HUNTINGTON
Huntington Grad Injured In Afghanistan
Sgt. Patrick Olsen sustains nerve damage, bullet wound
By Mike Koehler/ mkoehler@longislandernews.com

Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Olsen was on patrol in Afghanistan two weeks ago when his men were ambushed. The assailants triggered a remote IED and shot at him.
Olsen, a Huntington native, was fortunate to escape largely intact.

“My brother is a tough guy and he’s going to be OK,” his brother Eric Olsen said.
Both Patrick and Eric spent their childhood growing up in Halesite and graduating from the Huntington School District. Eric graduated in the 1980s, while Patrick, 38, was in the Blue Devil class of 1992.

An All-League lacrosse player in high school, Patrick, his father Rod said, was better at athletics than academics. He pushed him to join the military, something Patrick agreed to.

“He always had an interest in it,” Rod said.

The family’s history of military service didn’t hurt either. Eric spent six years as a communications expert in the Army, Rod was a lieutenant in the Army Reserve during Vietnam, Rod’s father was a pilot in World War II and his father fought in World War I.

“It’s the greatest country in the world. We’re here to protect it,” Rod said. “Most of us got out as soon as our time was up, but Patrick likes the military. He likes the people, the leadership and to lead. It’s his thing and he’s good at it.”

While Eric left to become the top chef at an Alabama restaurant and their now-retired parents followed him down south, Patrick has been something of a career soldier.
He saw time in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne from October 2006-January 2008. He tried to return to civilian life, moving to Patchogue, starting a job and getting married. But when his first marriage failed, Patrick went back to the military.

When he returned to Iraq from January 2010-2011, he was a member of the 501st Parachute Infantry. While the regiment’s parent 25th Tropical Lightning Division is headquartered in Hawaii, the airborne brigade is based out of Alaska.

During those two tours in Iraq, his father said, Patrick led 450 combat missions.
“His job is to go out and find the bad guys and, as he says, neutralize them,” Rod added.

He returned for Afghanistan in December 2011, although Eric said his brother was concerned he was pressing his luck after surviving so many missions.

Patrick’s apparent premonition didn’t help much when Rod called Eric on May 13 with news that his brother was injured.

“I was upset. When my father told me he wasn’t dead and had all major body parts, it was obviously intense relief,” Eric said. “I was in the middle of cooking with a full restaurant and my father called me with this news. I had to walk out of the kitchen.”
Patrick and one other soldier were wounded in the ambush, with the Huntington native sustaining more injuries than his comrade. Body armor prevented shrapnel from penetrating his back, but it did pierce the back of his legs and arms. He also suffered broken bones in his left foot, nerve damage in both and a bullet wound in one leg.

He underwent the knife at a hospital in Bahrain, Afghanistan and was shipped to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany on Tuesday. He arrived at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis McChord – just outside of Seattle – late on Friday.
His father said they were unsure of the timeline or extent of possible recovery, something he expected would be determined once American doctors looked at his son.
However, the family has been in touch with Patrick, and both Rod and Eric said he was surprisingly upbeat. He shared dirty jokes about body parts being intact and insisted he isn’t ready to leave the Army.

“He hopes to get back to 100 percent. I told him his paratrooper days are over and he says ‘Let’s see what happens,’” Rod said.

Regardless of whatever decisions he and/or military leaders make about his career, which would have otherwise required another eight years until retirement, Patrick did receive a Purple Heart. His father added that the staff sergeant also joked over the phone that he’ll never have to pay for a license plate again as a recipient.