Death and resuscitation: Army captain brought back to life

He was dead for 15 minutes. He bled out and his heart flatlined for 15 minutes.

But a field doctor in Iraq refused to give up and today Capt. Josh Mantz, First Infantry Division is alive and well with no brain damage.

Mantz shared his story with Pratt American Legion Post 86 at a recent meeting. It is one of the Legion activities in the community. Their next big project is a downtown parade followed by an activities day and fireworks display on Saturday, July 3 at the Pratt County Veterans Memorial Lake.

But during that recent evening, the Legion members were focused on the story of Mantz’ brush with death on the battlefield.

It was April 21, 2007 when a sniper sent an armor piercing 50-caliber bullet ripping through his upper right thigh and severed his femoral artery. Another soldier was hit in the aorta.

Mantz didn’t realize how seriously he was wounded. A tourniquet was wrapped around his leg as blood gushed from the wound. He was placed on a Bradley vehicle and the tourniquet fell off. He was rushed to medical help in the field and a field surgeon named Tipton made a quick decision that Mantz had a better chance of survival than the man with the wound to the aorta who later died.

Mantz was badly wounded and passed out although he recalls vividly the sensations he felt as he bled out. Mantz said he had tunnel vision. He couldn’t speak and got extremely sick.

The body will pull blood to the chest to protect vital organs and Mantz said he could feel his body doing that. As the blood continued to leave his body he recalls how the blood eventually all went to his chest, his breathing grew difficult, had hoped someone would take care of his family and he died. Although he flat lined for 15 minutes, the field staff kept working on him, pumping in 30 units of blood and continuing chest compressions well after a civilian doctor would have stopped, Mantz said.

A faint pulse kept Tipton doing chest compressions and after a couple of broken ribs, Mantz came back, all the way back.

Mantz suffered no brain damage and credits the precise work of the field medical personnel with saving his life.

“Every step of the medical process was absolute perfection,” Mantz said. “I can’t emphasize their amazing, flawless execution. Our surgeons are gods.”

Mantz spent four and a half months recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center then got to do something few soldiers can do. He got to go back and thank the medical team that saved his life.

“It was great to get to thank them,” Mantz said.

Mantz wanted to get back with his men and he wanted to find out if he was still an able officer. On his first patrol he froze up and was ineffective. But a couple of patrols later and he was good again.

Although he credits his treatment at Walter Reed both in medical care and counseling for his recovery, he felt like he didn’t fit in anymore. His emotional and psychological healing was harder to fix.

And he isn’t alone with those types of problems. The military sees approximately 140,000 patients with emotional issues each week. Health care in the military has increased 167 percent in the last 10 years. It accounts for nine percent of the military budget.

Psychological and emotional problems are increasing in the military.

“We’re essentially getting overwhelmed,” Mantz said.

The military is aware of the past treatment and the current problems and is responding.

“The army is working very hard to reverse the trends of the past,” said Maj. Jeffery Hall, another soldier at the meeting.

So Mantz is part of an effort to make soldiers more resilient to help them recover from emotional and psychological problems. And the need is great. In 2009, 160 soldiers in the regular Army committed suicide.

“A lot of guys have lost their way,” Hall said. Hall, who was injured, presented his emotional problems after seeing his fellow soldiers killed and 25-year-old Second Lt. Ryan Cools with his legs blown off yet wanting to get up on his feet. He remembered the efforts of 40-year-old Specialist Francis to save Cools life and the impact it had on Hall.

Hall had post-traumatic stress syndrome and thought he was the only one dealing with hidden emotional wounds. He got help at Walter Reed with his healing process.

Now he and his wife Sherry are traveling and talking about starting help centers for soldiers with emotional and psychological issues. Their goal is to help increase the resilience in soldiers to help them heal emotionally. No money is available for these Mind Fitness Centers so they have a big job ahead.

These centers will focus on several areas including physical training, nutrition, spiritual strength, mental strength, emotional strength, social and family strength, forced wellbeing and safety.