We're coming up on the tenth anniversary of the U.S. led war in Afghanistan.
So far, there have been 1,429 U.S. deaths from Operation Enduring Freedom, according to icasualties.org.
Marine Sgt. Paul Boothroyd III of Midland is lucky not to be one of those.
Andrew Dodson of Booth Mid-Michigan has a piece on Boothroyd's remarkable story.
A sniper's bullet hit Boothroyd's Kevlar helmet while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.
Boothroyd thought the helmet stopped the bullet, but the bullet was later found lodged behind his right ear - millimeters away from a main artery and his spinal cord.
From the article:
Boothroyd III travels back to Midland this week with his wife Ashley Boothroyd from Maryland. Their 2-year-old son, Paul Boothroyd IV, is with his grandparents waiting for his parent’s return to Michigan. He enlisted in the Marines following high school. After acing a linguistics test, the Marines sent him to school, where he learned to speak modern and traditional dialects of Arabic, including Iraqi. After his time off in Midland, Boothroyd III plans to return to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina awaiting his next tour of duty. He says he appreciates his time off, but wants to return to the Middle East.
Boothroyd says he looks forward to "get back to the fight."
