thedrifter
08-04-07, 07:00 AM
San Rafael Marine survives sniper bullet through head
Tad Whitaker
Marin Independent Journal
Article Launched:08/03/2007 11:19:35 PM PDT
A San Rafael Marine is lucky to be alive after being shot directly in the face by a sniper in Iraq two weeks ago.
Reached in his room at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Lance Cpl. Bjorn Steinmo, 20, said the bullet entered his right nostril and exited behind the left ear. It missed his brain and all major blood vessels, but shattered his lower jaw.
"It didn't really hurt that much," he said. "It felt like I got hit in the back of the head with a brick."
Steinmo will spend the next few weeks in the hospital recovering from a seven-hour surgery on Thursday and spending time with his mother, father and wife.
"What he got was a kill shot, right through the center of the face," said Erik Steinmo, Bjorn's father. "It's just amazing."
Bjorn was a top San Rafael High School wrestler when, at age 17, he joined the Marines in 2005. He told an Independent Journal reporter at the time that a military career appealed to him because no one else in his family had served.
The potential of being injured or killed was part of the deal, he said.
"It's exploring territory that my family hasn't done already," Bjorn said. "In a way, I just decided to be different."
Bjorn said he was sitting on a roof July 22 in front of a chin-high wall in Karma, a town of about 75,000 people nine miles outside Fallujah, when the shot hit him. The bullet went in through his right nostril, down through the roof of his mouth and out behind the left ear.
A group of fellow Marines returned fire while a couple others put pressure on his neck to stop the bleeding. A helicopter picked him up 10 minutes later and flew him to a hospital for emergency surgery.
"He was conscious through the whole thing," Erik Steinmo said. He was flown first to Germany and then to Maryland for treatment.
Bjorn said it was his first injury since arriving in Iraq six months ago. "It was supposed to be one of our last field operations," he said.
Erik Steinmo said the family learned almost immediately that Bjorn had been shot in the head. Nurses in Iraq, Germany and Maryland reassured them the injury wasn't life threatening, but it was hard to believe without seeing Bjorn.
"I didn't know if I was going to get a vegetable back for a son," Erik Steinmo said. "I wasn't buying the whole thing until I got here."
Jennifer Burke, Bjorn's 22-year-old wife, said she is spending as much time as possible with him, bringing movies and talking when he feels like it. Bjorn is groggy from surgery, but otherwise he's doing well and eager to be transferred to a hospital near their apartment in San Diego.
"He's doing great," she said.
Bjorn said that, all things considered, giving his wife a hug and seeing his parents again is more than he could have hoped for.
"I'm pretty blessed with what I came out with," he said.
Read more San Rafael stories at the IJ's San Rafael page.
Contact Tad Whitaker via e-mail at twhitaker@marinij.com
Ellie
Tad Whitaker
Marin Independent Journal
Article Launched:08/03/2007 11:19:35 PM PDT
A San Rafael Marine is lucky to be alive after being shot directly in the face by a sniper in Iraq two weeks ago.
Reached in his room at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Lance Cpl. Bjorn Steinmo, 20, said the bullet entered his right nostril and exited behind the left ear. It missed his brain and all major blood vessels, but shattered his lower jaw.
"It didn't really hurt that much," he said. "It felt like I got hit in the back of the head with a brick."
Steinmo will spend the next few weeks in the hospital recovering from a seven-hour surgery on Thursday and spending time with his mother, father and wife.
"What he got was a kill shot, right through the center of the face," said Erik Steinmo, Bjorn's father. "It's just amazing."
Bjorn was a top San Rafael High School wrestler when, at age 17, he joined the Marines in 2005. He told an Independent Journal reporter at the time that a military career appealed to him because no one else in his family had served.
The potential of being injured or killed was part of the deal, he said.
"It's exploring territory that my family hasn't done already," Bjorn said. "In a way, I just decided to be different."
Bjorn said he was sitting on a roof July 22 in front of a chin-high wall in Karma, a town of about 75,000 people nine miles outside Fallujah, when the shot hit him. The bullet went in through his right nostril, down through the roof of his mouth and out behind the left ear.
A group of fellow Marines returned fire while a couple others put pressure on his neck to stop the bleeding. A helicopter picked him up 10 minutes later and flew him to a hospital for emergency surgery.
"He was conscious through the whole thing," Erik Steinmo said. He was flown first to Germany and then to Maryland for treatment.
Bjorn said it was his first injury since arriving in Iraq six months ago. "It was supposed to be one of our last field operations," he said.
Erik Steinmo said the family learned almost immediately that Bjorn had been shot in the head. Nurses in Iraq, Germany and Maryland reassured them the injury wasn't life threatening, but it was hard to believe without seeing Bjorn.
"I didn't know if I was going to get a vegetable back for a son," Erik Steinmo said. "I wasn't buying the whole thing until I got here."
Jennifer Burke, Bjorn's 22-year-old wife, said she is spending as much time as possible with him, bringing movies and talking when he feels like it. Bjorn is groggy from surgery, but otherwise he's doing well and eager to be transferred to a hospital near their apartment in San Diego.
"He's doing great," she said.
Bjorn said that, all things considered, giving his wife a hug and seeing his parents again is more than he could have hoped for.
"I'm pretty blessed with what I came out with," he said.
Read more San Rafael stories at the IJ's San Rafael page.
Contact Tad Whitaker via e-mail at twhitaker@marinij.com
Ellie