DUTY CALLED -- Aaron Wintterle, a sergeant in the United States Marines Corps who was wounded during a firefight in downtown Baghdad in early April, is shown at his parents' Lancaster home. Shot in the mouth, Wintterle is on the mend. He earned a Purple Heart. JENNIFER X. HERNANDEZ/Valley Press

Wounded Marine on the mend

By RICH BREAULT
Valley Press Senior Staff Writer

A sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, the 23-year-old Wintterle is a member of a scout-sniper platoon with the 1st Marine Division, 7th Regiment, 3rd Battalion.

He was wounded the morning of April 7, when shot in the mouth while his unit controlled an intersection in downtown Baghdad.

Wintterle was evacuated to Kuwait and received further medical attention in Germany and the United States before returning to his Lancaster home April 21. He received a month's medical leave before returning to Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base.

He was recently awarded a Purple Heart by Gen. Michael Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, in a ceremony at the U.S. Navy Hospital on Camp Pendleton.

In late May, Wintterle was home on a short leave to be with his family following the death of his grandfather.

"It's been a whirlwind," Wintterle said, sitting in the dining room of his parents' house in Lancaster. "The whole time I was on leave the first time, my thoughts were with my fellow Marines in Iraq.

"I was here, back home, physically, but not always mentally. Being home took a while to sink in."

Wintterle said returning to base helped ground him.

"I was more comfortable back on base. I was back with some of the guys in the battalion who got hurt, too," Winterle said. "Some of the guys were telling me stuff about what happened over there, much more stuff than I knew.

"It was good to have someone to talk to who had been through some of the same things I had been through."

Wintterle looks strong. He regained the 35 pounds he lost while in the Middle East.

His smile is back, although he isn't finished with dental surgeries to rebuild part of his upper jaw and replace the four teeth he lost when a bullet tore through his mouth, also peppering his tongue with bullet fragments.

"I'll be getting dental implants soon," he said, wiggling his dental appliance teeth. "They will make molds next week. Then I'll get titanium screws put into my jaw. And then come the posts and eventually the teeth.

"The majority of the work was done in the beginning in the military hospitals. I just needed to let things heal before they could do more with my mouth."

Wintterle's mother, Karen, said she was "a little shocked" to see him with his temporary teeth.

"I got used to him with no teeth. It reminded me of when he was little," she said. "I know this whole thing has been a whirlwind for him, for the entire family.

"The one thing I want him to realize it that it's an incredible opportunity for him. I don't want him to shut the door on the experience."

The media attention surrounding Wintterle's return to the Southland was kick-started with television news coverage of his arrival at his grandmother's house in Costa Mesa for a family celebration and Easter dinner at the start of his leave.

"All the attention, well, I regarded it as a necessary evil. I had just gotten back from the most stressful two weeks I've ever had - being wounded, and in and out of hospitals," Wintterle said.

"I think I took it good, especially with cameras in my face. Down time was hard to find."

While many people were interested in Wintterle's words, he didn't want to do much talking. No, he wanted to eat solid food, something he had been unable to do since being wounded.

Easter dinner for Wintterle consisted of a typical Easter meal, but first put through a blender. After a few days at home, Wintterle overcooked tortellini so he could place the soft pasta on his back teeth and molars for a taste of "real food."

"It was about two weeks before I could stand to eat. Now I can eat anything that's put in front of me," Wintterle said. "When I was in the hospitals and couldn't eat, I was really stressed out. I almost 'lost it' a couple of times.

"When I got to eat, the stress level went way down. As my wounds gradually got better, I gradually increased what I ate."

While it may have taken some time for Wintterle to heal his wounds, it didn't take much time for him to see action once Operation Iraqi Freedom began.

The hardest part was waiting in Kuwait for the war to begin.

"The wait, two months in Kuwait, was worse than the time we spent in Iraq," Wintterle said. "There were so many rumors going around about when the war would start and we could do our jobs. We were sitting around in tents twiddling our thumbs instead.

