Staff photo by Fritz Busch U.S. Army Afghanistan War Veteran and double-amputee Jack Zimmerman of Cleveland, Mn. talks to veterans and residents at Orchard Hill Senior Living Monday after talking about his combat experience and how it changed his life. From left, Tom Haubrich, Roy Kahn and Laddie Carda sit at a table with Zimmerman.

NEW ULM — A U.S. Army infantry veteran who lost both legs while on foot patrol in the War in Afghanistan has many reasons not to be positive.

Cleveland, MN native Jack Zimmerman told his story to fellow veterans and residents at Orchard Hill Senior Living in New Ulm on Monday.

One day in March 2009 in Afghanistan while on patrol on a hill, Zimmerman said, he nearly stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) but he noticed it and stepped away from it.

Then an IEP exploded and a firefight began with the Taliban.

“Thanks to our helicopters, that battle ended quickly,” Zimmerman said. “We were jumping across a ditch. I was the last guy over the ditch. Our interpreter heard on the radio that the Taliban were going to attack us again. A sergeant next to me stepped right on the IED.

“I felt myself go flipping through the air. It felt like 10,000 little fingers crawling up my back. It was like a bad dream. You’re falling and you can’t wake up,” he added. “Finally I hit the ground. I landed on my neck, which was about all I had left to land on. Then I was on my back. I couldn’t see very well with all the blood and mud on my glasses. I couldn’t hear anything either.”

Zimmerman said he tried to get a tourniquet to put on his left arm, He said he had no idea his legs or other arm were hurt yet, but he could see tracer rounds (ammunition whose bullets emit light or smoke during flight) going over his head.

“I knew I was in big trouble. I couldn’t get my pouch open. I didn’t know what was going on,” Zimmerman said. “My buddy Daniels slid on top of me. He tried to tourniquet my arms up. I could see blood every time my heart beat. He was pinching off my arteries with his knees. Then the doc came and got all my gear off me. Then I saw my left leg was gone and my right leg was in pretty tough shape from the knee down.”

Jack said he wasn’t sure how he would get out of there during a firefight but he remembered guys talking to him, trying to keep him awake.

“The last thing I could remember was the only thing I could think of to say — tell everyone at home that I love them,” Zimmerman said. “Right then and there, I started seeing my life flash before my eyes. I saw things from age four all the way to the day before I was wounded.

“Then I heard this woop, woop, woop. The helicopter was coming. I remember reaching way down inside for the energy to draw a breath. Then the guys rolled me on my side and put me on the litter. They hauled me across the field on a stretcher. I remember seeing the other guy hit by the IED. He looked pretty horrible. I couldn’t really say anything. I was pretty much out of gas. Then up and away we went.”

Zimmerman said a device was put on his sternum to give him fluids and start an IV.

“The surgeon told me if I could stay awake five more minutes, he promised me my life,” Jack said. “I faded off to sleep. The next time I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. I didn’t have a ventilator anymore. My whole family was around me. I was in an induced coma for six days until I got to a Texas hospital.”

Zimmerman spent two weeks in an ICU (intensive care unit) with about 12-hours of surgery a day. He spent six weeks in the hospital. He endured 20 operations and intense rehabilitation.

“It was the best care I ever received,” Jack said about his time at the San Antonio Military Medical Center.

He got married two weeks after he left the hospital.

“I think about getting up in my walker each each. I made a choice to put a smile on my face each day. I’m thankful for my wife and family. I should’ve been dead 10 years ago,” Zimmerman said.

Medically retired from the U.S. Army, he found his passion speaking to others and inspiring them by his unique and valued perspective. He served with the 101st Airborne Division, 2/502.

Zimmerman spends his time raising money for non-profit organizations that benefit military members and hunting including ducks and big game. He is also an author. He book is entitled “Five Minutes — 300 seconds that Changed my Life.”

For more information, visit www.jackzimmerman.com/

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).