A Blind Army Officer's Challenging Vision

(CBS)  American combat operations in Iraq drew to a close this past week, seven years and five months after we first committed our forces to topple the government of Saddam Hussein. Operation Iraqi Freedom claimed more than 4,400 American lives and wounded another 32,000. Behind every one of those numbers is a story, and some of those stories are above and beyond . . . like the one our Tracy Smith will tell in our Cover Story:


At West Point, the motto is "Duty, honor, country." And few cadets ever took that more seriously than Scott Smiley.

Known as Scotty to friends and family, he was a straight-arrow - a leader among leaders with a promising future, and a high-school sweetheart he adored: Tiffany Elliott.

"You talk about beauty on the inside, but you also describe her as just as pretty as any magazine cover?" Smith asked Smiley.

"Oh, she's hot!" he laughed.

Scott Smiley graduated in 2003, just after the start of the Iraq War, and by December he and Tiffany were married.

"Could you have pictured - standing there, saying your vows - how your life would unfold?' Smith asked.

"Not at all, not at all," Tiffany Smiley said. "I mean, we thought we kinda had it figured out. And it was almost, like, everything was so perfect."

By the Spring of 2005, Scotty Smiley was a platoon leader in northern Iraq, in an area where car bombs were becoming more common and lethal.

For Smiley, the duty was tough, but the mission, in his mind, was sound.

"Every day that I woke up, despite me not getting any sleep for the last 24 or 48 hours, meant that I was doing something productive, meant that I was making a positive difference in not only another country's life, but my own country's life," he said. "That I was protecting my wife back home, my family, my parents, my brothers and sisters. That the impact that I was continually making was making a difference."

And so one April day smiley didn't flinch when his platoon rolled up on a nervous-looking man driving a suspicious-looking car.

"I yelled at him to get out of his car, and he looked at me," Smiley said. "He faced me, raised his hands up like, 'I'm, nothing's wrong.' And, you know, in my mind I think, it was like, 'Okay, great. Like, I'm glad that nothing's wrong,' but he still wasn't moving or doing anything.

"[I] yell at him again. He raised his hands up like nothing's wrong, then began pulling forward, kind of pulling away from me."

"So, the last thing you remember is, what?" Smith asked.

"The last thing I remember is seeing that man's face, and his hands in the air," Smiley said. "In all honesty, that's the last thing that I remember seeing in my life."

At that moment, the driver set off a massive bomb, sending shards of metal through Scotty Smiley's eyes, and into his brain.

Close to death, Smiley was quickly stabilized and put aboard a life-saving airlift.

When he woke up two weeks later at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., he was surrounded by family he could hear but not see. The doctors said he was partially paralyzed . . . and totally blind.

"In my mind, my life was over," Smiley said. "I had, in my opinion, no reason to live. I couldn't see. I couldn't walk. There was, in my mind, no purpose to live. And unfortunately, at that time, I didn't trust in God. I didn't trust in my wife. I know, unfortunately, the beautiful woman that I married, I was not nice to."

Smiley says his spirit was crushed. When he was awarded the Purple Heart, he cried through the entire ceremony.

"The ophthalmologist who had worked eight hours on my right eye the day before came in and told me that I would never be able to see again," Smiley recalled. "I cried for about an hour."

It seemed that there was no place for a blind soldier to go but out of the Army. But somewhere deep inside Scotty Smiley, the despair gave way to determination.

"I said, 'You know what? I'm gettin' out of bed. I'm not gonna be an individual who just squanders my life away because of what has been given to me. I'm gonna make a step forward."

Instead of accepting medical retirement, Smiley decided he'd fight to stay in uniform. He sought the advice of a family friend, Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, now the head of the Army Corps of Engineers.

"Our hope and prayer all along was that Scotty could continue to serve and be productive," said Lt. Gen Van Antwerp. "He had no intention of wanting to get out. From day one, as soon as he could speak to us, he said 'I want to stay in. There's a place for me.' And we were holding fast to that."

After grueling physical therapy to get back in fighting trim, Smiley began an all-out campaign to convince his superiors that he could still contribute, blind or not.

He went back to West Point and taught leadership classes to cadets, then got himself into Duke University's prestigious business school, where he graduated with an MBA.

And earlier this year, Scott Smiley took command of West Point's Warrior Transition Unit . . . as the Army's first blind active-duty officer.

Now, it's Smiley's job to lead by example: helping other wounded or ailing war veterans fight their own battles to stay on active duty, or transition to civilian life.

"He's the old Scotty," said Van Antwerp. "He doesn't see through his eyes, but he sees in a lot of different ways."

Smiley's readiness to accept a challenge has become a habit. Last month, he took part in the West Point triathlon, running most of it lashed to his buddy, Captain Jeff Pickler.

And in the years since his injury, he's summited Mount Rainier, surfed solo in Hawaii, skied down a mountain, and jumped out of a plane.

His blindness hasn't stopped him, or even slowed him down.

"You could say that God spared him once - why push it?" Smith asked.
"Right!" said Tiffany Smiley. "But then I'm like, it's still life. You only have one life to live. So I'm gonna let him live it. And I know he wouldn't be a very fun man to live with if I kept him from those things."

