Scotty Hastings vividly remembers the day in 2011 when a fighter in Afghanistan suddenly shot him at close range. He also remembers all the people who helped him, from the moment he was injured to today, get back on his feet and started in a musical career.
"He shot me 10 times, five times in the shoulder, four times in the hip, and once in the thigh. People always ask me, the first thing people always ask me is, ‘Well, did you feel it?’ ‘Yes, yes.’ Whoever said, ‘You don't feel pain because your adrenaline kicks in,’ is 100% wrong.”
The burly Army veteran remembers the long trip to get medical care, going temporarily blind from blood loss, and the many, many people who worked to save his life and to keep him as comfortable as possible despite his 10 gunshot wounds.
First, his platoon made jokes as they evacuated him, including about how heavy he was.
“I'm six foot four, 240 pounds,” he said. “Like I'm not an easy person to carry on a stretcher. And they almost dropped me once, which was hilarious. And I would never let them forget that, ever.... it's still something we laugh about and they're like, 'Man, you're huge.’ Like, I don't know what you expected.”
At the Kandahar Airfield Hospital, Scotty remembers soldiers working to replace his missing blood, rehydrate him, and assess his traumas. And then someone whispered in his ear. He distinctly remembers a woman’s voice comforting him and telling him that he could let go, that he was safe, but he was later told that only men were working on him that day.
“I don't know what that is or who that was, but it was incredible,” he said. “And I remember just, I still get chills to this day thinking about that. And I remember how like when she said, ‘Hey, you can go ahead and let go. Like, we got you. We got you.’ I remember how like at ease I felt and just going to sleep.”
Scotty had a long road ahead of him, and he remembers how the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Fisher House supported his family as they supported him.
"When I was there, that's where my family met me. My wife at the time, my mom, my dad, my brother, they all met me there. And the most incredible part of all of it was that they didn't have to worry about how they were gonna afford to stay somewhere because Fisher House had them covered, which was incredible and such a life changer.”
Scotty initially turned to archery as part of his rehabilitation, but COVID stopped a lot of his practicing in 2020, and so he turned to guitar, something which has quickly turned into a career. He released his first single in 2021 and albums in 2024 and 2025.
As his career grows, he remains thankful for the time his family was able to spend in Fisher House as he healed.
“I’m kind of a child of Fisher House, at this point,” he said. “So they’ll always be a part of my life.”
