Medal of Honor - SFC Petry

 Medal of Honor recipient SFC Petry

I had the opportunity to listen to SFC Petry tell his story yesterday at our battalion town hall meeting. There are many soldiers who have been deployed and paid the ultimate sacrifice. There are also many that have been injured while serving. I'm currently in a WTB (Warrior Transition Battalion) which is full of broken soldiers who have injuries from physical to mental. SFC Petry is a ranger that has been deployed multiple times, seen soldiers die and get injured. He was injured and ended up earning the medal of honor while trying to throw an enemy grenade back after it landed next to his soldiers. He lost his right hand in the attempt and now wears a prosthetic right hand. You can read all about him at http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/petry/.

He shared his story about his life both before and after getting injured. He is a humble guy who really wants to help out others. During his speech, he mentioned something that really stuck with me. He was visiting a couple other wounded warriors at a hospital and said a gentleman came up to him and thanked him for his service. SFC Petry has a prosthetic right hand now, and that same gentleman mentioned something about the sacrifice SFC Petry has made and then went on about his business. SFC Petry said he has come a long way and can get pretty much everything done along with his prosthetic hand. He also got shot in the legs and those wounds still constantly hurt him today unlike his prosthetic hand. The couple of wounded warriors that he was visiting during this process both looked normal on the outside, but they had suffered bullet wounds that tore up their insides. They were both in pain constantly and one had a colostomy. You couldn't see the bag that held his feces because it was under his shirt. SFC Petry said that there are a lot of us that don't have wounds you can see, but just like the constant pain in his legs, these soldier are dealing with pain in some sort or another.

All of us in the WTB can relate to this message. This happens to be my case. I didn't get deployed and I may look normal on the outside, but I'm in quite a bit of constant pain on the inside because of my issues. Hopefully others will remember that even if the wound isn't visible, a lot of us are still dealing with injuries and pain all the time.

SFC Petry elected to stay in the service and is still contributing everyday even with his prosthetic right hand and the constant pain in his legs that nobody sees. It was an honor to meet him and hear his story.