Wounded soldier returns home to hero's welcome

Posted: February 17, 2012 - 3:47pm
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ANTHONY S. BUSH/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Melissa Jarboe wife of Fort Riley-based Army Sgt. Jamie Jarboe greets her husband Friday at Philip Billard Muncipal Airport. Jarboe was shot by a sniper in Afghanistan in April 2011.


By Samantha Foster
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
The Fort Riley-based soldier was on foot patrol on April 10, 2011, in the Zhari district of Afghanistan. Suddenly, a sniper’s bullet from an AK-47 rifle struck him in the left side of the neck.

The shooting left Sgt. Jamie Jarboe, 27, a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down. The bullet had penetrated his spine.

On Friday afternoon, after 10 months of surgeries and rehabilitation, Jarboe returned home to Topeka to a hero’s welcome from his family, friends and the community.

At Philip Billard Municipal Airport, Jarboe’s wife, Melissa, and their two daughters, Celestial and Alexa, walked through the crowd to speak to members of the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Post 421 and others who were in attendance to welcome Jarboe home outside the airport terminal while waiting for his airplane to arrive.

The plane landed about 2:45 p.m. About 40 members of the American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders stood at attention while Jarboe was moved from the plane onto a stretcher. Before he was placed into the waiting ambulance to be transported to St. Francis Health Center, he looked out at the crowd and flags as his wife spoke to him.

Melissa Jarboe thanked everyone for welcoming Jamie home before climbing into the back of the ambulance with him. The Patriot Guard motorcycle riders escorted the ambulance to the hospital.

Although Melissa said she is happy to have Jamie home in Topeka where she and their daughters will be able to see him daily, he still has several more surgeries ahead.

Melissa said she wanted to get Jamie home where he would have more support. Throughout the difficulty of the past 10 months, she said, the family has “put God first.”

“It’s better that way, instead of asking, ‘Why me?’ ” Melissa said.

She said Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, was the couple’s one-year anniversary.

“Most people don’t spend their first year of marriage going through hell, but we did,” she said.

The future, she said, will be easier than the past 10 months.

Jarboe has undergone more than 100 surgeries, first at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, then at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was then transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Denver.

Jarboe was stationed at Fort Riley beginning in September 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan in February 2011.

 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012'Just Follow Me'
Images courtesy: Jarboe family


http://www.unknownsoldiersblog.com/2012/02/just-follow-me.html



Soldiers from the Army's 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment had spent several hours securing a perilous southern Afghanistan village on Apr. 10, 2011, when Sgt. Jamie Jarboe relayed an order to leave. The day's mission was accomplished, and it was time to head back to base.

"Just follow me," Sgt. Jarboe said.

The soldier recounted what happened next.

"I turned to my right, and before I put my foot on the ground, I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes," Jarboe told The Unknown Soldiers. "The scariest part was when I realized what happened."

An enemy sniper had shot Jamie just as he was leading the Pale Riders, as his unit is known, out of the area.

"The blood was soaking my clothes, and at this point I was like, 'Holy crap, I'm really hurt,'" the 27-year-old warrior said. "I remember looking at my hand, and it wouldn't even move, and that's when I started freaking out."

As he lay in the blood-soaked mud of Afghanistan, unable to take cover as a firefight erupted all around him, Jarboe thought of the woman he had just married on Valentine's Day and the two children at home who needed him. "If I'm going to succumb to these wounds," Jamie thought, "then it'll be on my own terms."

"I'm not dying out here," the Frankfort, Ind., soldier resolved. "I'm going to die someplace like America."

After passing out, Jarboe later woke up at the first of many hospitals he would visit in the United States.

"I made it," he thought. "I'm here."

Despite his iron will, it is often difficult for Jarboe to speak, and it's even harder for him to come to grips with the fact that he's paralyzed from the chest down. But whenever he needed to pause for a quick breather during our phone conversation, Melissa Jarboe, 32, spoke up to convey unconditional, unwavering support for her husband.

"I have an acceptance of a path that we're all chosen for," Melissa said. "We talked about it before he left."

Melissa demonstrates her faith even during the toughest moments, such as the time when one of her daughters asked who shot Jamie.

"I said, 'I don't know, but I want you to pray for him, even if he's the enemy,'" she recalled.

While God is a source of comfort, nothing could have prepared Melissa for seeing her husband in the hospital.

"The first time I got to see Jamie, I literally went into shock," she said. "He was trying to scream, but being hooked up to so many machines, he couldn't talk."

