My Brother's Email about his condition!

Hello everybody,

I'm writing from an internet cafe. So, no journal . . . but I will do one later.

I'm sure many of you are aware that I was wounded yesterday. Our Iraqi Army unit was involved in another big clearance mission. Yestarday was the third day of this particular mission. There were four of us dismounted clearing an area (with the rest of the team in vehicles, talking to us on the radio ready to react). We came under heavy enemy gunfire (presumably just small arms). During the initial shooting I heard SFC Hnt shout out that he was hit. I was a little farther back with our medic and we tried to move over to him. As soon as we moved I felt a sharp impact on my face and saw the blood. I knew that I had been hit. We found cover and those who were able returned fire while our team (and the Iraqis) came up with vehicles to take us out. I remained conscious the entire time. It wasn't until we got back to the JCOP that I started to understand the extent of my wounds. They identified an entrance wound under my ear and exit wound on the other side of my nose (meaning it had gone through my face). Within minutes medevac helicoters picked us up en route for the hospital in Balad.

Once at the emergency room they determined that it was shrapnel -- not bullets that penetrated my face. They later found that a peice of shrapnel had also gone through my arm. They were extrememly concerned about my face (thus, initial reports about the injury being serious and maybe a trip to Germany). Over time they figured out that the shrapnel had gone through without hitting any of the important stuff (sinuses, brain, important part of the bone). A quickly became "the story" of the hospital. Everybody was amazed at how "lucky" I was. Of course, I know that I am extremely blessed and that God had me in His hands the whole way. It is now a day and a half after the injury and I am doing fine. My face is swollen and I have many stitches -- but I did not require surgery. I will spend a few more days at Balad under watch and then they are flying me to Qatar for about a week of R&R. They will return me to the unit to finish the deployment . . . but our time will be short when I get there. I had great care the entire time. I have already had my "Purple Heart" awarded to me and also had a visit from General Cody (4 Star General, one of the top Army commanders), People helped me get in touch with Deanna. And I know many people were helping take care of her as well. Thank you for all your love and suport. I am pretty tired and am going to stop typing now, but I will send out a journal with the full story later.

Love,

Russ