Always one to push himself, Orion Orellana was ready for any challenge.
That habit drove his mother crazy, especially when he enlisted in the Air Force right out of Mount Si High School, and progressed from one demanding program to another.
It also likely saved his life earlier this month, when he was attacked in Afghanistan while on a patrol with his unit of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Although he was severely injured when a rocket-propelled grenade shot inside his armored vehicle through a gun port and exploded, Orion was able to respond to the situation, call for backup, and direct one of his companions to put a tourniquet on his ravaged left leg.
He decided then that he was going to live, he later told his mom, but in language more forceful than should be reproduced on the page.
Carla Orellana laughed as she recalled that conversation with her son, but tears were always close at hand as she told the Record by phone what happened, and what would happen next. “They were on a mission. He told me they were getting chatter on the radio, so he knew the enemy was nearby. They were calling in for air support when they were hit,” Carla said.
Orion lost two fingers on his left hand in the explosion, and the extent of the injuries to his left leg is still unclear, after emergency surgery in Afghanistan and another two days in a German hospital base.
Carla knows he has a long and difficult recovery ahead, but the important thing is “He’s stable. He’s alive. I just talked to him last night (Wednesday, Nov. 16), and he sounded good, and strong. She knows Orion will conquer this challenge as he has all others, because of “his spirit, his strength, his will to survive. And to be able to call out commands like that after he’d been badly, badly hurt. I’m just so proud of him for not giving up.”
Orion, a 2007 graduate of Mount Si, is in his fourth year of a six-year commitment to the Air Force. He was stationed out of Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, on his third overseas deployment. He’d previously been to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Carla had been the director of the Veils of the Nile dance company, but she’d just moved to Hawaii from North Bend on November 13, with her boyfriend, Dwight Bunn. Three days later, she got the phone call from the Air Force informing her of Orion’s injuries and current condition.
“It’s a nightmare‚ to get that call,” she said.
However, she is grateful to the Air Force, saying they’ve really “stepped up,” keeping her informed with updates about every four hours. She said the Air Force has also offered to fly her to Orion’s hospital when he returns to the U.S. this week. He might end up on Oahu, or in Texas, depending on the extent of the damage to his leg.
Also, she said, “They’re trying to prepare me for what I might see. I don’t know what he’s going to look like, if he’s been burned or how bad his leg is, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what he looks like.”
Carla has been leaning heavily on Dwight throughout this ordeal, saying “He is my rock, and Orion is much more relieved that Dwight is here at my side.”
She and her son have also been getting support from their former neighbors and friends, and despite not knowing what the future holds for her son, Carla said it’s been a real comfort. “I really want everyone to know that the love and healing circle of energy that all my friends in North Bend have given to me and Orion at this time has helped,” she said. “I want to let them know that Orion’s doing so much better because of that, and so am I.”
Members of the Renton-Pickering American Legion Post in Snoqualmie were assembling care packages last week for a group of Marines, and a special one for Orion, loaded with spicy foods, his favorites.
They are also accepting cards for the Orellana family, which can be mailed to Pam Collingwood, 41512 SE 131st Street, North Bend WA, or e-mailed to pam.collingwood@centurytel.net.
