Chuck at From My Position ... has been injured by an IED, according to his wife Carren. He is stable, apparently at Landstuhl by now, and expected home in a week or so.
Go visit to let him know we are thinking of him and Carren, keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
UPDATE 1
Another Milblogger fills in some first hand details on the incident above. From Phil of Phil and Becky comes this report :
Routine but dangerous
We took a casualty this morning. A soldier in one of our line companies sustained some shrapnel wounds from an IED strike that occurred while he was on a patrol.
The mission was routine enough -- route clearance of one of the major routes in our area of operations. We do multiple missions of this kind every single day. The patrol stopped at an Iraqi Army checkpoint and made contact with a civilian who said that he knew where an IED was placed and would led us to it.
He was right about an IED being emplaced in the vicinity but apparently didn't know exactly where it was because it detonated while he was leading our soldiers there. One soldier sustained shrapnel wounds and so did our civilian informant friend.
That soldier, of course, was Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss. There's more to Phil's story ... please go read the details.
By the way - this little tidbit from his wife's post made me laugh and appreciate Chuck's spirit ...
(He) did not lose his humor in all of this mess... I was told the first thing he asked when he was pulled from the canal (the blast blew him into a canal) was: "Be honest with me, guys. Do I still have my face and my 'package'?"
UPDATE 2
Carren Ziegenfuss has an update on Chuck's condition, which is still serious after at least one surgery :
1. He has severe nerve damage in his left hand and has lost his left pinky (all of it). It will be a long recovery for his hand due to the nerve damage.
2. His right thumb is pretty messed up and the docs are not sure how much he will lose or keep... he may be okay and keep his thumb, we just don't know yet.
3. ALL of his internal organs are okay. One of his lungs is bruised, but not damaged.
4. His brain, spine, and neck are all okay... paralysis is not an issue.
5. He has no muscle damage in his legs or arms, but his right thigh has been damaged.
6. His face was "peppered" by shrapnel. He has a cut on his right cheek, which has been stitched up.
Keep your positive thoughts headed their way - it all helps!
By the way, if you need to educate people who think we should yank the military forces out of Iraq immediately, she has a simple explanation ...
For those who may be thinking, "We just need to bring all the troops home and forget this war," let me tell a quick story.
As you know I told Creighton that his daddy was hurt and that he will be okay and coming home soon. One of the questions he asked was, "Why did Daddy have to go so far away to get the bad guys?" I said, "Daddy had to go far away to fight the bad guys so we are safe here in the US. We don't want the bad guys to be here in our country, so brave men and women like Daddy go far away to make sure that never happens." (A side note... a 5 year old is too young to understand that bad guys are here in the US and managed to do some serious damage on 9/11).
If a 5-year old can understand it, then it should be easy to explain to an adult. |
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