美国大兵负伤仍然坚持上阵

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We do have a story that inspires and reminds you of the stuff our fighting forces are made of. Bob Woodruff, our own Bob Woodruff told us so few a while back about Sgt. Dan Powers, his injury and his determination to get back on the job. Well, here we bring you up to date. Wow, Bob.

Well, you know, he’s got this unbelievable, unheard-of really this injury before. You know, he is the guy that got this great will though, a lot of these doctors, these other soldiers around can’t believe that he lived. They can’t believe he is able to communicate later on. But, now, he wants to go back to the war, to be with his colleagues, to be with his friends. Just take a look at this, you should be amazed.

"Dan Powers, 2983"

Sgt. Dan Powers could have left the army, hung up his combat gear and called it a career, but that thought never entered his mind.

“What do your friends say when you tell them you are doing this?”

“They say I’m crazy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Powers had narrowly escaped death in Iraq, and now, his return to duty was nearly complete.

“It means my life has come full circle, and I’m at the same place I was before I got hurt.”

“I’m gonna go up with you, I'll watch you from up there.”

We first met Sgt. Powers at Fort Bragg two years ago as he was recovering from a combat injury as bizarre as it was severe. The X-Ray says it all. An Iraqi insurgent had inched up behind Powers on a Bagdad’s street, plunging a large knife into his skull, perilously close to his brain.

“He had no idea what really happened.”

Army Medic Ryan Webb rushed to stabilize Powers, and to keep him calm.

“I did have to fight a few people off that came by and were like 'Whoa, you’ve got a knife sticking out of your head.”

Incredibly, Powers remained conscious and alert as he was rushed to a combat hospital.

“When you said that, did you even know you had a knife in your head?”

“No, I did not.”

“How long did it take you to finally realize it?”

“Oh, they said you got a knife in your head and I kind of looked up, oh my god, so I do.”

Stunned doctors and nurses rolled video cameras as they prepared to remove the knife, which they did, saving Power’s life.

“I’ve been running into people that I served within Iraq, and they said, wow, you are still here.”

And the two years since Sgt. Powers has worked tirelessly to return to his airborne brigade.  

“He has never accepted defeat. He has never quit, not one day.”

The final step in his recovery would be out of the back of C-130 aircraft, 1,250 feet above the bay, off the coast of Key West.

“The best part was, when the ramp opened and they said stand by, and I said, that's it, here we go.”

The brigade's senior officer was the first to jump, then two seconds later, Powers was off, aloft in the swirling wind and feeling on top of the world.

“And my chute opened, there I was, hanging up at about 1000 feet. it was great.”

Watching from a command boat below, Powers’ wife, Trudy, was overcome.

“It was awesome. I actually I started crying. It was really emotional.”

Moments later, 28 of Powers’ fellow soldiers followed him into the sky. “It was a spectacular aerial show of solidarity for their brother in arms.

“He has done more for the brigade than he’ll ever realize. He set an example for every single paratrooper in this brigade.”

Powers says he dedicated his jump to all the people who worked to save his life.

“I feel I owed it to so many people who’s put so much effort into saving little me, and to all the guys that were not as lucky as I was.”

You know, Diane, he’s gonna be now deployed again back to Afghanistan about two weeks from now. In mid-July, he is gonna be back with the military police for the next twelve months. Here’s a guy that just wanna go back to that team, back to his friends, and he is going.

Forever hear about the brothers you have to go back with the brothers. I hear him say 'little me', hardly, but his wife is letting him go back, I mean his family. I think I’d be just holding on.

Yeah, I can't get my wife to allow me to go back very easily, but he got his.

Well, we salute him in every possible way. And thank you Bob for the story.

Vocabulary:

1.       a while back: 一段时间之前、不久之前

2.       come full circle: to return to an earlier or first position or situation after leaving it

3.       bizarre: very unusual or strange

4.       inch: to move very slowly in a particular direction, or to make something do this

5.       airborne brigade: 空降旅

6.       aloft: high up in the air

7.       brother in arms: 战友

8.       paratrooper: 伞兵