Lewis-McChord soldier viciously beaten near bar in Tacoma

TACOMA, Wash. - A soldier is fighting for his life after an attack Friday at a bar left him in the hospital, unable to move, reports CBS affiliate KIRO.

Specialist Korry McClanahan, 25, and a fellow soldier, went to Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. in downtown Tacoma, Wash., to play pool Friday night. According to the station, the pair went outside to smoke around midnight when a group of six men, speaking in Russian, started picking a fight.

McClanahan's friend, who was not identified, told KIRO that neither of them wanted any part in a fight. He said that he and McClanahan tried to walk away when the group "bum rushed" them. McClanahan was reportedly punched in the face and knocked out, falling and slamming his head into the ground.

According to the station, his family says parts of his frontal and temporal lobes had to be removed because of damage from the assault.

The victim's friend said the assailants fled in a black Infiniti G35, model year 2005 or 2006, and he called 911. McClanahan has not spoken since the altercation.

"He doesn't look like my son right now," Lisa Senecal, McClanahan's mother, told KIRO from her son's hospital bedside. "[The doctors] don't know what the long-term affect is going to be." Senecal said her son - who has a 4-year-old boy of his own back in California - has opened his eyes but has been unable to respond to any commands. She said he does not seem to comprehend or react to anything going on around him.

McClanahan only arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Wash., a few weeks ago. The California native had previously been stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, according to KIRO.

Tacoma police told the station that an investigator is on the case but would not disclose further information. An employee at the Steel Creek bar said they are cooperating with police in the investigation while also saying the attack happened off their property.

"No mother, no father, no family should have to go through what our family is going through," Senecal told KIRO. "[The attackers] need to be caught.... If they aren't caught, they'll just do this to someone else."