Jason Strickland plays with his dog Friday at his home in Stafford County. A mortar broke his foot while he was deployed in Afghanistan, and he has been recovering at his home since December 21. PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER WEHLING/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

View the Stafford County community page

Stafford soldier survived close call ABOUT THIS SOLDIER

Stafford County soldier vividly remembers his first combat mission in Afghanistan and the injury that sidelined him

By CATHY DYSON

Date published: 1/2/2008

By CATHY DYSON

When Jason Strickland described the bullets that whizzed over his head, his mother cringed.

It was hard enough for her to hear about people shooting at him in the mountains of Afghanistan during his first combat mission.

But when the 20-year-old Army private said a bullet that's really close sounds like a cracking whip--versus the hissing noise it makes when it's farther away--Scheryl Strickland just shook her head.

It was too much information for the Stafford County woman, and "I'm a worrywart anyway," she said.

She and her husband, James, a retired master chief in the Navy, had plenty to worry about recently.

They got a call Dec. 9 saying their younger son was injured in the battle of Musa Qala, the last Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan. As it turned out, Jason's unit, along with Afghan and NATO forces, helped take back the town from militants.

When the Stricklands got the first call about Jason, the news was dire.

"They actually stated, 'If he lives through the surgery, he'll be sent to Germany,'" Scheryl recalled. "And, 'If the car pulls up in the driveway, that means the worst.'"

The White Oak couple stayed up that night. When Jason called at 4 in the morning, he greeted them the same way he always does.

He said: "Hey."

The Stricklands learned that Jason's wounds weren't life-threatening. A piece of a mortar landed on him and sprayed more than 40 pieces of shrapnel into his left foot. The impact broke a bone, sliced a toe and tore a hole in the heel of his left foot and split open another toe on his right foot.

But there were no internal injuries or missing limbs, as the couple had been led to believe.

Jason's left leg is in a cast to the knee, and it may take a year for him to fully recover.

He'll go back to Fort Bragg later this month, where he's part of the 82nd Airborne's 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He'll be part of a transitional program until his battalion returns, probably this spring.

As Jason sat on his parents' couch with his bad foot propped up, he was not happy to be out of commission.

ARMY VS. NAVY: Jason Strickland, 20, is the second son of James and Scheryl Strickland of White Oak. James spent 24 years in the Navy, and his first son, Matt, followed him. Matt, 23, is in training as a submarine-reactor operator. Jason always wanted to be a soldier on the ground. EDUCATION: Jason graduated from Brooke Point High School in 2005, then studied at Germanna Community College for a year. Enlisted in the Army in February 2007. HIS JOB: He was the "AB," the ammo bearer on his first combat mission. He carried more than 100 pounds of armor and equipment, including 400 rounds of ammunition. HIS INJURY: He had six surgeries in foreign hospitals and at Fort Bragg to remove shrapnel from his foot. THE BEST NEWS: While at Fort Bragg, one of Jason's squad leaders told him a sniper took out the person who fired the mortar at him. "That put a smile on my face."

Follow us on

Date published: 1/2/2008