Having already deployed to Iraq, Jamie knew the risks of war. What frustrated him about Afghanistan, however, was rarely being able to see the enemy.

"You're always getting shot at from really close range," he said. "But because of the buildings, trees and farmland, it's hard to tell where it's coming from."

As Jamie lay in a Colorado hospital bed awaiting a transfer back to Maryland, where he would have surgery the next day at Johns Hopkins University, the wounded soldier and his wife repeatedly cited the courage of the children as a constant source of renewable strength.

"Both girls forfeited their Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent (the holidays) in the hospital with us," Melissa said. "Never once have they complained."

Jamie and Melissa never thought their first year of marriage would take place mostly inside hospital rooms. But ever since Sgt. Jarboe bravely told his fellow soldiers to "just follow me," support has poured into their lives via thousands of cards, emails and Facebook messages.

"It's all been very surprising to me," the grateful wounded warrior said in a soft, quiet voice.

Jamie and Melissa both asked several questions about what was going on in my life, as hearing about the day-to-day experiences of others helps them feel connected to the outside world. Someday soon, they hope their lives will regain some sense of normalcy.

"My goal is to be done with the hospitals," Jamie said. "I want to do what a father does and be what a husband's supposed to be."

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

Soldiers from the Army's 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment had spent several hours securing a perilous southern Afghanistan village on Apr. 10, 2011, when Sgt. Jamie Jarboe relayed an order to leave. The day's mission was accomplished, and it was time to head back to base.

"Just follow me," Sgt. Jarboe said.

The soldier recounted what happened next.

"I turned to my right, and before I put my foot on the ground, I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes," Jarboe told The Unknown Soldiers. "The scariest part was when I realized what happened."

An enemy sniper had shot Jamie just as he was leading the Pale Riders, as his unit is known, out of the area.

"The blood was soaking my clothes, and at this point I was like, 'Holy crap, I'm really hurt,'" the 27-year-old warrior said. "I remember looking at my hand, and it wouldn't even move, and that's when I started freaking out."

As he lay in the blood-soaked mud of Afghanistan, unable to take cover as a firefight erupted all around him, Jarboe thought of the woman he had just married on Valentine's Day and the two children at home who needed him. "If I'm going to succumb to these wounds," Jamie thought, "then it'll be on my own terms."

"I'm not dying out here," the Frankfort, Ind., soldier resolved. "I'm going to die someplace like America."

After passing out, Jarboe later woke up at the first of many hospitals he would visit in the United States.

"I made it," he thought. "I'm here."

Despite his iron will, it is often difficult for Jarboe to speak, and it's even harder for him to come to grips with the fact that he's paralyzed from the chest down. But whenever he needed to pause for a quick breather during our phone conversation, Melissa Jarboe, 32, spoke up to convey unconditional, unwavering support for her husband.

"I have an acceptance of a path that we're all chosen for," Melissa said. "We talked about it before he left."

Melissa demonstrates her faith even during the toughest moments, such as the time when one of her daughters asked who shot Jamie.

"I said, 'I don't know, but I want you to pray for him, even if he's the enemy,'" she recalled.

While God is a source of comfort, nothing could have prepared Melissa for seeing her husband in the hospital.

"The first time I got to see Jamie, I literally went into shock," she said. "He was trying to scream, but being hooked up to so many machines, he couldn't talk."

Having already deployed to Iraq, Jamie knew the risks of war. What frustrated him about Afghanistan, however, was rarely being able to see the enemy.

"You're always getting shot at from really close range," he said. "But because of the buildings, trees and farmland, it's hard to tell where it's coming from."

As Jamie lay in a Colorado hospital bed awaiting a transfer back to Maryland, where he would have surgery the next day at Johns Hopkins University, the wounded soldier and his wife repeatedly cited the courage of the children as a constant source of renewable strength.

"Both girls forfeited their Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent (the holidays) in the hospital with us," Melissa said. "Never once have they complained."

Jamie and Melissa never thought their first year of marriage would take place mostly inside hospital rooms. But ever since Sgt. Jarboe bravely told his fellow soldiers to "just follow me," support has poured into their lives via thousands of cards, emails and Facebook messages.

"It's all been very surprising to me," the grateful wounded warrior said in a soft, quiet voice.

Jamie and Melissa both asked several questions about what was going on in my life, as hearing about the day-to-day experiences of others helps them feel connected to the outside world. Someday soon, they hope their lives will regain some sense of normalcy.

"My goal is to be done with the hospitals," Jamie said. "I want to do what a father does and be what a husband's supposed to be."

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM