Local wounded Solder.

Wounded Warrior
Angie soldier recovering in Texas
hospital
By Lucy Parker
The Daily News Bogalusa Louisiana.
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 1:06 AM CDT

Sgt. Phillip Jed Kennedy, of Angie, was shot on Aug. 17 while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Kennedy, who was in his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, is now recuperating at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

On the day he was injured, Kennedy said his was one of several platoons on a foot patrol in a little village in Afghanistan, in an operation where they were “searching for possible weapons and caches.”

As they were leaving the village, he said, “we noticed some guys watching us. Just from being around, we could tell they were bad, but they didn’t have anything on them, just some cell phones,” he said.

The platoons, Kennedy said, needed to cross an expanse of open desert, which they refer to as a dry river bed, to get out of the village.

“We had to cross that, so we crossed one platoon at a time,” he said. “And my platoon was the last one to go.”

After the other platoons got across the dry river bed, Kennedy’s began moving.

“As we got in the middle of it, some guys came up behind us and started shooting at us,” he said. Then the platoon got down into position.

Kennedy’s mother, Melanie, said that her son was squad leader of a machine gun squad. He was in the very back of the squad and was talking to his men on the radio, she said, “telling them what to do to be able to start firing back,” when he was hit by a bullet.

“I didn’t know what it was at first,” Jed Kennedy said. “I thought one of my grenades, or one of my launching grenades, went off.

“The medic came up and started looking at me, asked me where I was hit. I really didn’t know.”

Then, Kennedy told one of his team leaders, who had called and asked what to do, to return fire.

“While he was doing that, the medic and my platoon leader grabbed me and carried me 20 yards across that dry river bed and got me in this ‘wadi,’ which is pretty much a big ditch, about a 10-foot deep ditch,” he said. “Once they got me in there, they took all my gear off and started looking around, and the medic found the bullet hole.”

The medic treated Kennedy on the scene, and he said he wanted to point out “what a good job our medic did,” working on him while there were “still bullets just hitting around us and whatnot.”

Kennedy was shot in the left chest, his mother said. The bullet, she said, “punctured his left lung, passed through his abdomen, fractured his right pelvis, damaged an artery in his right leg and lodged in his right thigh.”

First transported by helicopter to a medical base in Ghazni for treatment, Kennedy was then flown to Bagram for surgery. From there, he was transferred to Langstuhul Regional Medical Center in Germany for surgery and then, on Aug. 25, to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for additional medical treatment. There was no damage to any vital organs, Melanie Kennedy said, and he currently is recuperating at that hospital.

The surgeries that were done in Germany were successful, and Kennedy also “basically had a gastric bypass as a result of the bullet,” Melanie Kennedy said. Now, he is having physical therapy to be able to walk again, because of the damage to his right pelvis.

“The only issue they’re dealing with now is infection, and that’s because (of) the organs that the bullet hit as well as Afghanistan’s not the cleanest place in the world,” she continued.

While the doctors at Brooke Army Medical Center have not provided a timetable on how long Kennedy will be in the hospital, his mother said he currently is receiving inpatient care and will then probably be an outpatient so he can continue to receive physical therapy and treatment for the infection.

Melanie Kennedy said she thinks it is important that people know all of the members of Jed Kennedy’s team “were able to fight back and defend themselves and take out the enemy” during the mission.

“They all came back safely, and they still go on those missions every day,” she said “And that’s what I think the public needs to realize, how dangerous it is and how much our troops need our prayers and support.”

The Wounded Warrior program is taking care of Kennedy, as it does all wounded members of the military, and it has given him a case manager. The program has also provided support for parents by letting them stay at the Army Guest House on the Brooke Army Medical Center facilities at no expense to them.

Melanie Kennedy said that her son has received top-notch care following his injury.

“I can honestly say that the Army and Red Cross, they all made sure that he was well taken care of every time they transported him from one hospital to the other,” she said.

