Student Helps Fellow Soldiers Return To Site Of Injuries

(Host) Norwich University freshman Ken Butler served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Three years ago, on his last tour, Butler lost his right arm when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb on the outskirts of Baghdad.   

As VPR's Steve Zind reports, Butler found that returning to Iraq and to the place where he was injured had a therapeutic affect. 

Now he's helping other wounded soldiers who want to go back.

(Zind)  Ken Butler doesn't remember leaving Iraq.  His memories begin weeks after he was injured when he was being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. 

It was there he met Rick Kell, who had started a foundation called Troops First. Kell hosted weekly dinners for wounded soldiers. Butler says one topic that came up time and again was the desire to return to Iraq. 

That's how Operation Proper Exit was born. In July of last year, Butler was one of a small group of soldiers who flew into Baghdad.  Once there, Butler took a helicopter ride over the spot where he'd been injured.

(Butler) "Looking at that spot, it let things play back in my head. It really was important for me to see that; to see that spot."

(Zind) Butler says it wasn't until he arrived in Iraq that he realized that since his injury, he'd felt defeated.

He says his deployment hadn't ended on his terms - it had ended on the enemy's terms. 

Going back to see where he'd been injured - and to see a country changed from when he'd served at the height of the violence - had a profound effect on him. 

(Butler) "It addresses something that I don't think can be addressed at a hospital here: overcoming defeat, and knowing that my investment - my time, putting my life on the line for the people of Iraq - paid off."

(Zind) Since Butler's group went to Iraq, more soldiers have returned to the scene of their injuries under Operation Proper Exit. 

This year Butler will go again, this time as a mentor. 

He'll return to his classes at Norwich this fall.  He's studying political science and plans to be a high school teacher.

For VPR News, I'm Steve Zind.

Click here to listen to Steve Zind's full interview with Ken Butler