I’m posting this here because I went to school with Greg, although I didn’t know him personally.

By Laurie Everett
Mt. Juliet News
April 23, 2003
Two Mt. Juliet families anxiously await further news of their loved ones seriously injured in America’s war against terrorism.
Greg Mathis, 26, was seriously wounded last week in a land mine explosion in Iraq. Mathis is a Sergeant in the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade (RAKKASANS) with the 101st out of Fort Campbell.
Nancy Mathis, Greg’s mother, said Greg was working in south Baghdad with two American and three Iraqi soldiers when an Iraqi soldier stepped on a land mine. The explosion killed all three Iraqis. Greg and his two fellow soldiers were seriously wounded.
Mathis’ wife, Jennifer, received the dreaded phone call from her husband’s captain immediately following the accident.
“He allowed her to speak to the doctor,” said Nancy Mathis. “She was told Greg was serioulsy wounded but not critically with the shrapnel wounds from the waist down,” said Mathis.
Greg Mathis was deployed to Iraq in February and has served in the military almost eight years, both in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
“We knew it might be bad this time,” said Mathis. “I say Praise the Lord, he could have been killed. It’s serious but could have been a whole lot worse.”
Mathi’s left leg as also fractured in the explosion. He was flown to a hospital in Kuwait and has had two surgeries to date. Monday night he was transferred to an Amry hospital in Spain where he will undergo further surgery and skin grafts.
Nancy Mathis said the news shocked her.
“I was so worried the whole time he was more concerned about possible chemical warfare.”
Mathis has call his wife three times since the accident, the last communication on Monday.
“He said he loved everyone and was so grateful for all the prayers and we should continue to pray for all the soldiers,” said his mom.
The huge yellow ribbon will remain tied around the tree in her front yard until he comes home. Mathis said that might be in the next few weeks.
“To me Greg is not safe until he touches U.S. ground,” she said. “I’m so proud of him and all the soldiers doing their jobs so we can be free to do what we want.”
Greg Mathis is a graduate of Mt. Juliet High School. he is married with a 10-month-old daughter, Sarah.
While the Mathis family still waits, the Barkalow family anticipates their son’s arrival home. Scott Barkalow, an Army Reserve soldier with an undisclosed rank, was stations in Afghanistan when his truck drove over a land mine in late February.
Ann Barkalow, Scott’s mother, had just spoken with her son a few days before she got the frightening phone call.
“A medic called to say that he had just been with my son Scott,” Ann Barkalow recalled. “And I said ‘What?’ Not thinking, I thought it was like a joke. I had talked to him two days before that. I said ‘Is he alive?’ It shocked me so.”
Scott Barkalow, 40, was alive, but in need of surgery.
“That had gone on an overnight mission,” Ann Barkalow said.
“While they were gone there was a light snow and the car veered slightly and over a land mine and the explosion hit his part of the car.”
The accident and explosion injured Scott’s right leg. It required amputation up to the knee. He is in recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Ann Barkalow said now that he shock is over, everyone is doing quite well, especially Scott.
“His spirits are real, real good,” Ann Barkalow said. “Sometimes I think they are better than ours.”
Scott Barkalow graduated from Mt. Juliet High School in 1980. He is married with two children and lives in West Tennessee.