From ‘zero percent chance’ of survival to the 2026 Warrior Games: Maj. Jonathan Turnbull’s inspiring story

Retired U.S. Army Maj. Jonathan Turnbull has never been one to turn away from challenges. Near-fatal injuries suffered during a 2019 special forces, civil affairs operation in Syria has made the special operation forces warfighter even more determined to excel in his new challenge: the https://dodwarriorgames.com/about/ happening June 13–20 in San Antonio, Texas.

Turnbull’s strength of character has endured despite the injuries sustained during an attack Jan. 16, 2019, from a suicide bomber in Manbij, Syria. He and his cross-functional team were in the midst of 33 missions to undermine ISIS and strengthen local control.

A suicide bomber killed four of his team, wounded three others, and left then-Captain Turnbull close to death.

“I was probably 5 feet away” from the bomber, and “I was blown to the ground and actually shoved under my vehicle,” Turnbull recalled. “My right face was more or less totally removed.” He suffered severe trauma to his torso from shrapnel, numerous massive skull fractures, lost his right eye, and sustained severe damage to his left eye resulting in blindness. Two of his security men triaged the wounded, but they “initially just passed over me. They both thought I was dead,” said Turnbull.

‘Zero percent chance’ survival in race against time

During those critical days after the suicide bombing, doctors worried he had “zero percent chance” of survival, Turnbull said. He proved them all wrong.

Within 30 minutes of his team’s arrival at a local hospital they restored, the medevac helicopter arrived. “They did a cursory stopping of hemorrhaging to keep us alive,” Turnbull said.

The team was medevaced to another “rudimentary hospital” in Syria. There, a provider “took a look at my face and said, ‘Nope, if he stays here, he's going to die in the next 24 hours if we don't get him to a very sophisticated hospital.’"

The providers there did “very minimal treatment, just trying to plug [shrapnel] holes ... stop the outside from coming in” to prevent infection “and keep my insides from coming outside.”

Next, Turnbull and his remaining team were medevaced by airplane to Baghdad, Iraq. It was eight hours after the explosion. During the four-hour flight, Turnbull’s heart stopped, and a young medic performed CPR for the entire flight, he recalled.

At the U.S. military hospital in Baghdad, Turnbull received complex treatment. “I had a piece of shrapnel removed from my iliac artery by one of the lead vascular surgeons there, saving my life. Because if that would have come out, I would have died in five minutes.” The same doctor “was able to start putting my face back together.” He was then flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Samantha, his wife, immediately flew to Germany, where staff told her he'd likely be paralyzed on one side and might not remember much of anything. Turnbull had no skin or tissue on the right side of his face, and he had to have surgery to reduce intracranial pressure in his brain caused by traumatic brain injury.

Continued care through the Military Health System

He was next transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he spent nearly two years in recovery. Surgeries included putting a flap graft from his left quadricep onto what had been his right eye and face. The surgery took more than 13 hours because the surgeon had to connect individual blood vessels from the flap to the wounds.

After that, Turnbull was told he wouldn’t be able to walk without assistance for “about a year” or walk on his own “for at least two years.” He proved them wrong again by standing up immediately.

At four months post-surgery, having lost 110 pounds and been diagnosed with a bacterial infection, WRNMMC nutritionists put him on a high-protein diet, and he began physical therapy. Where once Turnbull had curled 50–75 pound dumbbells, he started out curling five pounds.

“I went from an alpha male, literally. You know, I would like to say red, white, and blue-blooded barrel-chested freedom fighter for America … to a literal shell of a man” who was “so depressed.”

WRNMMC provided Turnbull with mental health therapy for his severe depression. A man of faith, Turnbull often got his therapy through the chaplain. He noted the “most effective treatments of my depression were the people coming to help.”

The center has “some of the best doctors, and the care doesn't end when you leave,” Turnbull said. “That care team will follow you” and ask things of you that you can do or want to do, Turnbull said.

Turnbull also spent time in recovery at the Richmond VA Medical Center, Virginia, to evaluate his TBI. He had recurring vertigo and was given vestibular therapy for his balance.

He also was treated at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in its blind and low vision rehabilitation center. While in treatment, he became involved with adaptive sports through the U.S. Special Operations Command Warrior Care Program – Care Coalition. “I was plugged in,” he said, noting adaptive sports serves to “give you purpose.”

Turnbull, a graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was medically retired in November 2021, but greatly missed the military and its mission. “I wanted to defend freedom, protect the American way of life, and promote justice.”

He found another way to serve — sharing his story to inspire hope in others. Turnbull authored and published a book about his experience, “Zero Percent Chance,” and is taking up his next challenge: the 2026 Warrior Games.

Aiming for the Ultimate Championship

The Warrior Games, bringing together nearly 200 military service members and retirees to compete in adaptive sports, is Turnbull’s first full competition as a veteran. He’ll compete in the equivalent of the Olympics’ decathlon, called the Ultimate Championship — a punishing slate of eight every individual event. He plans on bringing Samantha and their three children to the games.

“I'm not back in the military, but I'm doing military things, and I'm paving the way for others,” he said.

For Turnbull, a nominee for the Medal of Honor, the competition means more than getting a medal — it’s an opportunity to show “you can still do everything you used to do.”

“Like the Warrior Games, we can find a way because that's what resilience means to me,” said Turnbull. “You look for the good moments. Don't focus on the bad. Keep your head up and push forward. Happiness is a choice.”