Soldier-brothers see all sides of war

[unhappycamper]

Mitch Bocik, left, gets help walking on a green as he plays golf with his half-brother D.J. Engel. Bocik and Engel served together in Iraq, where Bocik was injured by a roadside bomb.


Soldier-brothers see all sides of war
By Robert Imrie - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday May 25, 2008 17:18:47 EDT

HOLCOMBE, Wis. — Mitch Bocik waddles to the putting green, his legs bent and unsteady, his putter doubling as a cane. For balance, his left hand grips the right shoulder of D.J. Engel, his half brother and almost constant companion.

Enjoying a round of golf, the two are home from war, taking care of each other just as they did that dreadful day in Iraq when a roadside bomb blew apart their lives as Army soldiers.

Bocik misses his 15-foot putt, leaving it short. Engel picks up the ball, helping again.

The 22-year-old Bocik is paralyzed from the knees down. Lucky, he says, to be alive and able to even crudely walk. He sometimes falls, but says, “It is not that big a deal.”

Engel, 26, deals with emotional scars — and some guilt. It was just months after he had encouraged his little brother to join the Army that he rushed to rescue him from a mangled Army vehicle, thinking he was probably dead.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_soldiers_brothers_052508/