C-Falls veteran loses feet in Iraq explosion

A Columbia Falls native is on the road to recovery after he lost both feet in Iraq last November.

Cpl. Seth Perkins, a 2002 graduate of Columbia Falls High School, was injured after an improvised explosive device went off under his Humvee while on patrol southeast of Baghdad on Nov. 29. The Humvee was fully armored, which probably saved the 25-year-old soldier’s life. The bombing happened a day before his birthday.

Perkins said he doesn’t remember much about the bombing. He was on patrol and was the lead driver in a convoy that night. The Humvee went over a pressure-plated IED —basically a land mine.

No other soldiers on patrol with Perkins were injured, he said. Perkins said his first clear memory was when he woke up while being flown from Iraq to Germany a few days later.

Perkins enlisted in the Army in February 2007. He was 23, working for Midway Rental and was tired of doing the same old thing every day. He went to Fort Sill, Okla., for basic training and then to Germany and then to Iraq with alpha battery, First Armored Division.

He was in Iraq about seven months. Days went by fast. They were on a base that didn’t see much traffic from other military outfits. They did patrols, checking on Iraqi police and Iraqi Army to make sure they had what they needed. They also looked for insurgents setting roadside bombs.

Recovery and rehabilitation has been going well, Perkins said. He gets treatment at the Center for the Intrepid at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Dedicated to the severely injured, it provides world class care and therapy. Perkins said he’ll be fitted with a prosthetic for his left leg soon and his right leg needs to heal a couple more weeks before he can be fitted for that leg.

Meanwhile, he does therapy daily. The other day, he even went rock climbing.

“It’s fun,” he said.

Despite losing both feet, Perkins remains upbeat. The center is good at boosting morale. If the Army would let him, would he return to Iraq?

Perkins doesn’t pause.

“Yes,” he says. “My unit is still there.”

Perkins parents, Steve and Joan, live in Columbia Falls. Steve services industrial refrigerator units and Joan is an anesthetic assistant at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Seth’s story was told on the floor of the Montana House of Representatives after Proctor lawmaker Jana Taylor heard about him in church. Seth’s grandmother had put him on the church prayer list and the prayer list reached the floor of the House through Taylor.

Folks wanting to send cards or gifts to Perkins can write him at Room 302, 3623 George C. Beach Road, Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234-5000.