thedrifter
04-29-07, 05:36 PM
Marine shares story of survival
Updated: April 29, 2007 04:20 PM
By BRAD EDWARDS
BEULAH, Mich. -- As his fellow Marines returned home Sunday, a former member of Alpha Company shared his harrowing story of survival in Iraq.
Just five short months ago, on a Saturday in early December, Alpha Company's Sargeant David Kopera thought he had blown up.
Kopera had already seen his share of the war. Two of his brothers-in-arms, Tommy Gilbert and a coal miner named Thornsberry, were killed by an I.E.D. or Improvised Explosive Device on October 25, 2006 during night sweep ops in insurgent-rich Al Anbar. Thornsberry left behind a pregnant widow and a young child.
"It was a pretty rough day, a pretty rough week," Kopera said of his slain men, "of everybody out there, as leaders we were the one likely to get hit."
A few short weeks later, that premonition came true. An insurgent took at right between Kopera's eyes, and fired.
"I couldn't see or hear, I thought I had been blown up," Kopera said, "two inched lower and it would have been between the eyes."
Instead, the bullet hit him in the helmet, only going partially through. Instead of losing his life, Kopera lost a fifty-cent piece sized part of his brain. The piece came from his left frontal lobe, which controls impulsivity and emotion.
"I don't remember conversations from 15 minutes ago sometimes," Kopera said, "I have a heard time controlling my emotions and annoyances and anger."
David's changes were hard for his wife, Lisa Hekelrath, to adjust to.
"That's not how he was," she said, "he likes to argue with me."
After his injury Kopera had the best of treatment and even met then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Since then, the couple has escaped the spotlight on the shores of Crystal Lake in Northern Michigan.
But in a place that seems to be a world away from care, Kopera and his wife still have to deal with the effects of that insurgent's bullet.
"I can't get his medical records out of Iraq," Hekelrath said, "I called Bathesda a couple times a week and never got called back, the system is just stressed out to the max."
Kopera's condition has him and his family navigating a new world. He went because he wanted to, and he and his wife know they will both be fighting in the Al Anbar gunfights for a lifetime.
Ellie
Updated: April 29, 2007 04:20 PM
By BRAD EDWARDS
BEULAH, Mich. -- As his fellow Marines returned home Sunday, a former member of Alpha Company shared his harrowing story of survival in Iraq.
Just five short months ago, on a Saturday in early December, Alpha Company's Sargeant David Kopera thought he had blown up.
Kopera had already seen his share of the war. Two of his brothers-in-arms, Tommy Gilbert and a coal miner named Thornsberry, were killed by an I.E.D. or Improvised Explosive Device on October 25, 2006 during night sweep ops in insurgent-rich Al Anbar. Thornsberry left behind a pregnant widow and a young child.
"It was a pretty rough day, a pretty rough week," Kopera said of his slain men, "of everybody out there, as leaders we were the one likely to get hit."
A few short weeks later, that premonition came true. An insurgent took at right between Kopera's eyes, and fired.
"I couldn't see or hear, I thought I had been blown up," Kopera said, "two inched lower and it would have been between the eyes."
Instead, the bullet hit him in the helmet, only going partially through. Instead of losing his life, Kopera lost a fifty-cent piece sized part of his brain. The piece came from his left frontal lobe, which controls impulsivity and emotion.
"I don't remember conversations from 15 minutes ago sometimes," Kopera said, "I have a heard time controlling my emotions and annoyances and anger."
David's changes were hard for his wife, Lisa Hekelrath, to adjust to.
"That's not how he was," she said, "he likes to argue with me."
After his injury Kopera had the best of treatment and even met then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Since then, the couple has escaped the spotlight on the shores of Crystal Lake in Northern Michigan.
But in a place that seems to be a world away from care, Kopera and his wife still have to deal with the effects of that insurgent's bullet.
"I can't get his medical records out of Iraq," Hekelrath said, "I called Bathesda a couple times a week and never got called back, the system is just stressed out to the max."
Kopera's condition has him and his family navigating a new world. He went because he wanted to, and he and his wife know they will both be fighting in the Al Anbar gunfights for a lifetime.
Ellie