Soldier Injured in Syria Blast in Critical Condition

Captain Jonathan Turnbull while deployed to Afghanistan. U.S. Army Photo.

Captain Jonathan Turnbull was one of three who were wounded in a Syria blast that killed four Americans. He was flown to Baghdad, where surgeons stabilized his condition. Then, he was flown to Germany for more substantive treatment.

According to friends and family, he’s in critical condition. His condition is the kind where doctors don’t know which way his recovery would turn. His family has requested prayers for him.

This explosion killed additional personnel, and appears to be the work of ISIS. More from Stars and Stripes:

Turnbull was slated to return home days before last week’s blast, friends and family have said, but his deployment got extended.

The family received the news that he’d been wounded a few days later, his sister-in-law Sarah Williams told ABC12 News.

“‘Freedom isn’t free.’ He always said that. We didn’t realize the cost of that until 24 hours ago,” she said. “We’re very thankful that he’s going to survive. We didn’t think that at one point.”

Surgeons in Iraq had removed shrapnel and placed a shunt in Turnbull’s head to relieve pressure on his brain, his cousin wrote on the GoFundMe page that’s since been closed. He had lost vision in his eye, said Erin Turnbull. It’s unclear if he regained his vision.

In a post shared by others on social media, a pastor at Jonathan Turnbull’s hometown church said his injuries also included a broken pelvis and a fractured skull.

His deployment to Syria was supposed to be his last, some family members had said.

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Category: Syria