thedrifter
05-06-08, 07:28 AM
Article published - May 5, 2008
Soldier's mother 'thankful' he's alive
BY GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Marine Cpl. Steven Kiernan of Petaluma, critically injured by a hidden bomb Sunday in Iraq, will be flown Tuesday to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he will meet his mother, father and grandfather.
“He’s alive. I’m thankful for that,” said the Marine’s mother, Kim Petersen of Petaluma, after talking briefly with her son Monday morning by telephone as her son lay in a bed at a military hospital in Germany.
Petersen said her 20-year-old son was groggy and expressed more concern about a fellow Marine, who was wounded in the same incident, than himself.
“It doesn’t seem real,” Petersen said. “Like it’s a bad dream.”
Kiernan lost his left foot and right leg below the knee while on ground patrol in Fallujah. The bomb, located behind a dumpster, was triggered remotely, his mother said.
The other Marine sustained a broken left arm, she said.
Petersen said she was awaiting confirmation from the Marines on a flight to Washington, either Monday night or Tuesday morning, for herself, her ex-husband, Jim Kiernan, and his father.
“They want us there before he gets there,” she said.
Kiernan joined the Marines in 2005 when he was 17 and graduated from Petaluma High School in June of that year.
He was deployed to Iraq on April 11.
Iraq war amputees are getting the best possible care and can look forward to resuming active, athletic lives, said Dan Nevins, a former Windsor resident who lost both legs to a roadside bomb three and a half years ago.
His war wounds were similar to those sustained by Kiernan.
Nevins, 35, now retired from the California National Guard, lost his left leg immediately and in January, after three years of relentless pain, had his blast-damaged right leg also amputated below the knee.
“This Marine has nothing to worry about,” said Nevins, now living in Jacksonville, Fla. and working as a community outreach manager for the PGA Tour.
Military amputees get the “most advanced prosthetics” and ongoing treatment at no cost from the government, said Nevins, who has three sets of artificial legs: one for everyday use, one for bicycling and another customized for golf.
Nevins said he mourned the loss of his legs, but embraced an active life, with long-distance bike rides and a recent golf round of 39 for nine holes.
“Eventually they’ll feel like they’re part of you,” Nevins said of the prostheses. “There’s nothing you can’t do.”
Nevins, who lived in Sonoma County with his wife, Nicole, for seven years, went to Iraq with the National Guard’s Santa Rosa-based 579th Engineer Battalion. He was wounded by a roadside bomb on Nov. 10, 2004.
Ellie
Soldier's mother 'thankful' he's alive
BY GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Marine Cpl. Steven Kiernan of Petaluma, critically injured by a hidden bomb Sunday in Iraq, will be flown Tuesday to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he will meet his mother, father and grandfather.
“He’s alive. I’m thankful for that,” said the Marine’s mother, Kim Petersen of Petaluma, after talking briefly with her son Monday morning by telephone as her son lay in a bed at a military hospital in Germany.
Petersen said her 20-year-old son was groggy and expressed more concern about a fellow Marine, who was wounded in the same incident, than himself.
“It doesn’t seem real,” Petersen said. “Like it’s a bad dream.”
Kiernan lost his left foot and right leg below the knee while on ground patrol in Fallujah. The bomb, located behind a dumpster, was triggered remotely, his mother said.
The other Marine sustained a broken left arm, she said.
Petersen said she was awaiting confirmation from the Marines on a flight to Washington, either Monday night or Tuesday morning, for herself, her ex-husband, Jim Kiernan, and his father.
“They want us there before he gets there,” she said.
Kiernan joined the Marines in 2005 when he was 17 and graduated from Petaluma High School in June of that year.
He was deployed to Iraq on April 11.
Iraq war amputees are getting the best possible care and can look forward to resuming active, athletic lives, said Dan Nevins, a former Windsor resident who lost both legs to a roadside bomb three and a half years ago.
His war wounds were similar to those sustained by Kiernan.
Nevins, 35, now retired from the California National Guard, lost his left leg immediately and in January, after three years of relentless pain, had his blast-damaged right leg also amputated below the knee.
“This Marine has nothing to worry about,” said Nevins, now living in Jacksonville, Fla. and working as a community outreach manager for the PGA Tour.
Military amputees get the “most advanced prosthetics” and ongoing treatment at no cost from the government, said Nevins, who has three sets of artificial legs: one for everyday use, one for bicycling and another customized for golf.
Nevins said he mourned the loss of his legs, but embraced an active life, with long-distance bike rides and a recent golf round of 39 for nine holes.
“Eventually they’ll feel like they’re part of you,” Nevins said of the prostheses. “There’s nothing you can’t do.”
Nevins, who lived in Sonoma County with his wife, Nicole, for seven years, went to Iraq with the National Guard’s Santa Rosa-based 579th Engineer Battalion. He was wounded by a roadside bomb on Nov. 10, 2004.
Ellie