Men like this give me hope, inspiration and a deep sense of gratitude. Although his way of life will forever be changed, he epitomizes what our troops stand for, fight for, and love.
Sgt. John Kriesel: An unshattered spirit
A bomb in Iraq left Sgt. John Kriesel Jr. with a torn body and raw memories. Still, he says, "Three-quarters of my days are good days.
Sgt. John Kriesel's legs are gone forever, lost after a couple hundred pounds of explosives blew his Humvee off a dirt road in Iraq. His fractured left arm is held together with pins. His right wrist is broken. His pelvis was crushed on the left side and "broken all the way through" on the right side.
"It's just a mess down there," Kriesel, 25, said last week from his hospital bed.
Kriesel, who grew up in Vadnais Heights, lies in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He has had more than 20 surgeries, and he faces years of rehabilitation. Two of his best friends and fellow soldiers from his Minnesota National Guard unit -- Spec. Bryan McDonough, 22, of Maplewood, and Spec. Corey Rystad, 20, of Red Lake Falls -- died in the bombing.
Guilt over their deaths haunts him, but he's not bitter about his life-altering injuries:
"I wanted to go to war. I support the cause. I didn't have to go to Iraq. I'd already gone to Kosovo and had to sign a waiver to go to Iraq. If I was 30 and out of the military, I would regret never having gone to war."
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