When her son “began to come out of being sedated from surgery and everything, he asked me to find out about his wallet,” Melanie Kennedy said. She said that he had the wallet on him when he was shot, but his pants had been cut off when he first received treatment in Ghazni. She and her son’s case worker looked through the belongings that had been sent over with him, and the wallet was there, she said.

“His wallet followed him from the battlefield all the way to the hospital, and everything was intact, even the cash that he had in his wallet,” Melanie Kennedy said.

“His driver’s license, all of his personal items, everything was in his wallet. That just tells us how well our military takes care of our wounded soldiers. That’s just a small example.”

Melanie Kennedy said that she and her husband wanted to express their appreciation to the community for the prayers and support her family has received.

“Reggie and I want to thank family and friends for the outpouring of support when we received the dreaded call from Army personnel,” she said. “We know Jed’s amazing story of survival and recovery is the result of answered prayers. Please continue to lift Jed up in prayer and pray for all of the Wounded Warriors, their families and troops still in harm’s way.”



Washington Parish is large in area, but has only around 40,000 people. It has only two incorporated cities, Bogalusa and Franklinton, and one incorporated village, my home town of Varnado. From having been around politics since age 8, I know most of the people here or know their family. I’ve known the Kennedy’s all my life. They are good God fearing people. When our retired local paper editor does his usual conservative editorial, the libs come crawling out of the wood work to slam him. Some responses to him have as many of 30 or 40 immediate post. It’s a shame that there are only twelve well wishers to this news of our local wounded warrior. If anyone wishes to post a well wish, here is the site link.:usmc:

http://www.gobogalusa.com/articles/2...4463825542.txt

Thanks for posting there Dave, he and his family will appreciate it as do I.

He may not be a Marine but it did not stop him from doing what he had to do in a fire fight.also posted on his site link.

:evilgrin: GodBless Him hope He has a Full recovery...:iwo:

Prayers Outbound.

The day before I posted this there were only seven well wishes for him and it had been up almost a week! Seems we care more for his service than some of his own neighbors. You guys make me proud.:beer:

Semper Fi brothers and sisters.:usmc:

Get well soon, our Country needs you and those like you back on the job and back on the streets to show what a hero is
Semper Fi
tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jamielang1951

Wounded Warrior
Angie soldier recovering in Texas
hospital
By Lucy Parker
The Daily News Bogalusa Louisiana.
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 1:06 AM CDT

Sgt. Phillip Jed Kennedy, of Angie, was shot on Aug. 17 while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Kennedy, who was in his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, is now recuperating at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

On the day he was injured, Kennedy said his was one of several platoons on a foot patrol in a little village in Afghanistan, in an operation where they were “searching for possible weapons and caches.”

As they were leaving the village, he said, “we noticed some guys watching us. Just from being around, we could tell they were bad, but they didn’t have anything on them, just some cell phones,” he said.

The platoons, Kennedy said, needed to cross an expanse of open desert, which they refer to as a dry river bed, to get out of the village.

“We had to cross that, so we crossed one platoon at a time,” he said. “And my platoon was the last one to go.”

After the other platoons got across the dry river bed, Kennedy’s began moving.

“As we got in the middle of it, some guys came up behind us and started shooting at us,” he said. Then the platoon got down into position.

Kennedy’s mother, Melanie, said that her son was squad leader of a machine gun squad. He was in the very back of the squad and was talking to his men on the radio, she said, “telling them what to do to be able to start firing back,” when he was hit by a bullet.

“I didn’t know what it was at first,” Jed Kennedy said. “I thought one of my grenades, or one of my launching grenades, went off.

“The medic came up and started looking at me, asked me where I was hit. I really didn’t know.”

Then, Kennedy told one of his team leaders, who had called and asked what to do, to return fire.

“While he was doing that, the medic and my platoon leader grabbed me and carried me 20 yards across that dry river bed and got me in this ‘wadi,’ which is pretty much a big ditch, about a 10-foot deep ditch,” he said. “Once they got me in there, they took all my gear off and started looking around, and the medic found the bullet hole.”

