Radio host wounded in Iraq

By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter

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A Seattle radio talk-show host serving in Iraq with the National Guard escaped major injuries Thursday when an enemy-fired mortar round exploded 10 feet from him.

Second Lt. Bryan Suits — host of the Bryan Suits Show on KVI-AM (570) radio — "is the luckiest son of a gun I know," said KVI producer Travis Box. Box said Suits caught some shrapnel in his wrist and had a mild concussion from the blast; he is also suffering from short-term-memory loss and ringing in his ears, but doctors apparently told Suits his memory and hearing will return to normal.

Suits, who is with the Washington-based 81st Brigade, called into the station yesterday at 10 a.m. local time, telling his colleagues and listeners, "I feel like the Mariners beat me with their baseball bats — not this year's Mariners, the 2002 Mariners," Box said. Suits, 39, told listeners he will receive a Purple Heart medal and will stay in Iraq.

Suits, who is stationed at a military base outside Baghdad that he has referred to on-air as "Camp Cuervo," was assigned Thursday to accompany a major from the West Point Military Academy, Box said. The major was touring Iraq to gather information to help train new lieutenants in the states, he said.

The two men had just returned to the base and were heading inside for lunch when the mortar exploded, Box said. The major was injured by shrapnel to his hip, chest, neck and face; he, too, will receive a Purple Heart, Box said.

Since his deployment late last year, Suits has kept in regular touch with the station, providing live updates. The Iraqi war is Suits' third tour of duty with the National Guard; he previously served in the Gulf War and in Kosovo.

"He said he saw more action in the first month of his current mission than in the Gulf War and Kosovo combined," Box said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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