Edinger's strength and resolve helped him survive tragic ordeal

mail tribune ^ | 9th May | Paul Fattig

[chuck_the_tv_out]

Liz Edinger will never forget that telephone call, the one dreaded by any worried parent of a uniformed son or daughter in harm's way in Afghanistan or Iraq.

"Nick called and asked if I was sitting down," she said. "I sat down, and he said, 'Mom, my left foot is missing.' "

"This is six hours after it happened," added Scott Edinger, her husband and Nick's father. "He said, 'I stepped on a land mine but don't worry, I'm going to be fine.' "

Army Cpl. Nick Edinger, 22, lost his left foot to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on March 30.

Within eight hours after receiving the call, Liz, a staff nurse in the emergency room at Rogue Valley Medical Center, was at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

"It really opened up my eyes — seeing all the wounded," said Scott, a building contractor who visited their son at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he now is recovering.

"Nick is so lucky that is all he lost," he added. "There are so many wounded there."

While in Germany, Liz observed that the plane taking their son to Walter Reed had four buses backed up to it filled with wounded. Three such flights leave each week, she said.

They observed the Army is taking good care of the wounded.

[Recon Dad]

You can not appreciate this subject if you have not lived it, believe me.