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Lt. Marcus Rice is joined by his parents, Silvester and Willie in their home in Batesville.
The Panolian photos by Rita Howell
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A warrior comes home
By Rita Howell
1st Lt. Marcus Rice is home.
After an arduous journey of recovery that took him from Afghanistan to hospitals in Germany, Maryland and Florida, Lt. Rice arrived at the home of his parents, Silvester and Willie Rice, in Batesville on February 27.
It wasn’t an IUD attack or enemy bullet that struck the then-29-year-old while he was stationed in Bagram, Afghanistan. It was a heart attack.
Quite unexpectedly, following a routine, four-mile run which he did five days a week, Lt. Rice collapsed in his quarters as he was getting ready to go to work on December 5, 2011.
A neighbor next door heard Rice fall, went to check on him, found him unconscious and got help immediately, his commander, Capt. Dolores Bryant, remembered this week, speaking in a telephone interview with The Panolian. Rice had been in excellent shape prior to this, and had no problems he was aware of, she said.
There was an aid station right around the corner from the barracks hut where Rice lived, and the base has a Level One trauma center where he was treated. A defibrillator was used to shock his heart into pumping again.
Within hours Capt. Bryant was in touch with Rice’s family in Mississippi, helping them arrange to fly to Germany to be with their son.
Doctors have not been able to explain why the massive heart attack occurred in the seemingly heathy young man, his mother said.
Lt. Rice suffered some loss of brain function, she said, due to lack of oxygen when his heart stopped beating.
“At first they told us he would be a vegetable,” she recalled.
But that is far from reality.
After a year of intensive therapy at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa, Lt. Rice walks with a walker, feeds himself, keeps up with his many friends on Facebook and his iPhone, and enjoys his favorite TV show, Law and Order.
His family has been with him since he arrived in Germany from Afghanistan.
A cousin was actually in Germany when Rice was sent there, and arranged to meet him when he flew in, staying with him until his parents arrived.
“He never stayed by himself,” his dad said.
Through the Wounded Warrior Project, individuals donate airline miles for families to use in cases like Lt. Rice’s. So the parents were able to fly to Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland and to the VA in Tampa. Silvester and Willie were able to take family leave time from their jobs, he at Parker-Hannifin and she at Tri-Lakes Medical Center.
At the Haley VA Hospital, the Rices stayed at Fisher House, a residence that provided them with accommodations at no cost for the year their son was receiving therapy. (Currently there are 58 Fisher Houses located on 23 military installations and 21 VA medical centers.)
When Lt. Rice arrived home last week, the family home had been outfitted with a long, sturdy metal ramp which leads from the driveway to the front door. Plans are being made to construct a new bedroom and handicap-accessible bathroom. The VA has supplied a car for Lt. Rice.
“They were going to get us a van, but it’s easier for him to get in and out of a car,” Mrs. Rice said.
Her son will continue with physical, occupational and speech therapy at the VA Center in Memphis twice a week.
In the meantime, he’s getting up every day, getting some exercise walking around inside the home, and enjoying his favorite foods, spaghetti and fried catfish.
Face of the company
Lt. Rice worked in communications, assigned to the 580th Signal Company in the 25th Signal Battalion while at Bagram.
“He worked directly for me,” Capt. Bryant said. “He managed the help desk.”
Their company was responsible for establishing voice and data communication for 33,000 users at the base, she explained.
Anyone freshly deployed would seek out the help desk to set up their communication services.
“He was the face of our company,” she said. “It was not an easy job. He had a maturity level to handle such a big job. He had a strong work ethic.”
Since he graduated from South Panola High School in 2001, Rice had enlisted in the Army, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Union College in Kentucky while he was stationed at Fort Campbell, and completed Officers Candidate School at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
He’d already served a deployment in Kuwait prior to being sent to Afghanistan.
While in Afghanistan, he completed requirements to be initiated into the Masonic Lodge.
Meritorious Service Medal
During a ceremony at the Haley VA Hospital last November, Capt. Bryant, now stationed in Sarasota, Fla., presented Lt. Rice with the Meritorious Service Medal.
“He was deserving of it because of the high level of responsibility he had,” she said.
When Rice, who is still on active duty in the Army, was preparing to come home to Batesville, Capt. Bryant made a last visit a few days before he left Tampa, making another presentation, a gift of a special coin imprinted with the 580th Signal Company’s insignia. In the military, such coins are traditionally presented by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement by a member of the unit.
“I gave my last company coin to him,” she said.
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