EUREKA -- Five weeks ago today, Jared Flaminio was driving the lead Humvee in a caravan near Nuristan Province in Afghanistan.

The Army National Guard corporal, who grew up in Goodfield and spent time in Eureka, Washington and Mackinaw, was 10 days from completing his first tour of duty in the war.

"It was my very last mission," Flaminio, 21, said from his hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

That was when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, blasting him and the soldier next to him nearly into the back seat with two other soldiers and flipping the vehicle on its top.

The Humvee landed on his gunner's leg, and Flaminio crawled from the vehicle as troops in the convoy leapt from their vehicles to dispatch about 10 Taliban fighters firing at them from a nearby ridge.

Flaminio was flown to safety, but it took about two hours for troops to dig his gunner from beneath the overturned vehicle.

He and his gunner, who is from Chicago, are both in the vast amputee ward at the hospital.

He did not lose a limb, but his injuries were so severe that he was admitted to that ward after being flown to the U.S. from Germany, where he was treated for four days.

His right leg was broken in half, and his left leg received shrapnel that required it to be cut open to the bone on both sides to release pressure. He had burns on his neck, face and hand, a deep gash in his chin, a bruised left arm and a broken back.

In contrast, he said the two soldiers in his back seat crawled out with only scratches.

Flaminio said that he is healing "fairly quickly," and expects to be in Walter Reed for a month or two. He has stood up three times since being brought there July 1. If his recuperation allows it, he may stay in the military.

"It's baby steps," he said. "I'm learning to walk all over again."

He barely remembers being awarded a Purple Heart from a two-star general while in Germany.

It was about two and a half weeks before he was fully aware of what had happened.

Flaminio has two stepbrothers, Caleb and Calvin Barnes, who also were in Afghanistan at the time and are safely home in the U.S.

He has seen a dramatic increase in enemy activity coming in from Pakistan.

"I know it's getting bad," he said. "I just pray for the guys that are over there and who are going over there."

He can be contacted through his page on Facebook. His temporary address is Ward 57, Room 11, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20307.