Saving face

[unhappycamper]

Szczepanski eight months after his surgery.


Saving face
By Kelly Kennedy - [e-mail]
Posted : Saturday Feb 2, 2008 13:54:33 EST

As Staff Sgt. Doug Szczepanski drove his commander out of Rustimiya, Iraq, on Sept. 15, 2005, his mind was on the new Taco Bell that had just opened at their destination, Forward Operating Base Taji.

~snip~

He never made it to his tacos; a suicide car bomber attacked his Humvee with an improvised explosive device made up of seven artillery rounds.

Somehow, no one in the vehicle was killed. But Szczepanski suffered horrific wounds — half his face was blown away.

“I went out for two minutes, and when I came to, I thought we were still going to Taji,” Szczepanski said. “I’m saying, ‘Let’s go, guys.’”

But when he reached for his M-16, he realized his thumb was gone. And his eye hurt; a piece of shrapnel had blown through it. He recalls being angry that his protective goggles hadn’t worked and were no longer on his face.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_reconstruct_080204w/

[applegrove]

1. He looks great.