Third Way Dispatch

August 24, 2006

Editor’s Note:

Sean continues to recover from his wounds, but he still has no use of his right arm. In an attempt to repair that problem, he had surgery this week to graft several nerves taken from his legs into his shoulder and neck. The surgery went well – the surgeons liked the nerves they got from his legs and were generally pleased – but they won’t know for 9-12 months whether the graft will take.

Unfortunately, Charlie Company suffered its first fatality recently – Sean’s friend Lance Cpl Kurt Dechen was killed in a sniper attack on August 3, his 24th birthday. He was shot in the abdomen – the bullet missed his armor by inches. Others from Sean’s unit, who were unable to deploy to Iraq, stood as an honor guard by his casket. As one of the Marines movingly put it, the end of Kurt’s Marine Corps career will probably be the highlight of mine.

Cpl. Marshall “Randy” Collins Jr.,a Marine infantryman with the 4th platoon of Charlie Company, wrote an account of the incident that killed Lance Cpl Kurt Dechen and injured Lance Cpl. Adam Escobar, which has been posted by The Day, a newspaper in New London, Connecticut. Click Here to read his posting.

On a brighter note, 3 others from Sean’s unit (including Lance Cpl. Escobar) are in Bethesda with him, but all are doing well. One was hit in the femur, and the doctors inserted a rod to fix it. 2 others were wounded in a grenade attack and have nasty looking but not too serious wounds.

Sean has asked us to report that Lcpl. Escobar is doing very well. He is still on crutches and it will be a while until he can walk again on his own, but he should be getting out of the hospital at Bethesda soon (perhaps this week).