Shilo
Harris
Author
Shilo joined the Army after 9/11 when he was 27 years old. He was a Calvary Scout in B Troop, 1st Squadron, 89th Calvary, 10th Mountain Division. One day while patrolling in Iraq, Shilo's Humvee was struck by an IED. Everything in the truck erupted. Three of his comrades died. Shilo suffered broken bones and severe third degree burns on 35% of his body. His helmet was torn from his head in the explosion and his ears were ripped from their sockets. Ammunition in the vehicle exploded and created a fire around Shilo. His body armor was on fire and melting his legs. He quickly looked around and realized he was in trouble. "I was disoriented and...strained to make sense of what was happening around me," says Shilo. He fought to get out of the burning vehicle. After Shilo was pulled from the wreckage, he had no idea how badly injured he was. Doctors medically induced him into a coma for 48 days and after he came out of the coma, Shilo was told his soldiers didn't make it. He cried for 3 days. "God met me at my point of need," he says. "No matter how helpless I felt, He planted in my heart a longing for Him." In his mourning period, Shilo says he realized he had to let go of the turmoil and give it to God. "I had to live."
After 5 months in the hospital, Shilo went home. It took 3 years of physical therapy to recover and over 50 surgeries (he has since undergone over 75 to date). Burn trauma is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome. It’s demanding, painful and every day is a fight. “I was a warrior in my mind even though my body wasn’t cooperating,” he says. Shilo didn't care what he looked like from the explosion; he just cared about functionality. The wounds inside him, however, were harder to heal. "I wish there was a magic potion that would make PTSD go away,” says Shilo. “But there is a healing map I will have to follow for the rest of my life.”
Part of his therapy includes sharing his story. Doctors and counsellors told Shilo all therapy involves telling your story over and over until it doesn't hurt anymore. "I think you gain a greater understanding of your reality," he says. The road to recovery for a wounded warrior and his family is paved with pain. Spiritual agony, physical suffering, mental anguish and emotional exhaustion. “There are questions you have for God,” says Shilo. “Hard, hard questions you can barely utter aloud, yet you’re screaming for answers.” Once when he was at a low point, his daughter Lizzie shared her good news in song: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong. Shilo said her sweet voice assured him. “I didn’t tell Elizabeth what she was too young to understand; I was the little one.”
Shilo, now 41, started to speak to other injured vets about his recovery process. Other opportunities kept cropping up in his life. “I know that these were not coincidences,” says Shilo. He educated himself about government programs that assisted vets in transitioning back to civilian life. On stage, Shilo was a dynamic speaker. Off stage, he admits he struggled with PTSD and survivor’s guilt. “At my weakest point, I doubted myself,” he says. “PTSD leaves you unable to define your own identity. If I was speaking in order to be inspirational to others, I felt like a hypocrite at the end of the day.” He says the most important thing for vets to do is to educate themselves about PTSD. What is it and what are the triggers? “I have bad days, but I know my triggers,” he says.
Today Shilo speaks all over the country. He gained some of his notreity because he was so upbeat. Speaking professionally was not something he sought out. He was invited to events, not always as a speaker but as a veteran ambassador. “My passion lies with sharing my faith. People always ask me why am I so happy, I say because I’m so blessed,” he says. “Even when I had bad days, I never lost faith in the Lord. I know there is a reason for this.”