Heros

Sorry I've not been on here folks. I've been down for 6 days with pneumonia. I go to the hospital tomorrow to be poked and prodded. I did want to share with you something from a blog I follow. The link to her blog is above the blog entry I cut and pasted from her blog. She is the wife of Sgt. Best who is written about. I pray that SPC Zimmerman will heal quickly from his injuries and hats of to Sgt Best , Pvt. Wilson , Sgt Kerksick and to all of our heros who put their lives on the line everyday for our freedom.

http://mytwoarmybrats.blogspot.com/
22 MARCH 2009

Words of a Hero
I hadn't mentioned it before but since it's all over the newspapers apparently it's ok for me to post. Kirke's platoon was hit a month ago. We got the call at 7pm Feb. 19th and were told it was our platoon but the only wounded soldier was SPC Zimmerman. At that time I didn't know where Kirke was at in all of the mess and how it had affected him emotionally. I didn't hear from him for nearly 24 hours from when I got the call. He told me what little bit he could share at that time. He was in the vehicle behind the one that got hit and he, along with two other soldiers were instrumental in saving this young soldier.


WORDS OF A HERO

What Happened to Me in Iraq
by Daniel Zimmerman

I’ve read the newspapers and I just wanted to clear up some of the stuff, but here it is:

Feb. 19, 2009, my maintenance/recovery team and I were out in support of a 3 week long mission. Which means we were off of our normal FOB and traveling to other FOBs when needed. One of the engineer groups we were supporting had a mine detonation trailer that was blown up, so we went to another FOB to pick up and new set for them to continue their mission.

On our way back to deliver the equipment, we had to stop at a check point to let our other platoon go through (Iraqi roads are small). So once they had passed, we proceeded through and I was the second vehicle in the convoy.I just happened to look out my window while I was driving and at that moment was when I got hit.I watched the explosion, and the shock from it shook my truck and opened my door at the same time. I saw my weapon, an M249, jump about a foot from where I had it positioned.Without even thinking, I slammed my door shut, but at that time it was too late.There was silence in my truck except for the air pressure alarm buzzing. I knew I had been hit, but I didn’t know how bad it was. All I could do was hold my leg as tight as I could, until my fellow soldiers cleared the area so it would be safe for me to get out.I had one other person in my truck (he is also from Missouri), and he called up on the radio that we had been hit and that we were all good, but he didn’t realize that I had been hit.When I told him that I wasn’t good, he asked how I knew. I said, “Can’t you see the blood pouring out of my boots?”So he called back up and gave the report. At that time it was clear they needed to get me out of the truck safely, so he and Pvt. Wilson helped me out the passenger side and performed our combat life saver (CLS) techniques. They had placed the tourniquet above my knee. If it would have been placed below my knee, I would have bled out and probably wouldn’t be here today. So I owe my life to Pvt. Wilson, Spc. Kerksick and Sgt. Best.

About 20 minutes later I was on a chopper on my way back to Balad, Iraq (also where I was stationed). That is where there was a vascular surgeon who saved my leg. Without him it would have been amputated.They also replaced 6 units of blood when I got there, and another two units after surgery because I was still bleeding a little.

After they got me stable, I had many people from my unit and brigade there to support me.I got a purple heart and three other coins. The purple heart meant the most to me. I will have it with me at all times, and I will never forget what happened and all my soldiers/friends who were there to support me. Soon after that they sent me to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on Feb. 22. That was more of a pit stop to make sure that I was stable enough to fly back to the States.On Feb. 22, I was flown from Germany to where I am currently, at Walter Reed in Washington D.C.

I have had 7 surgeries as of now, and I have one more left and that will be on Sunday or Monday. Sunday or Monday I will have a skin graph done to close up the two remaining holes in my left leg. After that I hope to be out of here and back home within two weeks or so.I will still have to do some therapy to get walking again. I had to use crutches for the first time today, March 13, that’s better than what I was doing a week ago. I do have nerve damage to my left foot to where I can’t feel the bottom of my foot or my big toe. I can barely move my ankle and can put little to no weight on it when I walk.It takes time and, but I’m stubborn so I’ll be walking with in no time.

One more thing—my truck took a lot of damage but didn’t flip over. It had blown all 10 of the tires on the truck, messed up the air system, had at least three or four holes in the gas tank and had hit the trailer I was hauling. That’s all I could see while I was getting fixed up.At no time did I loose consciousness. I was alert the whole time, but the pain never really set in. I was calm to the best of my abilities and helped the best I could to speed up the process of getting me out of there and to a hospital.Well I hope this clears the story up a little bit more.

Zimmerman is a former student from Licking High School.

If you would like to write Zimmerman, send correspondence to Spc. Daniel Zimmerman, 11192 Little Oaks Road, Rolla, MO 65401

I also wanted to add that this incident was the first for our platoon and I'm proud beyond words of how quickly they were able to act. The confidence I heard in my soldiers voice after they knew Zimmerman was going to be okay was incredible. It sucks that it happened and we pray for SPC Zimmerman and his family. I'll be so glad when he's done with surgeries and back here at the Fort. Our platoon now knows we can take a hit and are able to get it together and get through it.