Shot in Afghanistan, Fort Bragg paratrooper gets Purple Heart

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A paratrooper who is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina has received a Purple Heart.

The Fayetteville Observer reported Tuesday that Sgt. David Scudder was wounded in Afghanistan last year.

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Scudder is paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. He was injured when his battalion was on a mission in the Farah Province to retake a district center from the Taliban.

The soldiers’ Chinook helicopters landed and were immediately ambushed.

Scudder’s fellow soldiers put him on a stretcher and moved him for about 2 miles. The soldiers were attacked a second time before getting Scudder to a helicopter landing zone.

“My guys put everything that they had out there and they pulled me off target and kept me safe,” Scudder said.

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