America’s most wounded soldier is going back to war.

 

U.S. Army Captain D.J. Skelton was blown up the night of November 6, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, when the unit he was leading as a lieutenant was caught in a hail of bullets and exploding grenades. Skelton was hit with shrapnel and AK-47 rounds that caused serious wounds to his right cheek, left eye socket, upper jaw, left upper arm and lower right leg. In addition, his chest and stomach were “split open.”

 

Doctors had to perform more than 60 operations to put Skelton back together.

 

Now six years later, Skelton, 33, is going to Afghanistan to command 192 men from his previous unit, the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. He’ll do so even though he has limited mobility in one ankle, is missing an eye, has partial use of his left arm, and no longer has the roof of his mouth, which requires him to use a custom prosthetic to eat and drink.

Since 2001, more than 40,000 servicemembers have been wounded and more than 1,600 have had limbs amputated.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Capt. D.J. Skelton, the Army's Most Seriously Wounded Commander, Returns to Combat (by Kristina Wong, ABC News)

He Is Missing One Eye, the Roof of His Mouth and Can Barely Eat or Drink - But America's 'Most Injured Soldier' Is Going Back to War (by Daniel Bates, Daily Mail)

Army Captain’s Recovery Delivers Perspective, Contentment (by Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service)