Cpl Aaron Mankin

U.S. Marine Cpl. Aaron P. Mankin, a 2000 graduate of Rogers High School, was riding atop the military transport vehicle when the 26-ton vehicle hit a mine that day. It was tossed straight up and slammed down on the hard sand road with its load of Marines, ammunition and other supplies.

Mankin remembers falling in through the hatch, watching as debris crashed around him, flames flared and the hatch closed above.  Emergency equipment in the vehicle apparently malfunctioned. Fire control devices didn’t go off and a rear ramp wouldn’t open.  Amid the chaos, Mankin found his way out. The 23-year-old rolled and rolled in the sand, stopping several times to see if he was still on fire.  When he couldn’t roll anymore, his fellow Marines came to his rescue.  He heard someone yell, “Put him out, put him out.”

They tell him the “airbirds” were there within seven minutes of the explosion. Mankin remembers being put on a cot and having to be moved several times as fire from the burning vehicle continued to set off ammunition. He could speak only in a whisper because of damage to his lungs. His legs weren’t hurt and he tried to get up, but those treating him wouldn’t let him.

Six Marines died and 18 were injured in that explosion.

Mankin’s upper body took the blow for him, burning his face, arms and hands and damaging his lungs.

A boy who has always set goals and timelines for those goals, Mankin isn’t stressed or disconcerted when asked about his plans for the future. Instead, his face is full of obvious wonder as he talks about the fact that he can walk.  Despite a future of as-yet-uncounted surgeries to rebuild his nose, mouth and ears and to repair damage to his hands and arms, Mankin talks of his amazement that he didn’t suffer any broken bones or lose a leg that could affect that future.

“From the start, I knew I’d get better,” he said. “I always knew that it was a part of God’s plan. God’s been very faithful to me even though I don’t deserve it.”

That faith was there from the start, his father, Steve Mankin, said.  He was at his son’s bedside in Texas as often as possible and has obviously never been more proud of him. His son’s courage and faith are things that Steve Mankin can’t speak of without tears welling in his eyes.

Aaron Mankin met Diana Kavanek, a fellow Marine, when he was her artillery trainer in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.  Kavanek of Virginia wasn’t the most outstanding of the recruits, but she stood out for Mankin.  It may have been the fact that she “dropped everything” she handled that caught his attention, he said.

The day she first saw him in the Texas hospital, Mankin said he could see her discomfort.  He wrapped his arm around the bottom half of his face so she could see only his eyes.  She realized that he, the man she truely loved, was still there behind the burns.  They talked frankly about her feelings and his future.  Later during that visit, he proposed and she said yes.

Not only is Mankin committed to Diana, he also understands a deep commitment to his country that lets him say “in a heartbeat” he would go back.  Mankin plans to ask the military medical review board to allow him to return to duty after his recovery, although he knows that if he returns, it will likely be a different type of position.  If that doesn’t work out, he wants to finish his education and become a teacher.

Diana and Aaron now have a beautiful daughter, Madeline.