operation DENALI 2009

Specialist David Shebib 
Hawr Rajab, Iraq December 2006         

It has been over a year since I almost died in a road side bomb attack in Hawr Rajb, Iraq. My wounds were so severe the average person would not have survived, with a severed carotid artery being the worst of a mile long list of other injuries. The doctors at Walter Reed thought the left side of my body would be paralyzed because of the stroke I had suffered from my injuries. After two weeks in ICU and a remarkable recovery, I am not paralyzed. I am not going to let my injuries prevent me from doing what I want to do in the future in the Army or in life. Once my recovery is finished, I plan on returning to full duty in the Army and taking on whatever life throws at me. I plan on summiting Denali in one years time with fellow warriors wounded in Iraq. I believe it would be the ultimate challenge for disabled war veterans to summit Denali. It is a way of bringing us closure from the wounds of war and a starting point on the rest of our lives.