McKinley Mosley
Mr. Osbon
10th Honors Literature
20 August 2014 2B
War Veteran Research Essay Being a soldier in was can be a very traumatic experience, especially for one Pennsylvania man. Sgt. Jason Simms was badly injured while driving a light armored vehicle in Iraq after and IED explosion. Simms tells that while he and his friend Lance Cpl. Timothy Creager were driving their vehicle, something went terribly wrong. An IED exploded killing Creager and seriously injuring Simms. His hands, his face, and his head caught fire. Desperately trying to get out of the vehicle, his leg was hit by three bullets. After fellow Marines put out the flames, Simms was put on his platoon leader’s vehicle where he was then taken to a medical center. However, …show more content…
He has hundreds of pieces of shrapnel in his feet and legs, third degree burns on his hands and face, and over 20 skin graph operations. He had to have his sweat glands and his pinky finger removed. He has nerve damage in both his legs and his feet. Simms said, “If I am on my feet all day, the bottoms of my feet feel like I am walking on jagged metal pieces.” Another physical injury Simms faced was that the tendons and arteries in his right leg had been ripped by shrapnel. The arteries were reattached and his Achilles tendon was extended. He still has to see a dermatologist at the VA hospital. A couple mental injuries he faces include post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic injuries to his brain. Simms wife says, “Everyone else would never know that he is in pain. What he sees as flaws I see as strengths.” Despite all of that, Simms and his wife were expecting to have a son in May. In memory of Creager and his love for bull riding, they named their child Ryder, like bull rider. Marine Sgt. Jason Simms won the 2013 Dickies American Hero of the Year Award. He was chosen for the award among 800 nominees. He and his wife are using the prize money to build a nursery for new babies. Simms is greatly honored to have won the award. He is a great American