"It was probably the longest two months of my life. No probably about it. It was the longest two months of my life."

Wintterle's battalion saw action early and often during the war.

"We were the first ones in. It was real intense. Pretty much, every time we moved, something happened. We had our share of ambushes and fire-fights on the way (to Baghdad)," Wintterle said. "Training kicked in automatically. Although I'm in a scout-sniper platoon, we did a lot of basic infantry work.

"It was a mechanized war, moving very fast. We took our shots, provided security and moved on. Whatever company in our battalion needed us, we'd get called up there for support."

He said the hardest part of the war was being shot.

"A sense of shock overwhelms you," Wintterle said. "And you're scared, scared of the unknown. The unknown was all around us.

"Every attack, we went into the unknown. Would there be strong resistance or none?"

Asked what he was most proud of during the war, Wintterle smiled and said, "My guys."

"The guys I was with - how they acted. How they did through all that stress. The war plan, as a whole, was good, too."

Wintterle said what troubled him the most was "hearing other fights going on, taking casualties, and not being able to do anything about it."

"I also felt for the Iraqi children. They were always glad to see us," Wintterle said. "We would go past houses that had 15 kids out front waving."

Seeing poorly built houses, hungry children and adults, and the realization that many Iraqis worried only about living until the next day under Saddam Hussein's regime, also troubled Wintterle.

"What we think are necessities, are luxuries to them," Wintterle said. "All they want is food, water and a place to sleep and be safe."

Empowered by what he saw in Iraq, Wintterle and other Marines tried to ignore the reports of anti-war protests.

"The anti-war stuff bothered us," Wintterle said. "We didn't hear much of the positive stuff. You only see the positive stuff once you get back and see for yourself."

He said writing home and receiving letters from home really helped morale.

"Of course I'd rather receive mail," he said with a laugh. "It felt so good to get mail. It was something we looked forward to. While we were in Kuwait, if you didn't receive any mail, it pretty much put you in a bad mood all day."

There wasn't much of a chance of that happening to Wintterle. He corresponded with his family, and girlfriend Lisa Nemback.

"Some days I received five letters from Lisa," Wintterle said. "That really felt good."

Nemback and Wintterle attended Saturday's rodeo at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. Wintterle was introduced to the crowd, who cheered for him and veterans of other U.S. wars who stood up to be recognized.

The veterans applauded for each other and themselves - generations of warriors - so different, yet so similar.

Compare that to the "reception" Wintterle received on his first day back in Twentynine Palms. While walking on a downtown street, four male adults sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray and "jumped" him in an attempt to steal his wallet.

"The police said these guys had done this before, and that they had been trying to catch them," Wintterle said. "After they sprayed me, I couldn't see. I fought them the best I could. They didn't get my wallet though."

But Wintterle did have a shiner, a visible reminder that evil and bad people aren't limited to only a few countries around the world.

However, Wintterle didn't let his black eye stop him from smiling and laughing Saturday night. After all, he was in good company.

A few minutes before the start of the rodeo, Nemback talked about her admiration for the charming warrior she has known for at least five years.

"I'm proud of him," she said. "During the war, every night for about three hours, I'd watch Fox News and write letters to Aaron. He still hasn't received about 30 or 40 of my letters."

She said any time they've spent together since he returned home has been special, but she knows that his thoughts are still with his fellow Marines in Iraq.

"Sometimes he gets quiet and he's thinking. About what, I'm not sure. I just want him to know that I'm here if he needs me."

Wintterle returned from a short walk, and the couple took their seats in the grandstands.

It wasn't long before a rodeo sponsor tossed rolled-up promotional T-shirts into the crowd. Wintterle reached out and caught one with his right hand.

Without missing a beat, he looked down at the young boy next to him who missed catching the T-shirt by inches, smiled, then handed the T-shirt to the boy.

The boy looked up at Wintterle and said, "Thanks."

Moments later, after Wintterle was introduced to the crowd, many others at the rodeo did the same.

Their heartfelt "thanks" came in the form of applause.