By Pfc. Monica K. Smith
3rd Combat Aviation Brigade
CAMP STRIKER — They call him “Tiny”, and as with many nicknames, “Tiny” inaccurately describes Sgt. Jared Squires’ stature. At six foot five inches, Squires, a crew chief with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, more than snugly fits into the space allocated for crew chiefs in the Black Hawks he flies in. Squires, from Los Lunas, N.M., doesn’t mind his nickname, he’s just happy to be flying again.
In July, 2006, Squires learned he had a problem that was less than tiny - he was diagnosed with skin cancer. The Army surgeon estimated Squires would have six years to live.
“When I first found out, I went to the doctor’s office and my wife went with me,” Squires said. “The doctor came and said, ‘I’m sorry to let you know you have malignant melanoma’. I thought ‘I’ve got two kids. I’ve got my wife.’ To put a timeline on my life … I wanted to do everything I could right away because in six years, I might not be there for my boys.”
Squires began a series of surgeries and positron emission tomography (PET) scans, used to detect cancer and the effects of cancer therapy, at Low Country Cancer Care in Savannah, Ga. However, the cancer spread to the lymph nodes in his left arm. They removed the lymph nodes but his body couldn’t produce the skin needed to heal his wounds. The fourth surgery was a skin graft to help close the wound, which Squires said was “by far the most painful thing I’ve ever been through in my life.”
Squires said his inability to fly was one of the worst facets of his illness.
“I was grounded and couldn’t fly after my first surgery,” Squires said.
Once Squires completely healed from his surgeries, he began taking interferon, a protein made as a drug to stimulate the body’s immune system to fight off some types of cancer. At the end of August, Squires began a daily, four-hour long treatment for 30 days which required him to be hooked up to an IV.
“The first day of treatment I could barely walk out on my own strength,” Squires said. “I almost had to be carried out.”
Squires had 11 months of self-injection of interferon, three times a week. Though he didn’t lose his hair, it did begin to thin out. His days consisted of two activities: treatments and sleeping because his treatments left him exhausted.
“My company’s (family readiness group) stepped up big time,” Squires said. “For two weeks they came to my house and dropped off meals because my wife was busy taking care of me. It was a life saver. It really helped.”
Sgt. Thomas Lacroix, was one of those who stepped up to help the Squires family. A member of Co. A, 2-3rd Avn. Regt., Lacroix has known Squires for seven years. The two met in advanced individual training, served a tour in Korea and then again with the CAB.
“(I) felt pretty bad for him,” said Lacroix, from Keene, N.H. “I knew his family, his wife, two kids - I tried to do everything I could to help his family out – there wasn’t much anyone could really do for him.”
As the Combat Aviation Brigade prepared to deploy to Iraq, Squires was taken out of Co. A, 2-3rd Avn. Regt., and sent to the CAB rear detachment because he was non-deployable.
While on rear detachment, Squires worked with incoming Soldiers who were deploying while continuing with his treatments. He finished his treatments at the end of October and was cleared to fly. However, Squires was not content with simply being able to fly – he wanted to deploy.
“I had the opportunity to stay in rear detachment and I chose not to,” Squires said. “I told them ‘no, I want to go.’ It took a lot of me, from my side, to get them to say, ‘hey, yeah, you’re good to go.’ They tried to med-board me and I had to get my oncologist to say, ‘he’s fine.’ They thought I was crazy. My wife knew I wanted to go and that I missed the guys. I missed my friends, we’ve been together so long – they’re my family.”
After Squires obtained all the letters he needed from dermatologists and from his oncologist stating he was rid of cancer and capable of deploying, he was on the first plane to Iraq.
“I know it was a big morale boost to have him come out and join the team again,” Lacroix said. “It was pretty rough deploying without him. There was a big void in the company.”
For the rest of Squires’ life, he must have routine PET scans and visit a dermatologist every six to nine months. In addition he must take active measures to prevent cancer from reoccurring.
“I have a 75 percent chance of it coming back,” Squires said. “But skin cancer is preventable. It’s not like breast cancer. It’s not passed down for generations. There’s a chance it will come back, but if I take the preventative steps it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lacroix says the company is glad to have Squires back and that his returning was expected.
“That’s what he wanted and he showed he could do it,” Lacroix said. “He got better and beat it. He’s a true leader. He had the option of staying home and dodging a deployment but he chose to come out here. The younger guys look up to that.”
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