Pocono News Section

Soldier from Mountain Top Injured in Afghanistan

Soldier from Mountain Top Injured in Afghanistan - Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 11:40PM EST

Reported by: Drew Speier
Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 @ 11:40pm EST
MOUNTAIN TOP, LUZERNE COUNTY- A soldier from Mountain Top has been injured in Afghanistan. Marine Sergeant Kyle Shanley was wounded a few days ago when he was thrown from his vehicle during an IED attack.

Eyewitness News visited his family in Mountain Top. They tell us Sergeant Shanley is lucky to be alive.

At the Shanley's home, an American flag flies on the front porch, with a worried mother inside. Carin Shandley said, "I knew that they were going to be right in the middle of everything."

Sergeant Kyle Shanley's mom, Carin's intuition was right. When her son was deployed to southern Afghanistan in May, she knew it was going to be a dangerous mission. "He was in a convoy, he was in the third vehicle out of six and their vehicle hit an I-E-D along side the road," she said.

It happened last week. Kyle, a Special Forces Marine recon scout sniper and some of his men were part of Operation Strike of the Sword when their vehicle was hit. "He was in the turret which was the very top and got thrown from the vehicle and hit his cheekbone and jawbone, he crushed his cheekbone and his jawbone is fractured," said Carin.

But Kyle survived the attack and called his parents with the news last Friday. His dad Jim Shanley said, "His words were basically I'm in the hospital. I'm okay, actually I'm walking around as I talk to you."

Mom, Carin, knew everything was going to be okay when she had her chance to speak with Kyle during that short phone call. "He was joking, said he wanted to have a slurpee and that it looks like he lost a fight with a baseball bat," she said.

Kyle will need surgery but is expected to make a full recovery. It's the first time Kyle has been injured. He also spent some time in Iraq. The 25-year old marine enlisted four years ago and tonight on the front porch his parents looked at pictures, letters from home collected in a special scrap book, for a special son, who knew he wanted to be a marine.

"I asked why the Marines, he said I want to test myself against the best and we found out he continues to be the best through the corps, he's definitely our hero," added Jim.

Sergeant Shanley is being flown from Germany to Andrews Air Force Base, then to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland for surgery. His parents are leaving Friday so they can be by his side.