Welcome Back

In the midst of the celebration over Sgt. Matthew Gobble's return home, retired Col. Dave Ulmer brought some pathos to the proceedings.

Ulmer told Gobble, who was injured July 13 while serving in Afghanistan, to ask for help if he needed it, for the memories of his time overseas, both good and bad, will stay with him for the rest of his life.

"He's going to go through some rough times," he said.

Ulmer is a veteran of the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. He still remembers the day in 1965, two days after Christmas, when his best friend was killed in combat. He remembers taking off his friend's helmet, which contained a Bible wrapped in plastic. The Bible contained pictures of his friend's girlfriend and his family.

Ulmer said he has cried many

times over the years and suffered from post-traumatic stress.

Gobble smiled during most of the homecoming festivities Monday night, showing a brave face and walking first with just one crutch and then with none, limping a little and pledging that he would be fully recovered in the next month or so.

Deadly attack

Gobble, 24, a Thomasville native, joined the Army soon after graduating from East Davidson High School. He was serving a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan when nearly 200 Taliban insurgents attacked a remote American-run outpost near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Nine American soldiers were killed, including Cpl. Pruitt Rainey of Haw River. At least 15 were wounded, including Gobble.

It was the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years. Soon after the attack, the United States abandoned the outpost, according to news reports.

"Every single one of them fought hard," Gobble said of the soldiers who died, adding that they helped save his life. And then he paused a long while before saying, "I'm really happy to be home."

His father, Mike Gobble, heard the news of the attack while celebrating his birthday at his parents' house. The phone rang, and when Gobble answered it, a man on the other end said he was an Army captain.

"I lost it," Mike Gobble said. "I knew a captain wasn't calling to wish me a happy birthday."

He learned that his son had been hit with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade and that he had been airlifted to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he would spend several weeks recovering.

"There's no way to prepare yourself," Mike Gobble said. "You always wonder about it. I thought I was braced for something like that. I found out very quickly I wasn't."

Shrapnel was embedded in the left side of Matthew's body, and he had to have surgery on his left knee to remove some of it, his father said. Doctors told Matthew that shrapnel in the other parts of his body would work its way out on its own, he said.

On Monday night, Matthew Gobble stepped off a plane at Piedmont Triad International Airport. Supporting himself with a crutch, he walked to the airport's public waiting area, where his family and friends hugged him. His father was there with Gobble's stepmother, Marsha Gobble, and his mother, Sandra Gobble.

His mother couldn't keep her eyes dry. She said she was proud of her son. She had just talked to him Saturday. He had told her that even if he had to walk, he was going to come home.

Gobble is home for about a month and then will head out to join his unit in Vicenza, Italy. While he is in Thomasville, he hopes to sleep late, ride motorcycles and visit family and friends, he said.

After leaving the airport, Gobble was driven to Thomasville, where he found streets lined with people waving American flags and holding signs bearing his name.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this type of support," he told the crowd that had gathered to welcome him home.

Remembering them

Being in the military, he said, is often a thankless job, and it meant a lot to see how much people cared about him and the other soldiers who are still over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I really appreciate it," he said. "I really do."

James and Alisha Dale helped organize Gobble's homecoming celebration. They are both military veterans and are neighbors of the Gobbles.

The homecoming wasn't just for Matthew Gobble, James Dale said. It was for every soldier in Gobble's unit, those who survived the attack and those who didn't.

"They all went through that together," he said. "(Matthew) just happens to be one from Davidson County, but we're grateful to all of them."

And, as happy as Gobble is to be home, he said, he is mourning the deaths of the nine American soldiers -- friends who had helped keep him alive.

As he choked back tears, he asked the crowd to pause to remember them.

The cheers died down for just a moment before the hugs started back up, reminding Matthew Gobble that he was home.

■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.