“Wargamer” Back at SAIC After Earning Purple Heart

For a time, SAIC's Rick Langille doubted that the explosion in April that bucked-up high the back of the 7-ton truck he was riding in near Baghdad was a landmine.

He doubted this because Langille, a Marine Corps reservist escorting a famous CNN correspondent in Iraq, did not hear the force that threw him up against the metal canvas-brace of the truck and slammed him into the truck bed in a sitting position. Out of control, the truck and its 5-ton trailer bounced off the road into a shell hole, and again Langille hit up against the brace and smashed into the truck bed — with two lieutenants piling on top of him.

In terrible pain from what would later be diagnosed as a shattered thoracic vertebrae, broken ribs, and other internal injuries, Langille recalled, "I remember the flash of light and, obviously, the motion, but I don't remember the explosion — I don't recall any sound. It's the weirdest thing of all."

Somehow the driver regained control of the truck and Langille, partially paralyzed from the action, found himself a couple of hours later in a Bravo Surgical Company ward that was receiving frontline casualties. The Navy doctors, who did not have the proper diagnostic equipment, urged Langille to "get the heck out of here" and go home.

"I was pretty steadfast in my refusal to leave my men — the primary thing in my mind was taking care of my men," said Langille, a staff sergeant and public affairs chief for the 1st Force Service Support Group. "The first few times they made the mistake of sending a young Navy [serviceman] over to me, and I used my rank and force of presence to tell him to get lost."

Within a day, Langille could shuffle about with assistance, although he moved painfully slowly. So, Langille asked a corpsman to help him rejoin his unit.

"He picked up my gear, helped me up, let me lean on him, and half-carried me over to my guys — he knew where they were," said Langille.

Langille's men were supporting CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who was finishing a profile of Navy "Devil docs" using forward resuscitative surgical suites (frontline operating rooms that tear down and build up in less than an hour) to support the fight for Baghdad. Langille's men hid Langille between the two tents of the forward resuscitative surgical suites for a while.

After Langille persuaded the alarmed Devil docs that he was not in mortal danger, Langille spent the next two days in a cot near his men until they finished their job.

"I convinced [the Devil docs] that my value was in my experience and my guidance," said Langille. That experience and guidance helped Langille deal with the press coverage surrounding Gupta's own actions. A few days before Langille was injured, Gupta, who was also a trained neurosurgeon as well as (in his words) "an accidental journalist," was asked to perform emergency brain surgery on a severely injured Iraqi boy.

This would not be the last time Dr. Gupta's medical skills would be called on in Iraq. He saved the life of a very badly injured soldier the day after Langille was wounded. "I do take solace in having assisted in getting Dr. Gupta to where he needed to be that night," said Langille. "(Dr. Gupta) earned my respect throughout the campaign, but he has my eternal gratitude for that life and his efforts as a healer."

Soon after Gupta finished his work with the Devil docs, Langille and his Marines flew to Kuwait City to drop off Gupta and the CNN cameramen. Later, Langille walked under his own power into Camp Wolf's Combat Army Surgical hospital at Kuwait City International Airport. An X-ray and CAT scan revealed the extent of Langille's injuries.

"I spoke to the chief neurosurgeon and he was impressed with my mobility, so I hoped there was a way I could stay in-country," said Langille. "But after the X-ray and CAT scan there was absolutely no way."

After seeing the tests, Langille's doctors were amazed he could move at all, and amazed that the bone shards from his shattered vertebrae were fairly stable, said Langille. He credits both of these things to his Marine Corps training and his many years as a powerlifter and swimmer. In fact, the 34-year-old Langille won several powerlifting championships as a teen.

"I've been a double bodyweight [bench] presser since high school," said Langille. "I weighed about 145 pounds but could bench press 325 pounds."

Meeting the “Terminator”

Because of his powerlifting background, it was especially thrilling for Langille to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger (now Governor Schwarzenegger) after Langille returned to the U.S.

"That was just cool. I was being a public affairs Marine and was part of the group that received Arnold and [comedian] Jay Leno backstage [at Camp Pendleton] for the premier of T3 [Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines]," said Langille. (At the time, Schwarzenegger had not yet announced his intention to run for governor of California.) "I've been a fan of Schwarzenegger's [since I was a kid] and when he came off stage he agreed to sign my body cast. I took the opportunity to discuss some of his earliest films, much to his chagrin, I think. As soon as I mentioned his first film [Hercules in New York] he said, 'Oh, God, you're no fan of mine!' I said, 'I've got a copy, I could go get it if you wouldn't mind autographing it.' He responded, 'If you're a real fan, you will toss that into the ocean!'"

The Wargamer Returns to SAIC

Now that he is back to work at the Pentagon (since September) as a wargaming analyst for SAIC. Langille reflected on the impact of his time in Iraq on his job.

"Absolutely, my experiences in Iraq have helped me as a wargaming analyst. Because I saw and experienced a lot of concepts we talk about for the future that are either being fielded now in the embryonic stage or are being discussed as a possibility based on our current capability," said Langille. "I may not have been the guy flying an aircraft into a forward base, but I was in the backseat of a couple of them and have seen how we are able to leapfrog all over the battlefield. For example, the way we were able to supply units by air, the way we dealt with logistical difficulties, and the challenges that were presented by the rapid advance — I got to see that firsthand."

Langille also noted that his background as a wargaming analyst for SAIC enhanced his ability to see clearly what was going on in Iraq.

"Having done some wargaming and having observed the process at a three- or four-star level, I definitely had a greater appreciation for the overall situation, and could conceptualize what was going on," said Langille. "Even though I spent most of my time in the field at the tactical level, as a public affairs chief, I could conceive and understand what was going on about me pretty readily."

One of the things that impressed Langille about Iraq: As he went through various Iraqi villages, he was never received poorly by an Iraqi.

"Once it became apparent that we were serious, I felt as if I were received as a liberator every time we came to an Iraqi village," said Langille, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. "There's a lot of satisfaction that comes from that."

Langille said of his service in Iraq in the war on terror, "I am very intensely proud of the marines with whom I served. I support and believe in the mission just as much as I believe in my fellow marines. I'm certainly more fortunate than a lot of other people. I wasn't paralyzed, I did come home. It could have been…a lot worse, I recognize that."

SAIC salutes its many employee-reservists for undertaking risk and sacrifice to serve their country. More than 180 SAIC employees have been recalled to active duty as members of the U.S. military reserves since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. We also honor their managers and co-workers who continued to perform for our clients when our employee-reservists answered the call to duty.