Injured Chesapeake soldier meets ambassador

CHESAPEAKE

A soldier from Chesapeake who was injured in an indirect shooting in Afghanistan last Sunday was photographed meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving.

Army Pvt. Anthony Pickens spoke with Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry at the U.S. hospital at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, The Associated Press reported. Pickens was injured in Khost province last Sunday. Eikenberry met with injured soldiers to thank them for their service.

Pickens, 28, graduated from Great Bridge High School in 2000 and left this fall for Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, said his mother, Michele Pickens. He had been in Afghanistan for about three weeks.

“He said when the blast hit that it threw him up against the wall of the bunker," said his father, Don Pickens. Their son, however, had not been in position to give them much detail about what happened.

CBS News reported on the Thanksgiving event and interviewed Pickens. Don Pickens said the injuries were not as severe as initially feared and said his son's legs were peppered with shrapnel.

"You have to be prepared for anything when they're in the military," he said.

At the hospital after the attack, Anthony Pickens' first thought was of another person who was more severely injured, his father said. He asked staff, “Could we say a prayer for that guy because he’s hurt worse than I am.”

“He has been more concerned about everybody around him than himself," Pickens said.

After the event at the base, Pickens spent 12 hours on a plane ride to Germany.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com