In a book out later this month from Simon & Schuster, a CBS company, Scotty Smiley says he's found ways to compensate in other areas of his life as well, like in the delivery room when his first child was born.

"We didn't know what we were having, and so no one in the room knew," Tiffany said. "The doctor just took Scotty's hand and rubbed it in between Grady's legs. And so Scotty was the first person to know what we had."

"So, Scotty, you got to say #0151;"

"'It's a boy!'" Scotty said.

There are TWO boys now, three-year-old Grady and one-year-old Graham.

"You do have a beautiful family," Smith said. "And I know when people tell you that, it's a compliment . . . and it also stings."

"It does," Scotty said. "I mean, it's so rewarding to know that, one, it's phenomenal to have a beautiful wife. And it's amazing that people recognize her to be beautiful. It's amazing to know that my children are absolutely gorgeous.

"But it does hurt. It hurts me very badly to know that I'll never be able to see my wife again. It crushes me to know that I'll never be able to see my children. It's hard . . . like when my sons were born, it was very difficult to know that I'm never gonna be able to see you."

Scott Smiley says he spent a lot of time wondering Why me? But these days, he'd rather focus on the road ahead.

"You said that when you initially woke up, that you saw yourself as a failure," Smith said. "You don't see yourself as a failure now?"

"Ah, there's always room to improve, though!" Scotty laughed.

He's been called a hero more than once. But Scotty Smiley sees himself as any other Army officer: someone who fought through adversity with his faith intact, and with his goals clearly in sight.


For more info:
"Hope Unseen" by Scotty Smiley with Doug Crandall (Simon & Schuster)

[mike 901]

His story is interesting, but stupid. None for me thanks.

[dadfive]

Mike 901 Your reply is interesting. I'm wondering how you could read this story and not be inspired and/or touched emotionally by Scotty's courage in dealing with his and his family's suffering. He is a man who sees through his heart, mind and soul. He offers Hope to others lives through his own faith and perseverance. Unfortunately, you've revealed yourself as the one who is really blind, and yet you have both of your eyes to see with.

[ohioweaver]

If I could, I would hug this guy unless his wife would not allow that, but since I became 75 last month, maybe she would? But I have a question: on his left should/arm, WHY is the US flag reversed? It's backwards as if you are looking on the wrong sied of the flag! The blue field is supposed to be in the left hand corner and the stripes to the right! And I have seen this before on other pictures of soldiers. WHY are they sewn on like that?

[pmacf]

All American Flag patches are like that on service members' uniforms. I've been told it's to evoke the image of a foward moving flag (imagine a flag trailing backwards in the wind as it moves foward).

[dossman69]

The flag is not reversed. The Flag is placed on the right side because it is the place of honor in the military. When walking with someone senior, they always walk on the right. The reason why it looks backward is because the blue field and star(the states) always lead. Imagine you are looking at it from the other side.

[atadvocate]

Captain Smiley...we wish for you and all veterans, especially those with disabilities all good things. Thank you for your courage, your sacrifices and your service. Here's hoping you will find any resource that will make your life more complete, such as Bookshare, the online accessible library for persons who are blind.

[barbaram99]

Ye ask what would I do after the towers fell in NY. I cried. Real tears. I just sat there and cried. I member that day as it was so quiet every where I went. I still have the Flag in a vase I put up that day and never took down. I woke my roommate up and told him to come in my room and see the TV. I have seen the towers from a hound wondow when we were traveling in the 80s. They were just lovely the way the the sun lit them up. When they fell I just cried. I am in Seattle.

[barbaram99]

My late father was a Vet and I live with a Vet. I know the blind world better than the fully sighted. I read his story and I can understatnd the pain of blindness. In America, our leaders send men and women in to war. That man came home blind..Sightless. His world changed forever. The sighted can't come to terms to that. I can. I thank him for service to Nation. I was born blind. So CBS can't even put my post I first wrote. In America..We have freedom of the press and that means we have a right to our say.

[rafaeldrc]

If you were to speak to an old German soldier that had fought from the start to the end of WW II about the truth of war and their experiences, I think they would say it was wonderful while they were winning. It was grand while they saw the enemy collapse before their mighty weapons. They would admit being petrified in battle but the welcome home made it seem honorable.

But loosing a war is not so wonderful. Coming home to where nothing stands changes the experience.

Americans still glorify war as though it is something that takes place somewhere else. If it were our buildings, homes and factories being bombed, our people displaced and starving, Americans fighting other Americans for basic bits of food for survival... If you had to live that experience, you wouldn't glorify war nor soldiers. Read the comments of our Civil War soldiers about the truth of war. It couldn't have been bloodier. Go to the Balkans and spend a week there, even though the war has been over for 15 years, see how it has affected those living there. And if you are sensitive, see how it affects you.

War serves no purpose. Neither do soldiers. It's one thing to be attacked, it's another to be the aggressor. A true defensive force is understandable (like Sweden, Switzerland or China) but a military in constant battle and always seeking an excuse to engage is of no use to mankind. My freedoms should not be predicated at the loss of others freedom, and certainly not at the cost of their lives.

