Triple-amputee soldier would go back to war tomorrow

Triple-amputee soldier would go back to war 'tomorrow, if I could'

Published: Sunday, December 25, 2011 By Paul Rioux, The Times-Picayune

 Not long after a roadside bomb killed three members of his unit and seriously injured seven others in Afghanistan, Army Pfc. Kevin Trimble got a rare bit of good news: He had been cleared to return home to New Orleans for Christmas.

“I was planning to keep it a secret and surprise everyone by sneaking in the back door,” said Trimble, 19. But another bomb went off in mid-September, killing a soldier and critically injuring Trimble, who lost both legs and his left arm.

A 2010 graduate of New Orleans Science and Math High School, Trimble has been recovering at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where doctors are so pleased with his progress that they granted him a two-week leave to come home for Christmas. But instead of slipping in the back door, Trimble arrived home to a hero’s welcome Dec. 17, escorted by a half-dozen police cars and a motorcycle group that honors veterans. When the motorcade stopped in front of the Trimble home on Mayo Boulevard, he swung himself from a sport-utility vehicle and dropped into a wheelchair adorned with two American flags. read more here