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Leeds bomb victim's army dream: 'I still want to serve'
Lance Corporal James Simpson was on his second tour in Afghanistan when he stepped on a roadside bomb and lost both his legs and part of a hand.
For four months he has been in a military hospital in Surrey, but James is desperate to get back on the front line.
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James, 23, from Guiseley, Leeds, has spoken of his love of his job despite his injuries and how he wouldn't turn the clock back.
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He said: "I wouldn't change a thing. Someone could have stepped on it after me. I might have stepped over it and the person behind me could have done it."
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On the day of the explosion James's step-brother Mark Rogers, 21, was just three weeks into his training for the Army.
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As a child James wanted to join the Army and after leaving Guiseley School signed up in March 2004 and headed off to Catterick in North Yorkshire to start his basic training.
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He became a sniper for the First Battalion Yorkshire Regiment and went out to Afghanistan in 2007.
But it was his second tour last year in Sangin, Helmand province, that was brought to a dramatic halt.
On November 12 James was returning to base after a six-hour patrol when his left foot stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED). Six men in the line before him had managed to miss the bomb.
"I remember being rolled over because I had ended up on my front. That was the first time I saw everything," he said.
"I checked my right leg first. My foot was gone and the bone in my leg was pointing upwards.
"My left leg was also gone and it looked like my hand had just gone.
"My first reaction was that I needed help.
"The lads started working on me and put ligatures around my legs to stop me losing blood. Without hesitation they bandaged both my legs and hand and gave me morphine injections."
Within 23 minutes James was taken by helicopter to Camp Bastion, where he was put in an induced coma and taken the next day to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.
James said: "I think because I was conscious after the explosion it helped me to deal with it because I knew straight away what had happened to me.
"When I woke up I had a hand which I was happy about because I didn't think I would have it."
James's mum Pauline Rogers, 51, received the dreaded knock at the door only hours after the explosion to tell her what had happened.
The next day she was taken to the hospital and provided with accommodation by the Army.
She didn't return to Yeadon, in Leeds, until the start of January.
She tearfully said: "You just can't put it into words how I felt about what happened to James. Nothing prepares you for it. Prior to explosion we spoke about what would happen if he died and came back in a box and what music he would want at his funeral.
"For some reason you never think about them coming back injured.
"The way we were treated was absolutely brilliant. The Army told us about the injuries but nothing prepared us for it.
"You can lose a parent or someone older but nothing can prepare you for the injuries of a child. It is the worst thing in my whole life.
"The first time we saw him was upsetting. He was unconscious and had tubes in his arms. It was quite surreal seeing an empty bed where his legs should have been."
James was in Selly Oak for nine weeks before he was moved to Headley Court, a defence rehabilitation unit, near Surrey.
He also suffered from an infection because the explosive devices had been contaminated with human faeces by the Taliban.
When James was moved he was given a pair of small false legs called stubbies but now he has a more sophisticated leg with a knee joint.
He recalled learning to walk for the second time: "It was weird standing up for the first time. You go a little bit dizzy as you are not used to being up.
"I nearly cried when it first happened. I remember lying there in hospital with drips coming out of me saying to my mum that I wanted to be walking by the time I am 24 in July and I am walking before then.
"It felt like a really big achievement. I didn't think it would be this quick.
"In Headley Court the staff there push you to get you going again. It is sad to say but the way that they have got good at it is through people getting injured.
"When my mum first saw me in my stubbies I think she just cried because she was so happy and couldn't believe it."
James will be treated at Headley Court before returning home for good.
He paid tribute to the life-saving propt treatment he had from his soldier colleagues in the moment after the blast. "It was absolutely amazing. The people on the ground didn't hesitate and some of the people I have never spoke to worked so hard to save my life – they were people in their late teens.
"One of the lads that saved my life got shot two days later and ended up in the next bed to me in hospital. I said thank you to him."
He added: "If I suffered these injuries in England I wouldn't have lived. There wouldn't have been the people around me who knew what to do. The Army are saving lives every day."
He added: "I love Afghanistan and I would go back tomorrow. I enjoy being a soldier and being the best soldier I can be.
"Over there you don't have to worry about anything at home you just have to worry about doing your job."
James said that a typical day could last between four and 10 hours patrolling an area and showing locals that the British soldiers are trying to protect them.
He even spoke to Prince Harry, while he was out in Afghanistan, but didn't realise who he was until afterwards.
He added: "I really want to stay in the Army but at the moment with the technology I won't get back out on the front line.
"I have grown up. It has given me different morals about how things should be done and I have experienced things that some people will never get the chance to experience. It is the best thing I have ever done.
"I am still the same person. I lost my legs but I have not lost my marbles."
As he looks out to the future James said that he hopes to be able to master the art of climbing stairs.
James, who received an award at his passing out parade for best recruit, added: "Your life is not over. It is a new challenge. I am still me and that is the most important thing.
"I want to be out there. A lot of my friends are still out there and I just wish that I could be with them.
"I was born to be in the Army and everything I have ever done with them I have just thrown myself into and done well. I wanted to be the best I could be at everything."
Looking to the future James is now dating his friend of 10 years Hannah Naughton, 23, after she regularly visited him in hospital following his injuries.
Mrs Rogers added: "James is very determined and positive.
"It was upsetting about him going to Afghanistan but it was part of his job. You just support him."
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
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