Injured Tempe Marine looks forward to future

A Tempe Marine home for the holidays and healing from battle wounds met one of his own personal heroes at Sunday's Arizona Cardinals game.

Sgt. Aaron Cox, 25, attended McClintock and Tempe high schools and enlisted in the U.S. Marines following the 9/11 attacks. Cox saw two tours of duty in Iraq where he was involved in more combat situations than he can remember. In several incidents, explosive devices detonated so close to him that he sustained what may be permanent injuries.

Cox, visiting his parents Brad and Bev Cox at their central Tempe home, said that on his last tour in Iraq he was part of a "quick response force" that accompanied a bomb disposal unit that dismantled roadside explosive devices.

"We were going on as many as 13 calls a day, and the guys who set the bombs knew we were coming," he said. "When they'd fire on our explosives ordinance team, my men would take care of that . . . return fire."

On several occasions, it wasn't just rifle or machine gun fire Cox and the Marines he led had to deal with; insurgents would set off a second explosive device they had planted in the area.

"I was hit with explosions four times, and the concussive force of the shock wave of the explosion can be very great," Cox said. "I suffered several brain concussions and some facial scarring."

Cox said that while he knew he had sustained, "some damage," he didn't grasp just how much.

"On our base we had a laundry place where I'd gone a hundred times, and one day I was walking to drop off my laundry bag but somehow I walked to the chow hall and waited in that line and someone said 'You can't bring laundry to the chow hall,' and I didn't know where I was," he said. "I was messed up."

So messed up, as medical examinations revealed, Cox was sent to a military hospital in Germany and finally back to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, where he has been undergoing treatment for the past year. Now, judged unable to continue on active duty, he has just finished the process of being medically retired.

Cox will spend several more months in North Carolina, but plans to return to Tempe as soon as he can.

His parents can't wait. When Brad learned that Aaron would be home for Thanksgiving and knowing how much his son loves football, he made a call.

"I called the Arizona Cardinals and asked if they sometimes did something for returning soldiers, and soon was connected with Luis Zendejas who invited us to a game," Brad Cox said. "He couldn't have been nicer."

Former football great Zendejas, now director of community relations for the Cardinals, said, "the (team owner) Bidwills want to accommodate people who have been fighting in the war, and we're glad to have Aaron join us at the game. Matt Leinart wants to personally speak to Aaron."

Which is exactly what happened Sunday.

Zendejas met Aaron, his girlfriend Kathy Cook and Aaron's parents at the stadium and escorted them onto the field where they watched the team warm up. Just before the game started, Leinart trotted over to speak to Aaron.

"He didn't have much time, but he came and said hello and we shook hands," Aaron said. "The Cardinals are a very classy organization. It was great to meet Matt Leinart, then after the game we met a bunch of team members and coaches - they took time to speak with us and sign a football and a jersey for us - and were very friendly and nice."

Aaron said he's looking forward to completing business in North Carolina, "and moving home to Tempe."

"I'm going back to school, hoping to eventually open my own gym because I'm very interested in bodybuilding," Aaron said. "I've been injured but I'm getting better, and I'm not going to sit around and worry."

Marine Sgt. Aaron Cox watches the Cardinals warm up Sunday before the team's game against the Giants at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.