The medic treated Kennedy on the scene, and he said he wanted to point out “what a good job our medic did,” working on him while there were “still bullets just hitting around us and whatnot.”

Kennedy was shot in the left chest, his mother said. The bullet, she said, “punctured his left lung, passed through his abdomen, fractured his right pelvis, damaged an artery in his right leg and lodged in his right thigh.”

First transported by helicopter to a medical base in Ghazni for treatment, Kennedy was then flown to Bagram for surgery. From there, he was transferred to Langstuhul Regional Medical Center in Germany for surgery and then, on Aug. 25, to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for additional medical treatment. There was no damage to any vital organs, Melanie Kennedy said, and he currently is recuperating at that hospital.

The surgeries that were done in Germany were successful, and Kennedy also “basically had a gastric bypass as a result of the bullet,” Melanie Kennedy said. Now, he is having physical therapy to be able to walk again, because of the damage to his right pelvis.

“The only issue they’re dealing with now is infection, and that’s because (of) the organs that the bullet hit as well as Afghanistan’s not the cleanest place in the world,” she continued.

While the doctors at Brooke Army Medical Center have not provided a timetable on how long Kennedy will be in the hospital, his mother said he currently is receiving inpatient care and will then probably be an outpatient so he can continue to receive physical therapy and treatment for the infection.

Melanie Kennedy said she thinks it is important that people know all of the members of Jed Kennedy’s team “were able to fight back and defend themselves and take out the enemy” during the mission.

“They all came back safely, and they still go on those missions every day,” she said “And that’s what I think the public needs to realize, how dangerous it is and how much our troops need our prayers and support.”

The Wounded Warrior program is taking care of Kennedy, as it does all wounded members of the military, and it has given him a case manager. The program has also provided support for parents by letting them stay at the Army Guest House on the Brooke Army Medical Center facilities at no expense to them.

Melanie Kennedy said that her son has received top-notch care following his injury.

“I can honestly say that the Army and Red Cross, they all made sure that he was well taken care of every time they transported him from one hospital to the other,” she said.

When her son “began to come out of being sedated from surgery and everything, he asked me to find out about his wallet,” Melanie Kennedy said. She said that he had the wallet on him when he was shot, but his pants had been cut off when he first received treatment in Ghazni. She and her son’s case worker looked through the belongings that had been sent over with him, and the wallet was there, she said.

“His wallet followed him from the battlefield all the way to the hospital, and everything was intact, even the cash that he had in his wallet,” Melanie Kennedy said.

“His driver’s license, all of his personal items, everything was in his wallet. That just tells us how well our military takes care of our wounded soldiers. That’s just a small example.”

Melanie Kennedy said that she and her husband wanted to express their appreciation to the community for the prayers and support her family has received.

“Reggie and I want to thank family and friends for the outpouring of support when we received the dreaded call from Army personnel,” she said. “We know Jed’s amazing story of survival and recovery is the result of answered prayers. Please continue to lift Jed up in prayer and pray for all of the Wounded Warriors, their families and troops still in harm’s way.”



Washington Parish is large in area, but has only around 40,000 people. It has only two incorporated cities, Bogalusa and Franklinton, and one incorporated village, my home town of Varnado. From having been around politics since age 8, I know most of the people here or know their family. I’ve known the Kennedy’s all my life. They are good God fearing people. When our retired local paper editor does his usual conservative editorial, the libs come crawling out of the wood work to slam him. Some responses to him have as many of 30 or 40 immediate post. It’s a shame that there are only twelve well wishers to this news of our local wounded warrior. If anyone wishes to post a well wish, here is the site link.:usmc:

http://www.gobogalusa.com/articles/2...4463825542.txt

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Get Well Brother,thank You For Your Service And Sacrifice.
Your In My Thoughts And Prayers For A Speedy Recovery


Stephen Doc Hansen Hm3 Fmf

Hi...a prayer for all the soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan and other fronts in the fight for freedom