Injured Vicksburg soldier home, and he’s happy to be here|[06/15/08]
Published 12:00 am Sunday, June 15, 2008
When 5-year-old Kayleigh Beard saw her father, Sgt. Brad Beard, for the first time since November she took one look at his injured right arm and asked, “Can you still spank?”
Brad Beard, 30, who was injured while serving in Iraq on March 20, is nearing the end of a long and difficult road that has included 18 surgeries and extensive therapy. He has finally made it home to Vicksburg and his family; and it was just in time for Father’s Day.
“It’s great to be home,” Beard said. “Being home is the easy part of all this.”
Beard was born with the military in his blood. Just after graduating from Warren Central High School in 1996 he joined the Marines. In 2000, he left the Marines to start a family; however, he quickly found he missed the military lifestyle. After a 4-year hiatus he joined the Army.
“Some people are just made for the military life,” said his stepmother, Patti Beard. “Brad is definitely one of them.”
A mechanic for the Army, Brad Beard was called for his first service in Iraq in March 2007 and remained there until July. Then, after only 4 months at home he was called back. He deployed on Nov. 17.
“We weren’t at all thrilled when he was called back,” said Patti Beard. “We thought he’d be safe because he was a mechanic, but they have to go out into the bad areas, too. There’s just a fear that something is going to happen.”
And in this case that fear was founded. Patti Beard and her husband, Barry Beard, received word March 20 that Brad had just been injured.
“We got a call from the Department of the Army,” Patti Beard said. “All they could tell us was that he was alive but he was in very serious condition. The members of his team were the ones who saved us from the panic. They called and told us he was in surgery in Baghdad.”
The injuries came as Brad Beard and several other members of his team were conducting a joint operation between United States troops and the Iraqi National Police. As they were leaving the operation an RPG, or rocket propelled grenade, hit their vehicle.
“We went in and grabbed seven bad guys,” recalled Brad Beard. “Then, just as we started to leave, an explosion happened. I was the only one injured, thank God.”
Brad Beard, who was manning the gun on top of the Humvee at the time of the explosion, was slammed into the vehicle by the blast. He landed directly in the lap of his close friend, Sgt. Adam Novak, who also is the team medic.
“I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” Beard said. “It was hot, and all I could see was red. Novak kept yelling at me and slapping me in the face. Finally I just looked up at him. I couldn’t figure out why he was yelling.
“I never lost consciousness,” he said. “Novak applied two tourniquets. Those saved my arm