By Bobbie O’Brien
TAMPA – Marines and mothers, AMVETS and members of the MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club were among the 200 people to welcome home Kevin Kammerdiener at Tampa International Airport Tuesday evening.

A crowd of about 200 welcomed home injured soldier Kevin Kammerdiner.
While his mother knew about the surprise, the 22-year-old wounded soldier did not. But, he adapted quickly after rolling his wheelchair out of the airside tram. To the delight of the crowd which responded with vigorous applause and cheers, Kammerdiener locked the wheels of his chair, stood up and began hugging well wishers and shaking hands.
He wore a ball cap, jeans and a black T-shirt identifying him as an Afghanistan Vet with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
His aunt, Kim Piraino, was one of the first to get a hug. PIraino visited and helped care for Kammerdiener while he was being treated for burns at the VA hospital in San Antonio, Texas.
Kammerdiener’s recovery is ongoing. He suffered a crushed skull and severe burns when a suicide bomber attacked his Humvee in Afghanistan more than two years ago.
He’s had to re-learn to walk and talk. But he has not lost his sense of humor or mischief according to his aunt.

Kim Piraino, wears a t-shirt honoring her nephew, Kammerdiener.
“He woke up from that coma doing it, you know, the rabbit ears behind the head,” Piraino said. “I was rubbing burn cream on him one day and he’s yelling, ‘it hurts’ and I’m like ‘Oh my God’ and then he’s laughing at me.”
His mother Leslie Kammerdiener calls her sons recovery a miracle because his injuries were so extensive he wasn’t expected to live. She writes a blog, Mended Wings. Her son still requires fulltime care, which she provides, as he continues to receive treatment at James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa.
Kammerdiener and the family have gotten help from the nonprofit Operation American Pride. Michael Whitt founded the organization to help wounded warriors.

Michael Whitt, founder of Operation American Pride, organized the homecoming event.
Whitt had promised Leslie Kammerdiener a big welcoming. And he thanked the crowd for coming out.
After a presentation of gifts to Kammerdiener, Whitt organized the crowd into two lines from the tram to the elevators to give Kammerdiener free passage. The airborne soldier walked the entire length.
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Filed under: Deployment, Military families, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) | Tagged: 173rd Airborne Brigade, Afghanistan, AMVETS, Kim Piraino, Leslie Kammerdiener, MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club, Mended Wings, Michael Whitt, Operation American Pride | Leave a comment »