Keeping it together...

It has been a while since my last post. I have been trying to deal with a call I got from Christopher two weeks ago tomorrow:

"Mom, I haven't been able to call because our vehicle drove over an IED and got blown up."

Now, I think that I handled it pretty well. Of course, I have always tried to be the strong one in situations like this. When the boys were little and had to leave for visitation with Alvin, I would never let them see me cry. I was always worried that it would make it harder for them, so I would smile and tell them what a great time they would have. As soon as I would send them off to the other car, I would cry. I hadn't even realized that Mark had never seen me cry until he was about 7 years old!

So, for those of you who hear about it on the news and think that it only happens to other people and not anyone you know-it doesn't!

I didn't want Christopher to hear me break down, so I just asked all of the obvious questions-Are you ok? Was anyone hurt? How did it happen? When did it happen?

It was clear that he was only allowed to give certain answers. Like when I asked if anyone was hurt, he replied "Everyone will recover." Now, I'm not the smartest person around, but I do realize that even if you lose an arm or a leg you can still recover! I did find out later that one person did end up losing 2 fingers and they were able to save the rest.

Geno walked in when I was talking to Christopher, so he was able to tell him himself. Geno mentioned something about having to go over there and take care of some people himself. When he got off the phone, I could see the tears in his eyes and I tried to be the strong one again. I told him that it won't do us any good to worry all the time and that Christopher would be fine. We talked to Christopher a few more times and got more information, so here is the entire story as far as I have put it together from several conversations and some pictures, too.

Christopher and two other soldiers were in the hatch of the Stryker. They drove over the IED, but only on one side so that when it exploded it made the vehicle flip onto its side rather than be completely destroyed. Had they been over the top of it, they most likely all would have been killed. The three soldiers in the hatch were all blown into the air about 5 meters and scattered about 35-50 feet from the vehicle. It blew a hole in the ground about 12ft. x 12ft. and 4 1/2 feet deep. Christopher landed and something hit him on the head. As he was shaking off what just happened he heard someone yelling-"Get him out of the canal!" Christopher ended up running over to his squadron leader and reaching for his arm to pull him out. (I am assuming that there was water in the canal and they were afraid he would drown.) When he grabbed his arm and pulled it up, some fingers were missing. Christopher is having a hard time getting this image out of his head. The squadron leader and the other soldier were flown to get medical help. The driver got stitches from below to above his elbow. The first photo is of the gash in Christopher's leg. Now, I am fully aware that there is an artery in that same area that if cut will cause you to bleed to death in 5 minutes! I am trying not to think about those things! Christopher was treated, given pain medication, and was back out on another mission in 4 hours. He has earned his combat ribbon and has been put in for a Purple Heart. Here are some photos:

I really thought that I was doing better with all of this, but it seems that they are doing a lot of exercises with our local guard unit and their convoys go along Hwy 71 almost daily. I lost it last Tuesday when I passed one of them! I finally cried and let out what I had been feeling the entire time. It felt good to stop trying to be so brave.