FAIRBANKS -- Fort Wainwright soldiers injured after a roadside bomb explosion three months ago in Afghanistan were reunited at Fairbanks International Airport with the return of Cpl. Leland Arledge.
On Sept. 19, Arledge was driving a truck that was escorting gravel trucks building a new road in Kandahar province when it hit the bomb.
Staff Sgt. Stephan Fernandez was a passenger in the truck. He was one of those who came to the airport to welcome Arledge home Tuesday night. He recounted what happened next.
"The truck went up in the air, lost four tires in the front, came back down," Fernandez said.
The impact knocked out a second soldier, who also was on hand for the airport reunion, although as a result of a head injury he has no memory of that day.
Fernandez heard screams for help from the two conscious soldiers. The situation was especially dire for Arledge in the front of the truck. The engine compartment fell on him.
"He was getting burned pretty bad from the vehicle fluids," Fernandez said.
All four soldiers escaped the truck. With Arledge's arrival, all are now back in Fairbanks.
The soldiers are members of the Fifth Squadron, First Cavalry regiment, 1st Infantry Division, part of the 4,000-member 25th Stryker Brigade. The brigade left for Afghanistan in April on a one-year deployment.
Friends and family from the squadron gathered at the airport half an hour before Arledge's arrival, just as they have for other soldiers who returned home early.
At about 10 p.m. Arledge came down the elevator into the airport lobby. He sat in a wheelchair with his right leg propped up and filled with screws. He balanced a cowboy hat on his left knee.
"So many people," he said. "It's so good to see the guys from the truck."
On the day his truck hit the bomb the other three soldiers saved his life, he said. "If it hadn't been for them, I would have been burned alive."
Since the blast, he's been in a series of hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and most recently San Antonio, Texas. Switching from active life as a scout to being dependent on others is difficult, but he has received excellent care, he said.
He said he hopes to recover and rejoin his unit.
"Our guys are still over there, still deployed, and they're still pushing through and gaining ground," he said. "They hurt us but they don't stop us."
By SAM FRIEDMAN
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner