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Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Here's one of the guys that the Senate refused to exempt from the new bankruptcy legislation
Posted by Jill | 12:30 PM

I hope Eric and Amanda Cagle don't have a lot of outstanding credit card debt and that they don't have to incur any, because every Republican in the Senate, along with 13 spineless Democrats, think these kids are "irresponsible" if they do have such debt:


Married just two years, Staff Sgt. Eric Cagle and his wife, Amanda, had modest hopes and dreams.

After Hawai'i, Eric, 25, wanted to be stationed in Colorado to be near mountains, and to teach his wife to snowboard and ski.

He loved the Army, intended to make it a career, and planned to become a helicopter pilot.

Together, they watched home-repair TV shows and dreamed of "something with cobblestones, old English-style architecture, vaulted ceilings," said Amanda, 23.

In a flash of high explosives, it was gone.

On Oct. 14, as Eric Cagle drove up to an Iraqi national guard compound in Huwijah, northern Iraq, a roadside bomb detonated, shredding one side of his Humvee.

Shrapnel knifed through his cheek under his left eye and embedded in his brain. For the Arizona man, a 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhound" out of Schofield Barracks, it was just the start of many bad things to come.

In surgery, his carotid artery burst, leading to a massive stroke. An infection caused swelling, and doctors were forced to remove the right side of his brain.

His right eye is sutured shut to allow an ulceration of the cornea to heal, and his left eye has only a sliver of sight.

Of the more than 270 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division (Light) and U.S. Army, Hawai'i, wounded in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, Cagle has the unenviable distinction of being the most seriously injured.

The avid runner joined the Army nearly seven years ago, in part because of the physical nature of soldiering. In Hawai'i, the Cagles loved snorkeling and hiking by Friendship Garden in Kane'ohe. He had previously deployed with the 101st Airborne Division to Afghanistan.

These days, everyday tasks are all the adventure Cagle can handle. He is mostly paralyzed on his left side and is confined to a wheelchair.

Making a bologna sandwich is a test of dexterity. The former squad leader's attention span is short, he nods off constantly, and in a cruel irony, as a result of his brain damage, he is more easily agitated and frustrated — exactly when he needs more patience.

[snip]

For the Cagles, recovery is a slow and uncertain process. Pretty much all of Eric's motor cortex on the right side of his brain and some of his frontal lobe is gone, Amanda said.

A dent on the right side of his head will be covered by a plate back at Walter Reed. He's expected to return there in May, his mom said.

His left eye droops because of scar tissue, and his smile is now a lopsided effort because of the paralysis.

A lot of involuntary actions such as blinking and swallowing now require extra effort from Cagle.

He has a short attention span, can forget to eat the food that's in front of him, and his emotions can be dulled or exaggerated.

Cagle himself is aware of the personality changes. One of his biggest frustrations is "not being who I used to be," he said. "I'm a different person. I do things differently."
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