Home safe from Afghanistan, but just barely

Home safe from Afghanistan, but just barely

By KEVIN ABOUREZK
Lincoln Journal Star
Posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2011


Tom Brewer's two-year tour of duty in Afghanistan ended Friday with a flash and a bang, just 24 hours before he was to leave the country for Christmas leave.

The 53-year-old Nebraska native and U.S. Army Reserve colonel was injured when the SUV he was standing next to was hit hard in the rear by a grenade. Brewer has spent the past two years helping train Afghanistan's security forces to prepare for America's planned departure in 2014.

"Sometimes, it seems to work that way," he said. "As you get to the end, you tend to be less concerned about some of the negative things that can happen to you. Afghanistan is very unforgiving."

On Friday, he was with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official at about 6:30 p.m., having just finished with a meeting at Camp Phoenix focused on planning for a National Guard division's planned departure and a Texas brigade's planned arrival. He and the DEA official were driving on the northern edge of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, when their vehicle hit a metal rod that flattened a tire.
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