
Cpl. Matthew Dougherty had always been a fighter. His life had been a series of battles, from the tumultuous childhood that saw him bouncing between fourteen different schools from St. Genevieve to Afton, Missouri. During what would have been Matt’s senior year of high school, he was blessed to learn he had a son on the way. Choosing to make a better life for his family, he found his purpose and his passion in the military, enlisting in the United States Army at 18 years of age.
Matt excelled during basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, earning accolades in leadership and physical training. He was even offered a chance for a conversion contract to join the Rangers but turned it down, unwilling to miss the birth of his first son. Instead, he found himself stationed at Fort Riley with the 216th Rangers, where he served as a rifleman.
Matt deployed for the first time in May of 2012 to Regional Command East (RC East), Afghanistan. After an acclimation period of about a week, Matt and his unit found themselves in a fire fight on their very first mission. It was a harrowing baptism by fire. By their fifth mission, Matt’s unit suffered their first casualty, when Lt. Rimf hit an Antipersonnel Russian Mine that the Taliban had placed.
The missions and the engagements continued. Then, just 93 days into his deployment, on August 30, 2012, Matt woke and felt that something was different. He felt well-rested and as if the day was completely vivid, even high definition. Despite his instincts warning him of impending danger, he pressed on. Matt went out and when his unit came under heavy machine gun fire during a mission to secure a perimeter, he found himself in yet another fire fight.
With the chaos of battle erupting around him, Matt was pinned down under enemy fire in the dried irrigation beds that moved through RC East. Eventually, after he was able to move forward with his unit through the terrain, Matt and his Sergeant, Sgt. Mueller found themselves on top of an IED. This particular IED was called a Command Detonation, which uses unspooled copper wire from a car alternator. As Matt and Sgt. Mueller approached the IED, it was detonated, creating a blast that hit them both. Jumping into action, their Section Sergeant and Medic began work to save their lives and stabilize them for transport. Matt had taken most of the damage to his legs, but during the blast his rifle exploded leaving him with injuries to his forearm as well.
While the helicopter came to medevac Matt out of harm’s way, they were unable to land the first time, prolonging what Matt said had already felt like an eternity. It was not until his unit gained superior gun fire over the insurgents that the helicopter was finally able to land. Matt recalls every detail of this day until he was medevacked to safety. Once in the helicopter he blacked out.
Waking up in a hospital bed in Landstuhl, Germany twenty-two hours later, Matt found himself on the road to recovery after the talented medical professionals treated him for soft tissue wounds, infection, a broken femur, and multiple shrapnel injuries. After flatlining twice, he fought for his life, enduring surgeries to repair the damage wrought by the blast. After stabilizing, Matt was transferred to the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in Fort Sam Houston, Texas where he spent the next 36 days recovering. Matt had a hole in the back of his left leg from a larger chunk of shrapnel that