ARCHDALE, N.C– Absolutely nothing was going to stop Jeremy Young from coming back to North Carolina, not even being shot a dozen times in Afghanistan.
“It’s been a long road, but it feels good to be back home,” Young said.
The 23-year-old graduate from Trinity High School was ambushed during an attack on July 3, 2011 while helping train Afghan soldiers. Young says the Afghan soldier used a U.S.supplied M249 Squad Automatic during the shooting.
He remembers almost every detail.
“From the time the guy came in and I met him, I was about five feet away from him to the time he shot me, I hit the ground, to the time he shot me while I was on the ground, to the time he threw the weapon down and ran,” Young said.
Young was sent to a hospital in Afghanistan after the shooting, then transferred to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. He has nerve damage to his hands and legs.
“I can’t move anything from the calf down, I can’t move my ankle or my toes,” Young said.
During his rehabilitation, thousands of people sent prayers and support for him. Young’s mom Sherry Aikens updated his progress through Facebook.
Aikens says she was getting messages from as far away as England.
“We had people from Australia, England all over this country praying for him and sending him care packages. We had to run a trailer just to bring his stuff home,” Aikens said.
Young will go to Fort Bragg next month where it’s likely he’ll have another surgery.
He’ll be medically discharged from the Army.
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