Army Sergeant Major Colin Rich

About Army Sergeant Major Colin Rich

Sergeant Major Colin Rich is retired and lives with his wife Nancy in North Carolina. Trained as an Army Ranger and Special Forces Delta for 22+ years and highly decorated, SGM Rich had deployed to numerous “Hot Spots” around the world before being shot in the head in Afghanistan in 2002. Being the second bullet to hit him in the head, SGM Rich was still very much in the fight and deployed to Iraq and again to Afghanistan before becoming medically retired. Since Colin has been with Operation Mend, he has received multiple treatments to help decrease the frequency of the seizures he experiences as a result of his injuries. Colin has also seen by our Orthopedic and eye specialist. Colin now enjoys collecting war memorabilia and spending time with his grandchildren.

“Because of my orthopedic care, I have better range of motion, zero pain, can’t over emphasize how much this has helped me. I can do a push up. I have full complete range of motion. I get a pop every now and then but that’s rare”.

One of the injuries, (my shoulder) was without a doubt the most painful one that I was living with since the mid-1990s. After being properly diagnosed and treated, my shoulder is virtually pain free, something that I didn’t think was possible.

I was a Sergeant Major in the United States Army and was severely injured in Afghanistan in 2002 and lost a significant amount of my vision after a penetrating brain injury.  I am a trained senior enlisted soldier (Special Forces / Ranger) with multiple deployments to “hot” spots throughout my career. I have had 3 procedures on my arms with Dr. Hame and Dr. Azari from the Operation Mend Program at UCLA and I am no longer in chronic pain.