My Buddy in Iraq has been hurt and is on his way home!!

I wish this was a post about my kids or my triathlon training or how my weightloss is going, but it isn't. It's to let you all know that my friend, Chris, has been hurt in Iraq. If you have known me long enough you know Chris is a household name which is spoken daily. Tonight I logged on my computer to find an email that Chris had been hurt in Iraq. This was his 2nd deployment. He left before Christmas and was supposed to be there a year to a year and a half. Well, he is on his way home via Germany. Here is the blog post from his wife, Melissa.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

He's going to be okay.....
Hello again,Well, I guess this isn't the best way to inform everyone. I just didn't know how else to get this done in a timely manner other wise. I received a call from Chris this morning. He is in Baghdad waiting transfer to Germany then onto the states. He was out on patrol yesterday (it was around 3 a..m. My time) and his humvee was hit by an IED. His tank crew and him are fine. His driver had minor injuries. His loader has burns on his face and various parts of his body. His gunner who was standing up out of the top of the humvee has a pretty messed up ankle with burns to his face and some to his hands. Chris has burns to his neck, hands, shoulder, and various parts of his body. He had to get 18 stitches on the back of his head from where debris hit him. He is in pain but has lots of medication right now. He still has his up beat happy go lucky personality and trying to stay tuff for his guys. He said I am Superman I can't die....so you know he is hanging in there.From what I know right now they are sending him on to Germany tonight or tomorrow. Then he will be coming to San Antonio for burn treatments after that. I don't know what they will do from there. He said it all depends on how bad his burns really are and how fast he can recover.I am sorry to post like this but I just wanted everyone to know what is going on and I will post as soon as I get more information that I can share with you all.


I wanted to share some pictures with you so you could put a face with a name. Here is Chris with his kids the morning he left for Iraq. Blake and Destiney are hanging on to him and Mason is next to him freezing. It was 4:30 am. The next picture is of Chris and a 26 day old Iraqi baby. Sorry the picture is so tiny. This was how his wife put it on her blog and I don't know how to make it bigger. Keep scrolling down.
Here is Chris and the Iraqi police that they work with. Chris is the American that is kneeling down.

Here is Chris with a group of Iraqi kids. It's amazing how quickly they will follow you when you are feeding them sweet tarts. Look how beautiful these children are.

I just got done IMing Melissa, Chris' wife. I let her know how much I love them, how much I am praying for them and that I am letting all my friends and family know, so they can keep them in your prayers. Please pray specifically for her as she tells her children. She has not told them yet. She wants them to finish out their school week. Thank you so much for letting me share my friend with you. Please scroll down for a poem I wrote.My Internet Soldier turned friend-By Melissa

I have a friend named Chris, who is serving in Iraq

He is like a brother to me, but it wasn't like that when we met

See he was just a name in a computer data base

and I was a civilan in the crowd with no face

I signed on to a website, it was just another day

Said I wanted someone in Iraq that I could support in every way

The next day my email read, we've got a soldier for you named Chris

I read it over and over, no detail to miss

I started writing letters and sending packages to him

He responded back and that made me grin

I started talking and emailing his wife

I could tell after a while this was going to change my life

See as time marched on our friendship grew

I not only supported him, I supported his family too

Even after he got home after his first time there

We stayed in touch, we were friends now, we all cared

We talked about the kids and Chris' BIKE

We talked about Church and the things we liked

That's why when he got the call to go back

It was a lot harder, we had all become attached

See I used to tell people I met this soldier on the net

But not anymore, he's a friend and that's that