RANGER TOUGH:  Local Veteran Perseveres  After Tragedy

Story by Stephen Prudhomme

Ryan Davis played baseball at the University of Texas in Arlington. He later worked in healthcare in Oklahoma City before joining the Army so he could go after the “bad guys.”

Using a baseball analogy, the bad guys knocked him down with a “pitch” that left him with extensive injuries and the loss of several limbs. Proving you can’t keep a good man down, Davis swung back at adversity and hit a metaphorical home run by adjusting to a new and challenging way of life in a manner that illustrates the power of the human mind and spirit and inspires others.

Davis, 38, lives in Richmond Hill with his wife and son. Since October 2023, they’ve lived in a home provided for them by veterans’ advocate and actor Gary Senise. Medically discharged from the Army in 2022, Davis is largely confined to a wheelchair with two prosthetic legs and a prosthetic arm. Despite these challenges, he’s not bitter about how his life has turned out.

“You will have challenges in life,” Davis said. “How you react to them is important. That will tell you how your life will pan out. I will not throw my hat in the ring and exchange it for another life. I would do it 1,000 times over to just have our life. American juice, I know it’s worth it.”

Before serving his country, Davis excelled on the diamond and earned a scholarship to UT Arlington. Saying he was thankful for the ride and recognizing he was a little small to pursue a professional career, Davis took a job in healthcare in Oklahoma City.

In 2012, motivated to do his part to end hostilities in the Middle East by eliminating the bad guys, Davis joined the Army, following his grandfather and uncle. He signed up to become an Army Ranger. “It was more of a smash force,” Davis explained. “It reminded me of baseball.”

The training, Davis said, is the toughest in the military, describing it as taking a person beyond broken. Growing up on a farm in Oklahoma, Davis learned about hard work at a young age, and he said that helped him do uncomfortable things during training.

Upon completion of Ranger training, Davis began a series of four-month deployments that took him to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. His tasks were varied and included helping set up a hospital and helping to save civilian lives during the Syrian conflict. “It was eye opening,” Davis said.

A week before his final deployment to the Middle East, Davis, on leave at Hunter Army Airfield, displayed his competitive spirit and determination by competing in his first marathon, on Hilton Head Island. He finished in under four hours and placed third in his age group.

Fresh off of meeting yet another challenge, Davis deployed to Afghanistan in August 2019 as a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was part of a force going after a “high level facilitator” of weapons when someone behind a wall started shooting at them. Davis went up to the wall to try and locate the shooter when it suddenly blew apart from a grenade explosion.

Davis said he felt his right leg shatter into 100 pieces up to his femur. His right arm was blown off past the elbow. Remaining fully conscious, Davis said a prayer for his wife and son and prepared to die. As he remarked, God wouldn’t have it.

What followed was a new procedure and dramatic escape by MEDEVAC helicopter out of the line of fire. Through the Ranger O Low Titer (ROLO) blood transfusion procedure, used for the first time anywhere with Davis, the severely wounded Ranger soldier received two units of blood from a fellow soldier who had been identified as a universal donor and was carrying blood transfusion bags.

That donor was Dillion Throckmorton. He described Davis as a true Ranger who was always willing and ready to take on the enemy in any situation but would take time to mentor younger Rangers and lead by example. He added his personality and humor are contagious.

The injuries Davis sustained, Throckmorton recalled, were the worst he’s seen in battle. He said he was sent out to set up a landing zone for a MEDEVAC helicopter to evacuate Davis and the other casualties. When two helicopters were unable to land due to enemy fire and mortars, medics treated the wounded men for three hours in the dirt.

With Davis still needing blood and blood supplies the medics brought along having run out, the call went out for Throckmorton to be a donor. He said he was about 100 yards away and ran through an open field under enemy machine gun fire before lying down next to Davis and giving him two units of blood through the first time ROLO procedure.

The next task was to get Davis to a medical facility. It wouldn’t be easy. The first MEDEVAC helicopter was shot down, and the second one had fueling issues. The third helicopter was overloaded with 43 men and Davis and flew 93 feet over the river to avoid detection before finally arriving at an old base, where people lined up to donate blood while under enemy mortar attacks.

Davis eventually made it back to the States. He spent the next two years at a hospital in San Antonio, enduring 35 surgeries in his first month. Davis said he was at death’s edge for the first three months and lost his left leg to a bad infection.

A despondent Davis recalled looking out of his room window at a nearby parking deck and envisioning himself taking a power wheelchair to the top deck and rolling off to his death. “It was a dark time,” he said. Once again, God had other plans for him.

Still battling infection, Davis was sent to intensive care. During the night, he heard anguished voices outside his room and said he thought he was imagining things. The next morning he learned the voice were real and they had belonged to five power workers who had been electrocuted. They were expressing regrets about their lives and how they would miss their families before they died.

That experience, Davis said, gave him a greater appreciation for his life and family. He no longer thought about rolling his power wheelchair off the top level of the parking deck. Davis was further bolstered when President Trump, during his first term, mentioned his name during a ceremony recognizing the heroic efforts of his Ranger unit.

By 2021, Davis had recuperated enough to leave the hospital in San Antonio and go to Walter Reed Hospital for physical therapy. He remained there for a year before returning to Hunter Army Airfield and eventually getting a medical discharge. Then came an unexpected call from Sinise, who informed Davis his foundation would build a mortagage-free, 3,000-square-foot home in Richmond Hill on two acres for Davis and his family. The home was handicap accessible and fully stocked and furnished.

“I’m pretty impressed with his organization,” Davis said. “Gary’s one of the most grateful people I know for his love of country and the freedoms we have.”

In an example of paying it forward, Davis has established a nonprofit company. He travels around the country giving inspirational speeches and helps disabled veterans modify their homes with funds he earns from the former.

Through such gratifying service and a loving wife, Asia, nicknamed Rattlesnake, and son, Knox, Davis appreciates the life he has and almost lost and how God was with him all along. “I never questioned if there’s a God,” said Davis, who has written a book, “Rattlesnake,” slated for release later this year and chronicling his life from baseball player to soldier to family man inspiring others through courage, determination and faith. My faith is stronger than ever.”

Davis’ determination to lead a normal life carries over, not surprisingly, to one of his first loves - athletics. He engages in skiing and shooting as he continues to challenge himself, just as he did with Ranger school and running a marathon.

Throckmorton said Davis has beaten every statistic and shouldn’t have survived such severe wounds. Remarking his friend’s recovery was a miracle, he said he thanks God for keeping them both alive and cherishes the small part he played in the survival of such a great friend and person. Given all Davis has endured, Throckmorton added, it’s not surprising how he quickly adopted to life without his previous mobility.

“For someone to go through what Ryan went through and continues to overcome with his injuries, no normal man could do what he is doing,” Throckmorton said. “He is still the same Ryan from before the explosion, just on wheels now. His example of perseverance and sheer willpower is an example to us all. Rangers Lead The Way.”  ■