Duane Dreasky
Sergeant, United States Army Nationl Guard
August 24, 1974 – July 10, 2006
Age – 31
Novi, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery, Lansing, MI
Died of burns suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV in Habbaniyah, Iraq on November 21, 2005. He passed away 8 months later at Brooks Medical Army Hospital.
Sergeant Duane Dreasky of Novi, who suffered burns over 75 percent of his body during an attack in Iraq, died July 10 in Texas. Sergeant Dreasky was riding in a Humvee near al-Habbaniyah when it was hit by an improvised explosive device on Nov. 21, 2005.
Dreasky was airlifted out of Iraq and ended up at an Army burn center in San Antonio, where President Bush toured on January 1, 2006.
Sgt. Duane Dreasky never expected a bedside visit from his commander in chief, but even swaddled in bandages, his response was immediate. “He tried to salute, and the president said, ‘You don’t need to salute, I need to salute you,'” his wife, Mandeline Dreasky, recalled of the visit her husband shared with George W. Bush at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. “He was so proud and I was emotional for him. Bush is his hero.”
For Mandeline Dreasky, the drama of her husband’s condition began on a day in November, when she arrived at her in-laws’ Novi home, knowing Army officers were waiting inside with potentially devastating news about her husband. When she realized they were wearing their basic-duty uniform instead of dress blues, her fear gave way to hope. “I knew we had a fighting chance,” she recalled. “I went straight in and asked where is he and when could I get to him.”
The nearly eight months since that day have been a daily battle for survival for Duane Dreasky, 31, who is in critical condition. The former Walled Lake high school football player and martial arts enthusiast suffered third-degree burns over 75 percent of his body when a bomb exploded near his Humvee on Nov. 2.
A group of eight Humvee was heading out into al-Habbaniyah. Dreasky was supposed to be off duty to give a younger forward observer a chance to learn the ropes, but he managed to pester his weightlifting buddy, Sergeant Matthew Webber, into giving another guy the day off. As they prepared the vehicles, Dreasky, Webber and Staff Sergeant Michael Haney made plans to meet at the gym after chow for a workout. Before they parted, Dreasky flashed his trademark smile and uttered a favorite line from the movie “Gladiator”: “Strength and honor.”
The day’s mission was to take “atmospherics” in town and to bait insurgents — who’d been sowing the streets with improvised explosive devices — into making a move. They already had. The Humvee were returning to base after about an hour’s work when two bombs, buried about a foot beneath the road’s surface, exploded. With a muffled WHUMP-WHUMP, Dreasky’s vehicle burst into flames.
Capt. Anthony Dennis of Otisville was riding in the same Humvee patrol when the remote control bomb exploded. After the bomb exploded near Dreasky’s Humvee, Dennis ran to help. He recalls closing the door on the vehicle as Dreasky was evacuated to a nearby medical center. He was last the guy evacuated and gave a look that said, ‘I’ll be back.'”
Throughout his life, Dreasky has never shied away from a challenge, or his desire to become a soldier. His loved ones said “he was born to be a soldier” and wore fatigues to school. He enjoyed studying military history and was athletic, playing high school football at Walled Lake Western. That athleticism also delayed his entry into the military because he had some knee problems. Despite those injuries, he continued to get in shape for the day he would be able to enlist. He scuba dived, sky dived, ran track and wrestled. He also became a marital arts instructor, working out of Michigan Martial Arts in Farmington Hills.
After several letters to local elected officials, Duane Dreasky was finally able to realize his dream of joining the Michigan Army National Guard in June 2003. After he completed boot camp, he was deployed to Cuba, where he was stationed for a year.
When Duane Dreasky returned to Michigan from Cuba in November 2004, he became a full-time National Guard recruiter. His time at home with his wife and family was short because he volunteered to be deployed to Iraq. “They needed him, and he felt like he should go,” Mandy Dreasky said. “Duane is a proud soldier and believes in this county and what it stands for.”