By Stephen McKinley
An Irish-American captain from New Jersey in the 5th U.S. Special Forces group was injured during fighting in Afghanistan two weeks ago.
The soldier, who for security reasons has only been identified as “Captain Kevin,” aged 30, was involved in the skirmishes around the Taliban prison riot near Mazar-i-Sharif on Nov. 29, when he and four comrades were injured by a U.S. Air Force bomb that went astray.
According to his father, who declined to be identifed, 8-year veteran Captain Kevin suffered a fractured hip, an injured ear drum and burns but has been making good progress.
“He’s doing well,” said his father. “He’s back in Fort Campbell in Kentucky now. But it was touch and go for a few days. He had a terrible flight back to a U.S. military hospital in Turkey, with internal bleeding, but he’s stablized now
“In the last three or four days, he got back his hearing. We’ll be able to go down to Kentucky and see him on Thursday. But it was devastating to hear the news at first.”
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When he had recovered sufficiently, the captain was awarded the Purple Heart by a two-star U.S. general. The captain was able to stand up for the award, but he was brought to the ceremony in a wheelchair. Now, his father explained, he is already on his feet, but using crutches.
“He’ll need three to six months rehabilitation,” he said. “We are proud of him, although I wouldn’t want to have to be proud of him in this way again,” said the captain’s father, whose parents came from Ireland.
During the action at the fortress near Mazar-i-Sharif, CIA agent Johnny “Mike” Spann was killed by Taliban and al Qu’da prisoners. Captain Kevin’s father said that his son indicated that “they called in some bombs on the terrorists and one obviously went astray.”
The captain told reporters that he and his colleagues were “watching the target,” and he has only “fuzzy memories” of what happened next. He added that three other U.S. soldiers who were killed a few days later by friendly fire “were the real heroes.”
Asked if he would go back to Afghanistan is he could, he replied, “The only reason I want to go back is because I have a bunch of soldiers over there.”