Posted on 08/21/2007 12:56:23 PM PDT by uxbridge
PFC. Brendan Schweigart has a Purple Heart and now he wants the bullet that passed through him.
The reason?
The bullet is still in his Bible.
From his hospital bed in Rustamiyah, Baghdad, Schweigart said by Internet phone to the Daily Reporter he has a long road of recovery head and his commanders are working on getting his Bible back.
Last week, while recovering an Army vehicle in Iraq, Schweigart, 22, was shot by a high-powered rifle and had a bullet pass through his arm and chest. The bullet went through his nipple and into his Bible. Hitting the Bible may have saved his life.
“I was very, very lucky ... it just missed every organ, including my heart,” said Schweigart. “I got the Bible in boot camp. I always carry it. Just because I usually read it a lot. I read it in basic and I felt I should not go into combat without it.
“The way the bullet hit the Bible, it didn't hit the front cover, it hit it the skinny way and it stopped it from ricocheting into my (protective armor) plate and back into my chest,” he added.
Schweigart said he can't feel his pinky and half his ring finger back to his wrist.
“Other than that, nothing really major is wrong. I'm up and walking,” he said. “I'm on physical therapy with the doctors, but I'm on bed rest. It gets boring, so I get up and walk around to stay up and stay healthy.”
Schweigart had originally wanted to sign up for a second tour. Now, he wants to come home for his visit in late December, finish his final 15 months and return home for good.
“I was going to stay, but I really don't enjoy it anymore,” he said. “We have dealt with IEDs and multiple bombs - two have hit my truck, hit my door actually. And a rocket-propelled grenade just missed the front of my truck. Now I was just shot by a sniper.
“I'm going to get out, I'm going to do my enlistment and get out,” he added.
Schweigart also described getting shot.
“It felt like someone took a sledgehammer and hit me. I didn't realize it did as much damage as it did, but I knew I was hit immediately,” he said. “First I went down, I was dragged by Staff Sergeant Villalobos and Pvt. Lee - they dragged me behind a truck, then another truck came and (blocked them from where the shot came from). I actually got up and walked with a little help to a tank, about 30 to 35 feet and made it back in.”
Schweigart said the pain started when he hit the ground and it continues today. But between the pain and treatment, he shares the story of the Bible.
“It's very interesting. The funny thing is, no one realized it hit the Bible,” Schweigart said. “My Lt. Colonel was standing next to me and asked me if I needed anything. I said ‘yeah, I need my Bible.' He reached in my pocket and saw it, and there was the bullet.”
Now he's trying to get it back.
“I have to do a lot of paperwork to fill out to get it,” he explained. “Because the bullet is fully intact, it's considered a war trophy. But my leadership is on top of that so I can bring it home.”
Home means seeing his father, Clark, his mother, Kim, and his siblings.
“I am very anxious to get home ... being away so much is tough,” he said.
Schweigart calls home often, and when he was home on leave, he spoke to kids at Andover Central School. He said the kids in Iraq are different.
“Kids try to get everything they can from me, water, flashlights, food and they have no discipline,” he said. “Where are their parents? Who knows. I had five-, six-year olds coming to the gate, no parents, the kids were doing what they wanted.”
He said the interpreters and other adults in Iraq “love what we are doing and support what we are doing here.”
In Iraq, Schweigart explained he is in danger each day recovering Army vehicles which were bombed.
“It is dangerous, I actually do recovering of vehicles which get hit by IEDs. I have to go get the big tanks. It's always a dangerous environment,” he said. “We go on a blackout when something happens, all communication gets cut off, so obviously that's when my mom worries.
“We get mortared too. Sometimes once or twice a day, sometimes every other day. We get mortared five times a week,” he said. “That is terrible because you don't know when those are going to hit,” he continued. “When they hit, you run for the closest bunker. We live in a hardened building with a cement top and we stand in the hallway and hope it doesn't hit the building.
“Hopefully, I won't be here again,” he added. “I've seen enough for hundreds of people.”
Five years ago, Schweigart's uncle, Robert Harding (a Greenwood native) was hit by a roadside bomb and he also received a Purple Heart.
“I was kinda surprised when I got it, I thought, ‘Wow, a Purple Heart. I got it only three days after I was shot. Usually it takes longer than that,” he said. “I also received a CAB (Combat Action Badge). I talked to my uncle the other day. When he was over here, he got a Purple Heart. So that's two for the family.”
Schweigart is looking forward to seeing a friend from Tennessee who is also stationed in Iraq, and when he gets home, his childhood friend, Mike Pitts, who was in for eight years and returned home. He also wants to get back into music, as he was a drummer in a band. He is worried he may have permanent nerve damage that would prevent that.
But most of all, he wants to see his family.
“I'm just looking forward to seeing my family, relaxing, going to McDonald's and having a beer,” he said. “And I can't wait to eat at home. Mom is a very good cook!”
Now THIS is one terrific story!
Great story but good grief this is ridiculous!
For God’s sake, powers that be at the Pentagon, give this soldier hero his Bible back!
God Bless you, PFC Schweigart. You have done your duty and tempted fate more than enough. Thank you for your service and stay safe until you can return home.
This story may be able to help this soldier find the bullet in the Bible;
http://wes-downrange.blogspot.com/2007/08/spec-alison-k-i-guess-ive-done-my-duty.html
Good luck and best wishes, sir!
Very poetic- the Word of God saves a life.
Can't seem to find it.
Thanks.
Give this man his Bible and the bullet. He’s EARNED them both.
Maybe then I can find the date.
Must have been the beginning of August...article is dated Aug 8 and says that he was shot "last week"
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