Six years after losing part of his arm while serving in Iraq and retiring from the Army, Sgt. Dave Sterling was asked to meet with a general.
?It?s kind of like getting called to the principal?s office,? Sterling told fourth graders at Lincoln Elementary School Thursday afternoon. ?I didn?t know what was going to happen.?
It turned out to be a good surprise. Sterling was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the third-highest honor for valor in combat.
?When we were wounded, I did something the Army thought was rare and special,? he told students.
Sterling spared much of the details of the event from students, saying only that he continued to return fire for 45 minutes after he was shot by a rocket-propelled grenade while serving as a gunner on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Later, that same Bradley unit was returned to the U.S. Sterling climbed to the top and posed for a photo, seated next to the hole where the missile penetrated through the metal and into his body. In the photo, he holds up the metal hook he now uses in place of a hand.
Sgt. David Sterling shows Lincoln Elementary School fourth graders a photo of him in military uniform when he first joined the Army. Sterling discussed his service at the school Thursday. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
Sterling served in the 16th Infantry of the 1st Battalion (?The Big Red One?), based in Fort Riley. He flew to a former Iraq air force base in Kuwait in September 2003, which he called home for the next several months. His unit was responsible for a variety of services. They patrolled the area, looking for bombs or providing security. Protecting a bridge over the Euphrates River, allowing access for both the military and the locals, was an essential part of the job.
The base where he was stationed had no electricity, no air conditioning and no bathroom or showers. Stacks of sandbags around portable toilets protected against incoming fire. When Sterling first landed in Kuwait, the temperature on the runway sat at 123 degrees. Nearby, oil bubbled from the ground like water.
As a gunner, Sterling would focus the Bradley?s 25mm shells on a target up to two miles away. The machine could fire other types of weapons, but Sterling said he liked the 25mm best.
Once, a Bradley ran over an improvised explosive device (IED). The impact threw the 40-ton vehicle into the air and slammed it back to the ground, causing significant damage to the vehicle.
The incident that cost Sterling his arm took place on April 6, 2004 ? the day before his 23rd birthday.
Nobody from his platoon died while he was there, but Sterling wasn?t sure how many were injured and received purple hearts. In addition to his lost arm, three of the men he served alongside came home missing a leg.
