| Cory McCarthy has had at least 12 surgeries on his right hand. Along the way, he has had operations in three countries and spent a year on an amputee ward. Despite that, McCarthy has kept his hand, although more operations may be necessary.
He prefers to wait on the surgery, though, having other priorities at the moment--chiefly school.
McCarthy, 23, is a first-year De Anza College student and the first recipient of a new award from a local nonprofit organization, Scholarships for Veterans.
"He is absolutely deserving of the award," McCarthy's close friend, Danielle Rhinehart, says. "He has a good heart, real integrity and a desire to nurture and take care of people."
"McCarthy had all the right criteria," says Gary Lamit, a De Anza instructor who founded Scholarships for Veterans last fall. The organization provides scholarships to military veterans to cover education costs at area community colleges.
"We had been told about him ahead of time, and he certainly fit the bill," Lamit says. "We also selected him for actions under fire and because he was wounded."
McCarthy was wounded in August 2003, four months after he parachuted into northern Iraq with the Alpha Company of the 173 Airborne Brigade.
After landing in the Kurdistan section of Iraq, Spc. McCarthy and his unit worked their way south and helped take the city of Kirkuk and later Tikrit--Saddam Hussein's hometown. His unit moved often, relocating about every two weeks. McCarthy, who was trained as a medic, was busy treating the wounded in his company and also tending to the local population.
"We often treated more Iraqi civilians than military personnel," he says.
"It was always hot," McCarthy says, with temperatures reaching 135 degrees--hot enough to turn drinking water into tea. Equipment, body armor and medical gear could add another 15 degrees to the heat. The lack of proper sewage and irrigation systems also made the smell particularly ripe.
"We had the majority of our missions at night to stay out of the heat," he says.
One such mission nearly proved fatal for McCarthy.
"I could tell I was going to be hit ahead of time," he says of the events of Aug. 10, 2003.
He says he felt uneasy that evening because of the route his unit took on its night raid. It included well-known spots for ambushes, in particular two bridges connected by an island. McCarthy was also uncomfortable about an informant joining them on the raid to pinpoint a location. Informers usually accompanied patrols in the daytime.
Just before midnight, outside Al Hawijah, McCarthy's cargo Humvee drove onto the first bridge. Seconds later guerillas detonated a buried 155-mm artillery shell next to McCarthy's unarmored vehicle.
"There was a loud boom," McCarthy says, "and then a body falling on top of me."
McCarthy took the brunt of the blast.
"Part of my right arm felt numb," he says. "The upper part of the arm felt a pain like a charleyhorse. Everything was in slow motion and my hand felt warm."
He heard a gunner on his truck's 50-caliber machine gun also screaming for help. The gunner did not realize his platoon medic--McCarthy--had also been hurt.
McCarthy ordered a soldier to care for his shredded arm. He used his used left arm to bandage the wounded gunner. He then helped his sergeant request a medical evacuation. The Army would later award McCarthy a commendation medal with valor for "heroism during operations against an armed enemy."
McCarthy arrived by truck at a nearby aid station. He was covered in blood. Soldiers lifting him out of the back of the truck recoiled at the sight. He had lost a large chunk of his thumb, with the remnants held on by threads of skin. An artery on his hand had been significantly damaged.
The Army transported McCarthy from the battlefield aid station to surgical hospitals in Baghdad, then to Landstuhl, Germany, and finally to Washington, D.C.
He spent a year on the amputee ward at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. For a time he had his hand grafted to his stomach to grow tissue onto his hand. Despite the surgeries, an arterial graft for his thumb has not taken and McCarthy may need more surgery.
For now, McCarthy's mind is on another goal.
"I realized being out in the world that without an education you are not going to get anywhere," he says. "If you ever want to make something in this highly competitive world, especially the Bay Area, you need a solid education."
He describes himself as an unenthusiastic student growing up in Gilroy. He preferred to hang out with his friends and have a good time. "I needed to grow up," he says now. After a desultory year at Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, he joined the Army in May 2001. At the time, he hoped to get training as medic to help him become a firefighter.
This changed after his injury. "With my injury," he says, "I realized I couldn't become a firefighter or do other manual work. The only career path that I could go after from that point was a job that relied more on my intellect than my physical abilities."
"He's come a long way since high school," says Rhinehart, a former Gilroy classmate. "The Army has helped him put a lot of things in perspective. He's so excited about school right now."
After the Army discharged McCarthy in August 2004, he was ready to give school a second try. He chose De Anza in part because it had a later start date than other schools.
At first the transition did not go smoothly. With his youthful looks--he describes himself as looking like a skater punk--school administrators did not believe McCarthy was a veteran.
He says some students at De Anza are often uncertain about how to act around a veteran.
"Just approach [a veteran] like you would approach anyone else," he advises.
School has gone well for McCarthy.
"I have been lucky so far," he says. "De Anza has a strong academic climate, and the teachers care that you learn. I have really pushed hard in school."
The discipline McCarthy learned in the military has also helped him focus.
"He didn't find himself until after his service," says Scholarships for Veterans' Lamit.
At De Anza, McCarthy arrives early in the morning for a recreational swim, goes to class and studies at the library. He then goes home to Campbell, where he lives with his aunt. His parents moved from Gilroy to Aberdeen, Wash., while he was in the service.
His focus is now on becoming a history teacher. "Like a lot of other veterans, I realized that what you learn in school isn't always true," he says. "I want to make sure things are fully understood. Textbooks seem to portray everything in a positive light and rarely tell the darker sides of history. History can be told in many different forms; it can be told as tragedies, comedies, romances.
"As a veteran I believe I can help shed light on these areas. I know teaching is a way I can give something back."
His scholarship will help make that possible. The scholarships provide up to $2,000 for tuition and fees per quarter.
"There is just one winner," says Lamit. "We could probably handle two, but for now we want to make sure we can keep funding it," he said.
In addition to Lamit, other local individuals and organizations help support the scholarships. Hewlett-Packard has also agreed to provide matching funds. Community college foundations administer the scholarships.
McCarthy--who had been relying on the GI Bill and disability benefits for school--will receive $333 per term for tuition and fees.
For more information about the Scholarships for Veterans program visit, www.scholarshipsforveterans.org. | 
