We see the news stories every day. So much so that it becomes almost routine. A terrorist detonates a bomb killing themselves and many others… Gunfire in any number of areas… An IED (Improvised Explosive Device) detonates killing and injuring those nearby…
It has become background noise to those of us who have not been there. It becomes a brief on the evening news or a small headline tucked on the inside pages of the newspaper. It is not so for those who come back and for those families of the ones who do not. Some bring back scars in their own mind to dwell with them for years to come. Still others return incomplete… Injured and broken… Such is the case of Corporal J. B. Kerns.
Cpl. Kerns is from a small town in the southwestern area of Virginia. Afghanistan is a long way away and a completely alien landscape to the hills and mountain views of Ararat, VA, yet Kerns was on a third tour of duty when an IED changed everything. He survived but with the loss of much of his right arm and both legs. Dozens of surgeries and hours of rehabilitation now have J.B. Kerns standing upright and walking but with the knowledge it is not all flesh and bone that carries his weight. There is much left to do. There are special needs for a young man like this, who is only now on the cusp of his 22nd birthday. He is home on American soil and soon will have a home of his own specifically built with these needs in mind thanks to the help from a Community, A Star and a Speedway. (more…)
