PFC Tyler Springmann 19 His father Escorted his Body Back To Maine
MWB
HARTLAND, Maine — Pfc. Tyler Springmann was exactly where he wanted to be
when he died Sunday in Afghanistan: leading a dangerous patrol and following
in the footsteps of his father.
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Springmann said his 19-year-old son always wanted to
take “the point” of any patrol, mostly to protect fellow soldiers from
snipers, ambushes and bombs buried in their path.
“He tried to do what I do,” said Springmann, who as a 14-year Army veteran
handles a military dog trained to sniff out the improvised explosive devices
that are the bane of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan
populace.
“He always tried to take the point, just like I do. He wanted to emulate
that and always be out in front,” said Springmann. “His views were like
mine. Nobody’s going to go in front of me.”
Though Springmann doesn’t know exactly where his son was patrolling Sunday,
he knows well the insidious challenge he faced. Outmatched and outgunned,
insurgents and Taliban fighters resort to sneak attacks, including burying
explosives in the ground that detonate remotely or when they are stepped on.
Tyler Springmann was part of a foot patrol Sunday in southern Afghanistan.
As the point man, said his father, he would have been scouring the ground in
front of him for subtle signs of a bomb: a suspicious mound, a couple of
rocks stacked together, a concentration of footprints. Springmann had been
on point before and had found at least two bombs, said his father, which
means he undoubtedly saved some of his brothers-in-arms, and maybe
civilians.
But on Sunday, Springmann stepped on a pressure plate that his father said
had probably been in the ground for days, if not weeks — meaning there was
no visible warning. A battery pack linked to a detonator and probably a mass
of fertilizer-based explosive erupted with a deafening crash and killed the
gregarious 19-year-old Nokomis Regional High School graduate.
Tyler Springmann lived with his father in Texas for about two years before
Robert Springmann was deployed to Iraq. Tyler came to Hartland to live with
his mother, Tina Webber, when he was about 16 years old. A full three years
passed before father and son saw each other again. Their reunion was this
past April in Afghanistan. Robert Springmann entered a vast building
containing more than 150 bunk beds and yelled, “Where’s PFC Springmann?”
“He came over and I threw my arms around him,” said Springmann. “We spent
about three days together.”
The father and son talked mostly about their roles in the war, but also were
able to mend some old emotional wounds between them, which Springmann said
in retrospect were never that serious to begin with. Gone was the
goofing-around teenager, replaced by a soldier who every day stared at death
and destruction and didn’t look away.
“He had a real sense of duty and responsibility,” said Springmann. “I let
him know how much more mature he was and how proud I was of him. He said, ‘I
probably should have listened to you about some things, but I’m learning. I’m
making mistakes.’ He’d done a lot of growing and I couldn’t be more proud of
him.”
Springmann said his tour in Afghanistan was wrapping up Sunday. He was
having his dog, a Belgian malinois named Frieda, checked by a veterinarian
so she could be cleared to fly home. A special forces commander brought the
terrible news that his son had died about eight hours earlier. Springmann
left the dog and all his equipment behind so he could go to his son’s
remains, which by that time had been taken to Germany. Springmann
accompanied the coffin to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where a solemn
ceremony reserved for fallen soldiers took place Tuesday.
“Honestly, I always thought it would be the other way around,” said
Springmann. “This was my sixth deployment. I thought he’d be bringing me
home in a box.”
The night before Tyler Springmann’s death, the father and son chatted on
Facebook. Tyler told his father that his base was being shot at from time to
time, but that he felt safe.
“I told him I loved him and that I was proud of him,” said Springmann. “He
said the same thing back. Him saying that to me was pretty special.”
As it typically goes on Facebook, the conversation ended abruptly. Tyler
Springmann’s final words to his father were “hey, I gotta go.”
Today, Robert Springmann finds himself torn between two emotions: intense
pride that only a soldier can understand tempered by the empty sorrow of a
grieving father.
“There’s so much I wanted to see him do and I will not be able to,” he said.
“I wanted to see him have a family and raise his own kids. I wanted
grandchildren. That’s all been stolen away from me by some coward in
Afghanistan.”
Springmann said Tyler’s funeral will be sometime in the next few days,
likely in the Newport area. The services have not yet been arranged. Asked
if he regrets his and Tyler’s always wanting to be the point man on patrol,
Springmann said no way.
“I’m going to go out there and find as many IEDs as I can, until one finds
me,” he said. “I’m not going to let another kid go home without legs, or
worse. I’m not going to stop doing that until we get out of there.”
Loki
My best friend in high school joined the Navy when we graduated. He
and I were best men at each other's weddings. Somewhere along the line
he switched from the Navy to the Army and he is now a full bird
Colonel.
A couple of years back Sacramento lost a hero and Jack (my friend)
volunteered to escort the body home.
It was a humbling, proud, and life changing experience for him and
this year my phone rang at the crack of dawn on Memorial Day because
Taking Chance was showing on HBO and Jack wanted Kath and me to watch
it. I am glad that we did, and sincerely hope that everyone does.
http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Chance-Kevin-Bacon/dp/B001TOD6N4/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1311221270&sr=1-1
May Maine's son fly with angels, and may his country and fellow
citizens live in a way that honors his sacrifice.
Loki
To support our men and women overseas
who may not be getting packages from home,
you can get some ideas as to how to do so at:
http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm
It is a non profit, volunteer run organization.
I encourage everyone to check it out,
respond from the heart, and pass it
along to anyone you think may want
to remember our overseas military personnel,
throughout the year.