The problem is Americans think they are better than others, much like whites consider themselves better than blacks. Being better means others must submit. But neither the North Koreans, North Vietnamese, Cubans nor the Taliban will submit. Our Military needs to vanquish to feel superior and justify their existence. And so the crime against the Afghan people continues. A twisted military mentality, locked in full embrace of war not wanting to yield to anything but victory. Dead soldiers are but a statistic for tomorrows historians. War is the recursive stupidity of politicians and pseudo-intellectuals that start them, and societies that go along and pay the ultimate price.

But what is victory? If it were a war where your family members and friends were killed and maimed, your home, city and countryside destroyed, you'd know the full, disgusting taste of war. And neither you nor our soldiers would be glorifying the stupidity of war. Rebuilding and remorse for loved ones lost is a bitter form of victory.

There is nothing honorable about war nor should one honor those who willingly participate, particularly, mercenaries (Xe, AKA: Blackwater).

Strange how the military has corrupted itself and expects us all to go along with the charade.

[IBBuckshot]

But, Let me ask one question of you the peacemaker. The question is: What would you have done after the bombings of the towers?

[kickerofelves]

Some rather simplistic & naive commentary about war by someone whose knowledge of history or even the military is incomplete [the military has 'corrupted' itself?]. You're a silly person.

Military don't vanquish enemy forces to justify their existence. It's incredibly simple-minded to think so. They do so as part of a process to eliminate belligerents after they (the military) are given a goal to achieve by the civilian leadership. If you're tasked with going to war eliminating the opposition--or at least it's will to fight--is how you generally win them.

Never, not once, not even remotely did I ever encounter at the higher leadership levels while in Iraq any semblance of an attitude that we needed to do x, y or z in order to 'justify' our existence as a military.

Your lack of knowledge is self-evident in the fact that the current counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan contains a large element of winning over the civilian populace and even Taliban to co-opt them into a peace process. People still die of course but it's a war not a freakin' picnic. But don't let a little thing like the actual truth get in the way of your rant.

Sorry but I do respect the sailors, soldiers and Marines who fought in WWII and liberated concentration camps much [to your disgust I'm sure]. I respect the Union armies who fought the Confederacy. A lot of abolitionists--among others--fought and died for principle in the Union Army. I'll celebrate their victories thank you.

Frankly I thought the Germans living in rubble after WWII got what they deserved for supporting a Nazi regime. Most Germans knew what they were doing and just as many non-party members in the Wehrmacht or lesser-known police battalions shot civilians like their SS brethren.

I'm rather glad that the Austrians stopped the Ottomans at the Seige of Vienna, that Union troops stopped Lee at Gettysburg, that the US Navy won at Midway, the Russians stopped the Germans cold at Stalingrad or the allies landed at Normandy. The only glory I see in any of it are men who put sacrificed their lives for a cause bigger than themselves.

I think there is a difference between the soldier who died on Omaha beach and the Wehrmacht troops who put down the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. Pity you don't.

The unfortunate truth is that war is not useless, in fact it's an extremely effective way of getting your point across and that's why it still occurs. The alternatives aren't entirely effective or acceptable and societies are willing to put up with the risk of disaster to either defend themselves or settle some sort of score. An often terrible commentary on humanity? At times certainly.

Having said that this article is about how one man confronts the issues of a traumatic life-changing injury he received and continues on with his life. You missed that part.

[mike 901]

He did choose it, and took the pay check. Looks like he still gets one .

[clumpkin65]

So long as young men and women like this are serving our country, we will remain safe and free. It is inspiring and humbling to read about such incredible courage, loyalty and devotion to duty.

[mike 901]

you gotta be sh#tt#n me. safe and free ---- Chumpkin-- I do do pity the kid. Even if these are paid fighters.

[amadeo123]

I don't know how this blind kid will find the weapons of mass destruction now...... what a wasted life and youth. The sad part is that they didn't make any difference.

[rafaeldrc]

Soldiers are not heroes. They are that militaristic human continuum that thinks their subsection of humanity is better than the rest, to the point that, murder is justifiable. The 'subsection of humanity' is nationality.

To my thinking, murder is murder. And if one wants to join that ancient human continuum, the military, let it be known that you don't represent me nor my interest. If harm should befall you, it was your choice. The defender got you, before you got them.

[democracy5]

rafaeldrc: Although I am probably as liberal as they come and I was (and still am) completely against the war in Iraq from the get-go, I find your comments against our troops to be absolutely despicable.

You are entitled to express your beliefs, but I am also entitled to express mine and I have to say, "Shame on you"!!!

[IBBuckshot]

rafeldrc, I wonder if you are in the USA as a permanent resident? Maybe you are a citizen? Maybe you are a third or fourth generation? Any way you might honor the military personel because they are the reason we are a free nation. I am offended that anyone would disparage a military person unless they think our current generation sons and daughters and our ancestors who fought and died for our freedom were without courage and belief in the principles of freedom. It is a gracious gift from God that we have these people with backbone to stand up for what is right even if it protects spineless citizens.