Brian Eisch and Isaac Eisch/Brian Eisch and Maria Eisch
Brian Eisch has suffered serious loss. Sargent First Class Eisch was badly wounded by machine gunfire during an Army deployment to northern Afghanistan, and returned home to lose his son, Joey Eisch, in a tragic accident.
SFC Brian Eisch was a single father to his two young sons, Joey and Isaac, when he was deployed to Afghanistan and injured. Now, Isaac Eisch is in the U.S. Army and Brian Eisch is living in Wisconsin with his new wife, Maria. In 2020, Eisch is memorializing his son, Joey, through an annual youth wrestling tournament.
“Father Soldier Son” is a New York Times documentary that debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was released on Netflix Friday, July 17, 2020. The documentary follows Eisch and his family for 10 years. The New York Times highlighted the single dad in a 2010 article, “Families Bear Brunt of Deployment Strains.”
Here’s what you need to know:
SFC Brian Eisch Had His Leg Amputated 4 Years After He Was Injured by Machine Gun Fire in Afghanistan
Father Soldier Son
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Directed by Leslye Davis, Catrin Einhorn- When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his …
Brian Eisch had seven surgeries before he had his leg amputated. Sgt. 1st Class Brian Eisch was involved with Afghan police officers in a major offensive into a Taliban stronghold south of Kunduz city when he saw a rocket-propelled grenade explode into a group of police officers. The officers scattered except one man, who was left writhing in pain in the field. Eisch ordered his medic to move their armored truck to block the injured man from gunfire, and got out, according to The New York Times.
“I just reacted,” he told The New York Times. “I seen a guy hurt and nobody was helping him, so I went out there.”
He was applying tourniquets to the injured officer when he heard machine gunfire and felt “a chainsaw ripping through my legs,” he said. He was hit twice in the left leg and once in the right leg.
He crawled back to the truck, tightened his own tourniquets and was evacuated by a helicopter.
Eisch had a series of surgeries, and eventually had his leg amputated four years after his injury, he told Bassmaster.
“On the seventh surgery, they took it off,” he said.
Brian Eisch Is Remarried, Retired from the U.S. Army & Is a Bass Fisherman While His Son Isaac Joined the Army
For 10 years, @CatrinEinhorn and @LeslyeDavis chronicled the cost of combat for Master Sgt. Brian Eisch and his 2 young sons.
“Father Soldier Son” shows how one generation’s service affects the lives of the next. Stream it on Netflix today. t.co/R5SmNhGdDK
In 2020, Brian Eisch is living with his wife, Maria Eisch, and their young son, Jaxon. Brian and Maria Eisch were married May 30, 2015. He called Maria his “angel” in a 2015 interview with Bassmaster.
“She is amazing, she fully supports my passion of tournament fishing. She packs my lunch, we camp out for the tournaments and she is at the docks waiting for me at every event,” he said.
Eisch uses bass fishing as a form of therapy and a hobby to cope with the loss of his son. Today, Eisch is living back in Wisconsin with his wife and Jaxon, and participates in fishing tournaments.
Eisch was retired from the U.S. Army in 2012.
Now, Brian Eisch’s son, Isaac Eisch, is following in his dad’s footsteps and joined the U.S. Army.
Today, Brian Eisch uses a prosthetic leg, which helps his mobility.
“Got home late last night and so happy with this leg,” he wrote on Facebook. “Loving it.”
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