thedrifter
02-02-06, 06:36 PM
Wounded Kittanning soldier says Iraqis thankful Saddam's gone
By Michael Miller
LEADER TIMES
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Every piece of trash, Jersey barrier and every curb has the potential to carry a roadside bomb in Iraq, as Spc. Matthew McGinnis of Kittanning can attest.
On a March day last year, McGinnis, who is a military policeman in the U.S. Army, was on a simple escort mission, taking one of his fellow soldiers to the airport so that the soldier could go on leave.
Somewhere along the road, maybe among the trash (which McGinnis says is "pretty much everywhere") a bomb exploded.
"It felt like a 2-by-4 hit me on the back of the head," he said.
A piece of shrapnel hit McGinnis in the roughly three-inch space between the bottom of his helmet and the top of his body armor vest.
"That spot is the only spot around your face that is not covered," he said.
He was rushed to the hospital, patched up, and taken back to his barracks. He was later awarded a Purple Heart, a medal for those wounded in combat.
"I went back to work the same day," McGinnis said. "I just wanted to get back to it."
He wanted to get back to a mission that was not filled with angry people planting roadside bombs, but rather one that was filled with grateful people.
"We just freed them from a murderous tyrant," he said, referring to former dictator Saddam Hussein. "There's not a single Iraqi that I talked to that said they were better off with Saddam."
"The kids (in Iraq) love us," McGinnis added. "Hopefully those are the kids that are going to grow up and run their country."
He said poor media coverage leaves Americans with the impression that Iraqis are out to get the soldiers, when the reality is that almost all of the insurgents are from Iran, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries.
McGinnis had served in Iraq for three months before he was wounded and has served in the military for three years. He said he signed up because of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"A lot of (the decision to join the Army) had to do with 9/11," he said. "I just felt that I needed to do something for the country."
As an added bonus, he's also getting to make another country safer as well. In Iraq, he helped train Iraqi police officers.
McGinnis was eventually sent home after he kept developing staph infections in his wound, a by-product of an unsanitary country with a sand-filled wind that constantly batters one's body. On Tuesday, McGinnis spokeabout his war expeiences to students at Lenape Elementary School where his mother, Diane McGinnis, is a teacher.
On Friday, he'll return to Fort Hood in Texas, and possibly back to Iraq after that. The prospects of returning to war don't bother him that much.
"You can't let yourself be scared," McGinnis said.
On the back of his head, a scar is there to remind him of the dangers of war, but like a typical soldier, the wound reminds him of something else.
"I felt kinda bad, because (after being wounded) we didn't get to finish the mission."
Michael Miller can be reached at mmiller@tribweb.com or (724) 543-1303 ext 219.
By Michael Miller
LEADER TIMES
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Every piece of trash, Jersey barrier and every curb has the potential to carry a roadside bomb in Iraq, as Spc. Matthew McGinnis of Kittanning can attest.
On a March day last year, McGinnis, who is a military policeman in the U.S. Army, was on a simple escort mission, taking one of his fellow soldiers to the airport so that the soldier could go on leave.
Somewhere along the road, maybe among the trash (which McGinnis says is "pretty much everywhere") a bomb exploded.
"It felt like a 2-by-4 hit me on the back of the head," he said.
A piece of shrapnel hit McGinnis in the roughly three-inch space between the bottom of his helmet and the top of his body armor vest.
"That spot is the only spot around your face that is not covered," he said.
He was rushed to the hospital, patched up, and taken back to his barracks. He was later awarded a Purple Heart, a medal for those wounded in combat.
"I went back to work the same day," McGinnis said. "I just wanted to get back to it."
He wanted to get back to a mission that was not filled with angry people planting roadside bombs, but rather one that was filled with grateful people.
"We just freed them from a murderous tyrant," he said, referring to former dictator Saddam Hussein. "There's not a single Iraqi that I talked to that said they were better off with Saddam."
"The kids (in Iraq) love us," McGinnis added. "Hopefully those are the kids that are going to grow up and run their country."
He said poor media coverage leaves Americans with the impression that Iraqis are out to get the soldiers, when the reality is that almost all of the insurgents are from Iran, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries.
McGinnis had served in Iraq for three months before he was wounded and has served in the military for three years. He said he signed up because of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"A lot of (the decision to join the Army) had to do with 9/11," he said. "I just felt that I needed to do something for the country."
As an added bonus, he's also getting to make another country safer as well. In Iraq, he helped train Iraqi police officers.
McGinnis was eventually sent home after he kept developing staph infections in his wound, a by-product of an unsanitary country with a sand-filled wind that constantly batters one's body. On Tuesday, McGinnis spokeabout his war expeiences to students at Lenape Elementary School where his mother, Diane McGinnis, is a teacher.
On Friday, he'll return to Fort Hood in Texas, and possibly back to Iraq after that. The prospects of returning to war don't bother him that much.
"You can't let yourself be scared," McGinnis said.
On the back of his head, a scar is there to remind him of the dangers of war, but like a typical soldier, the wound reminds him of something else.
"I felt kinda bad, because (after being wounded) we didn't get to finish the mission."
Michael Miller can be reached at mmiller@tribweb.com or (724) 543-1303 ext 219.