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Jason Strickland plays with his dog Friday at his home in Stafford County. A mortar broke his foot
Jason Strickland (second from right) is shown with members of the weapons squad at Tarmac Farm in Afghanistan.
Jason Strickland, 20, (left) watches a movie Friday with his brother, Matt Strickland, 23. |
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.
"I'm kinda bummed out," he said. "I didn't want to leave my buddies. Last time I checked, they were still out there."
But he didn't have much choice after the mortar hit. It came on the second day of his unit's siege of the town. There'd been a lot of firefights the first day, and he and several other soldiers got pinned down behind a courtyard wall before air support arrived.
"When the Apaches [helicopters] came in and lit up the place, it was pretty cool," he said.
The details of the mission are seared in his memory.
Not only does he describe the whizzing of bullets, but he also talks about a disorienting six-mile hike in the dark, wearing night-vision goggles.
He remembers the dizzying uphill climb to the command post, along with the stench of open toilets in courtyards.
What he doesn't remember as well is what happened to those around him when the explosives went off. One hit behind him and a second landed on his foot.
"I felt some crazy pain," he said. "I thought, 'My whole foot got blown off. Dang.'"
Jason and at least six other soldiers from the 82nd Airborne were awarded Purple Heart medals for injuries sustained in the battle of Musa Qala.
He's grateful for the commendation, but even more proud of his combat infantryman badge. It signifies that he survived the heat of battle--even though he did come perilously close to death.
"If I had been sitting a little closer to it, it would have killed me," he said. "But I don't think about that stuff. If it happens, it happens. It's outta my hands."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425| 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." |
