RALEIGH -- Nancy Stanton is "trying to keep" busy between times she can talk with her wounded son, Pfc. Cody Stanton, in Afghanistan, and waiting anxiously to find out where and when she can visit him.
Stanton, who deployed with the 21st Military Police Co. (Airborne) from Fort Bragg's XVIII Airborne Corps in November, had both legs severely damaged and suffered other injuries Thursday while his unit was training Afghan police about three hours from Kandahar, his uncle Timothy Cody said.
"It's hard not to be able to be with him," Nancy Stanton said Friday evening.
She spoke with him by phone Thursday and Friday nights. He has been moved from Kandahar to a larger military hospital at Bagram Air Base. Once doctors are sure he is stable, she said, they will move him to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a major medical facility.
Once he is in Ramstein, the Army will fly his mother to Germany if he is going to be there for some time. But if he is moved to Bethesda Naval Hospital outside Washington soon, they will take her there, she said.
"The Army has been so outstanding," Nancy Stanton said. "I never would have thought they would be that good to me."
Her son's unit had been separated for assignments after arriving in Afghanistan, she said, but after Cody Stanton was wounded, the Army arranged for a buddy from his unit serving elsewhere to be at Bagram even before Stanton arrived.
One colonel who contacted her gave her his home phone number in case she needed help, Nancy Stanton said.
Stanton's uncle has started a blog to track his nephew's progress: codystantonjourney .blogspot .com .
On a post Friday, he quoted Cody Stanton as saying, "I want everyone to know that I have never felt stronger or happier because my faith has been renewed. I feel like I have gotten a second chance."
Stanton is believed to have stepped on an improvised explosive device after his unit drew fire while working with the Afghan police, his uncle said. He lost one leg above the knee and the other below the knee, the family said.
They praised Stanton's fellow soldiers and their training.
"Cody's teammates did exactly what they were trained to do, and immediately rushed to his aid and applied tourniquets and other emergency medical aid," his uncle wrote. "The training worked, and Cody's buddies saved his life."
