Sgt. Ryan Coffield of Fayetteville is happy to be back stateside, awaiting the birth of his first son ... even though it’s not exactly the way he planned it.

Coffield, a sniper in the U.S. Army, is lucky to be alive. He was shot in the neck Oct. 2 while on a rooftop in Ad Duluiyah, Iraq, where he was protecting his unit at a roadside security checkpoint.

After a 12-hour surgery to repair fractured vertebra, followed by weeks of recovery, Coffield is now home with his wife, Sandra. They are awaiting the birth of their son, whom they will name Grayson Michael; her due date is Thursday.

“I thank God every day for allowing me to be here to see my son for the first time, and to be with all my friends and family again,” Coffield said Monday morning.

The injury left him with a partially paralyzed left arm, but it’s getting better every day. He’s able to walk just fine, though he’s still building up his leg muscles, which atrophied during his hospital stay.

“I told him I wanted him to come home, but not this way,” Sandra Coffield said with a wry smile. She wasn’t as worried about him being in harm’s way.

The sniper’s role, after all, is “assistance from a distance,” Mrs. Coffield said.

But that fateful day, it was an insurgent sniper who shot Sgt. Coffield. Days after the incident, military forces captured the insurgent sniper’s spotter, and later they learned the location of the shooter himself.

After a quick phone call to the Air Force, that building was obliterated with a bomb while Coffield’s shooter was still inside, he was told.

Coffield was no stranger to close calls while stationed at Fort McKenzie near Samarra, Iraq for nearly a year. Four times, his Bradley armored vehicle was hit by improvised explosive devices, and on two other occasions IEDs exploded nearby, though no one was ever seriously injured in any of the explosions, he said.

Once, while stationed on a rooftop, he began to hear the “whip and zip” sounds of bullets getting close to his location.

“We got off that rooftop pretty quickly,” he said.

There was no such warning Oct. 2. Before he was shot, Coffield heard one bullet fired into the street, and he thought the insurgent was trying to draw him out, as his sniper’s rifle is noticeable enough to make him a target.

Moments later, Sgt. Brandon Labar was at Coffield’s side, working to stop the bleeding in his neck. Ultimately, he would have a 12-hour neck surgery at Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. to repair fractured vertebra in his neck, an injury that could well have paralyzed him.

After spending recovery time at Walter Reed, Coffield was transferred to the VA hospital in Augusta for rehabilitation for about five weeks. He has to do daily exercises to work on his left arm.

Sandra Coffield said she was anxious to meet Sgt. Labar to thank him for helping save Ryan’s life.
“I’d like to shake his hand, but I’m gonna give him a hug whether he likes it or not,” she said.

Sgt. Coffield said it’s nice to be home, catching up with old friends and spending time with his family. Sandra notes that her husband has eaten re-adjusted to an American diet.

“He’s eaten more Taco Bell and Wendy’s in the last two weeks than anybody I’ve known,” she said.

Sgt. Coffield is also thankful for the cards, letters and correspondence from local residents. People from Fayetteville, who he didn’t even know, took the time to write while he was recovering, and that meant a lot, he said.

“The outpouring of support has just been overwhelming,” Coffield said.

Sandra Coffield said her husband’s condition improved just knowing there were folks back home, whom he didn’t even know, who were pulling for him.

As for his future, Sgt. Coffield will find out in January what the military’s plans for him are; he enlisted right after graduating Fayette County High School in 2002. He might even take some classes online. And of course, he plans to spend time enjoying his new son.

He has no regrets about the war and his participation in it. He’s seen a number of other service members with similar injuries, and they weren’t as fortunate as Coffield has been in his recovery, he said.

And he also believes in the goal of the war: liberating Iraqi citizens.

“When you think about it, it’s all for a good cause,” Coffield said. “Giving those people a chance to live their lives without fear of somebody persecuting them for what they believe, or what they say or what they do.”

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