Health woes cut Niles vet’s Army career short
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NILES -- When former United States Army infantryman Ryan Estes was in Iraq and Afghanistan, he had a phrase that he would say to his mom if he knew he was going to a high-risk area.
"I was single. My mom worried about me. She always knew I would not be in touch with her if I said, 'I had to do my laundry,'" he said.
He mostly communicated through email and was aware the enemy was monitoring their communications.
After graduating from Niles Mckinley High School in 2000, he went to work at MCI Worldcom until the company went bankrupt. The military was a career he had considered since high school and he thought of joining the United States Navy, but his mom did not think he was ready.
"9/11 hit a nerve with me," Estes said.
After losing his job, he returned to the idea of enlisting in the military in 2004. With a choice between the United States Coast Guard, Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines, Estes had a simple way to choose the branch of service: the recruiter from the United States Army approached him first at the recruiting station, so he chose the Army.
"I had just seen the movie 'Blackhawk Down' and I thought, 'I want to be an Army Ranger. I want to do that,'" he said.
He had never traveled to the southern United States prior to his enlistment, but his basic training was at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. He was there for 14 weeks and met people from Texas, Mississippi, Florida, California and American Samoa. He still remains in contact with some of his fellow recruits.
Estes' first orders after basic training were to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
"I would get up at 4:35 in the morning. Six a.m. was our first formation. We did physical training for two hours until 8 a.m. and then we would go to breakfast. Then, we would go back to work, grab our weapons and clean them. Then lunch. I was there from 2004 to 2009 and then I returned to Fort Benning from 2009 to 2012," he said.
During his time in the Army, he had temporary duty assignments, which allowed him to travel to Alaska and Hawaii. He even visited Italy, which is the homeland on the maternal side of his family, when he went to the U.S. Army Garrison in Vicenza, Italy.
"I wanted to visit the sites in Italy, but I came from Fort Benning and because my orders were for temporary duty, I was not allowed to leave the post," Estes said.
In 2005, he was sent on a 13-month deployment to Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
"We would stay in the middle of the city for weeks on end. I was in South Baghdad. We'd only go to camp for four or five days to shower and then go back out," he said.
He noticed a difference in the climate in the Middle East compared to Ohio.
"Today it is 92 degrees and really muggy. There, you don't sweat a bit, but it feels like you have a blow dryer in your face constantly," he said.
While there, he re-enlisted for six more years and he returned stateside in 2006. A year-and-a-half later, he was sent on another deployment. This time it was to Afghanistan.
"I was in the northeast province right on the border of Pakistan. A lot of people think Pakistan and Iraq are similar. They're not. We were in the mountains. I was there for 14 months in 2008 and 2009," Estes said.
He returned from overseas to Fort Benning for three years, where he was an instructor from 2009 to 2012.
"It sounds like I was a hotshot because I was with Charlie company 229. That's sniper school. I ran the ammunition shed. Civilians taught snipers," he said.
From 2012 to 2015, he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 101st Airborne, 2-506 infantry battalion, where a medical issue was discovered that caused the end of Estes' military career.
"I was grading a physical training test. I had felt funny all morning. I was in great shape. I thought, 'This isn't right,' and I woke up and I was in the hospital. I had passed out. I had stuff all over me and I'm thinking, 'What is going on?' I was in atrial fibrillation (afib) and I had congestive heart failure. The VA connected it back to the burn pits. We would throw things in like batteries and just stand there, like idiots. We burned everything. We didn't wear masks," Estes said.
Burn pits were used by the military to dispose of all types of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan until the 2010s.
He was in the hospital for four weeks. Since then, he has had his heart jump started (aka cardioversion) six times because he was not in rhythm.
"After I returned, I was told I could reclassify and train for another job, but I would take a drop in rank. I am 100% fully disabled, unemployable through the VA," he said. He left the Army as a staff sergeant in 2015.
Even though he has a heart issue, he continues to be physically active.
"Every morning, I do 50 pushups, 50 sit ups. I want to keep myself in somewhat good shape," he said.
He is also a member of five bocce teams. His grandma Nancy is a teammate on one team. In another league, his teammates are his fellow Niles VFW members.
Since moving back to Ohio, he is involved as a member of the honor guard for the VFW Post 2074 in Niles, where he finds a community of other veterans. If not for his heart condition, Estes said he would have stayed in the Army until his retirement.
"I enjoyed being an infantryman. I liked the camaraderie and meeting different people," he said.
Ryan Estes
AGE: 41
RESIDENCE: Niles
SERVICE BRANCH: Army
MILITARY HONORS: Four Army commendation medals, two Army achievement medals, NATO Medal, a Combat Infantry badge received in Iraq for being in combat, and wings for airborne school and air assault school.
OCCUPATION: Retired on disability
FAMILY: wife, Angela; two stepchildren