

“I’m asked if I wish I hadn’t gone to West Point,” Halfaker said. “It’s a fair question. What I say is I don’t regret one decision that I made. I wouldn’t be close to the person I am, and I wouldn’t trade my experiences at West Point for anything. You know how people say they’d give their right arm to do something? Well, I did.”

Halfaker is among 26,000-plus Americans wounded in Iraq, and the comeback trail has been harder for some than for others.

“I have my bad days, and it’s a constant journey,” Halfaker said. “I wish this had never happened — that I never knew this side of war — and that I could get my arm back. But I remind myself I’m fortunate. Some of my friends didn’t make it back.”

NC Times

“Why am I so different now than I was before?” said Halfaker. “Just because I’m an amputee people recognize me. I think they should be making a fuss over the guys still over in Iraq, but I guess it’s a big deal for a female to be an amputee.”

Now on temporary assignment as an outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation’s capital, Halfaker has continued her work with physical and occupational therapists. She’s had to relearn things she’d taken for granted, such as walking, and she depends on others for help with the simplest things.

Not the sort of thing an independent person like Halfaker envisioned for herself.

“Dealing with my hair is the hardest thing for a one-armed person,” said the redhead. “Try putting your hair in a ponytail with one hand. I haven’t overcome negotiating with my hair yet, although I’ve been tempted a few times to just shave it all off.”

Even talking about her biggest frustration thus far failed to wipe the smile off her face. There were no tears for her past life.

“I had a life back then and now I have a different one,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I woke up in the hospital as an infant. My independence was shattered.”

One thing Halfaker avoided for the most part was the bout of depression that many amputees experience. Just a few days after regaining consciousness —- “My dad’s face was the first thing I remember after being loaded onto the helicopter in Iraq nine days earlier,” she said —- she was doing crunches in her room.

“I realized right away I had to stop wishing for my arm to come back and move on,” she said. “I’ve done more things in my 3 1/2 years in the Army than I’ve done with my life before that. The friendships I’ve made and the places I’ve seen have been more than worth my arm. I’m still the same old Dawn, just without a body part now.”

Halfaker & Associates

In response to the radically changing business environment, Chief Executive Officer F. Dawn Halfaker founded Halfaker and Associates in January 2006, recognizing the growing need for dynamic consultants with specialized experience to provide national security services to the Federal Government.

Captain (Ret) Dawn Halfaker has extensive management experience as a Military Police Officer in the United States Army. After a tour in Korea, she deployed with the 3d Infantry Division as a platoon leader and deputy provost marshal in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She was subsequently wounded during a combat patrol near Baghdad in 2004, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

In addition, Dawn served as a military liaison to the House Armed Services Committee where she advised the committee Chair on central Department of Defense issues. Since 2005, she has worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), specializing in technical consulting for the Defense Sciences Office. Her mission is to help initiate research that will provide advanced capabilities to the military. Dawn also remains very active with veteran’s affairs and is a member of many of the veteran’s service organizations and serves on various advisory committees.

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point where she was a four-year varsity basketball letter winner and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.