Wounds don't stop reservist
Associated Press
An Army reservist from the Big Island who is recovering from wounds received in Iraq says he would like to go back and rejoin his comrades in arms from Hawai'i.
Lt. Anthony E. John • U.S. Army
"Man, that would be great. I could join my guys back up in Baghdad, and come home together," Sgt. Aaron Carvalho said at Tripler Army Medical Center.
Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly presented the Purple Heart to Sgt. Aaron Carvalho at Tripler Army Medical Center. For the presentation on Sunday, Carvalho was joined by his mother, Carrie; father, Mark; and girlfriend, Tracey Hashimoto — who all flew in from Hilo.
Carvalho, a unit supply specialist from Company A of the Hawai'i-based 411th Engineer Combat Battalion, was awarded the Purple Heart on Sunday by Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve.
Carvalho, 22, was wounded in August while driving a Humvee near Baghdad. His right thigh was ripped open by a homemade remote-control bomb.
"At first you think that you are going to die and you think, 'Man, it happened,' " Carvalho said.
"The smoke cleared and I looked down and I just saw my leg was just busted open."
Seated next to him in the Humvee was another Hawai'i soldier, Staff Sgt. Juanita Wilson, who remains under treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
"She was carrying her arm and there was just blood everywhere. It was pretty horrible," Carvalho said.
Carvalho said that despite his wounds, he kept the Humvee moving just to get out of the area.
"You don't want to stay around when your vehicle blows up, because normally that's just to get you to stop," he said. "The pain must have been pretty intense, but I really wasn't thinking about that. I was just thinking about staying alive and coming home."
Carvalho, a St. Joseph High School graduate, said he was surprised by life in Camp Victory, next to Baghdad International Airport.
"It's nothing like what I thought going to war would be like," he said. "They treat us great up there."
He cited comfortable housing, good and plentiful food, and the presence of many other soldiers from Hawai'i.
"You always meet people from the Islands that are in different units that are active duty, and they see us and they come, and it's easy to make friends," he said.
As for the Iraqi people, Carvalho said he found them to be friendly.
"A lot of them, if not all that I saw, they really want us there and they're happy," he said.
"They honk their horns when we drive by. They wave. They smile."
Some 300 reservists from the battalion were sent to Iraq in March.
