SFC David Lau

U.S. Army

Georgia

David Lau joined the U.S. Army in 1992. He enlisted as a Cavalry Scout and was based at Mannheim, Germany. In 2003 he deployed to Kosovo as a Civil Affairs Team Noncommissioned Officer in Charge. On that deployment he met his future wife, Hamidé Lahaj.

In January 2005, Dave joined A co. 1/19th SFG attended SFAS, and was selected for further training. Training injuries delayed the attendance of the Qualification course, so SFC Lau contributed to A co 1/19 by running the pre-selection and Q course training program.

David deployed to northern Afghanistan in September 2011 with other members of 19th SFG on a Combat Advisor mission. In April 2012, David’s foot patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber. The device was large and well placed; every member of the patrol was either killed or seriously injured. David applied tourniquets to both of his legs to survive before rendering assistance to another injured team member.

Friendly Afghans, possibly confusing Dave Lau as a member of the Afghan National Security Forces, then loaded SFC Lau into a pickup truck and took him to the local Afghan hospital. After realizing that there were no other Americans around and with his radio and cell phone destroyed, SFC Lau communicated with the locals to load him up in a taxi and drive him the nearby Norwegian camp, where he met up with the rest of the injured and was began the triage and Medevac process.

David recovered at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.  He spent almost three years undergoing limb salvage and traumatic brain injury treatments.   His healing and recovery process would not have been possible without the presence of his wife and children; whose presence was a constant reminder of why he fought to stay alive. The Lau family currently lives in south east Georgia, where David continues to serve the nation as a counter terrorism instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.