{"id":3224,"date":"2012-06-20T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/americainuniform\/?p=3224"},"modified":"2012-06-10T14:48:33","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T14:48:33","slug":"justin-gaertner-essence-of-a-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/americainuniform\/2012\/06\/justin-gaertner-essence-of-a-man.html","title":{"rendered":"Justin Gaertner: Essence of a Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Military Heroes – U. S. Marine Corps
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justin Gaertner<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Justin Gaertner, 21, was patrolling for mines in the Marja district of Afghanistan when an improvised bomb, stuffed in a glass jug, exploded beneath his feet.<\/p>\n

His legs were decimated. Shrapnel blasted into his abdomen and shredded his left arm.<\/p>\n

He was flown to Washington, D.C., where he began what doctors said would be a long and daunting recovery.<\/p>\n

For more…<\/p>\n

click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtesy of Tampa Bay Times<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Military Heroes – U. S. Marine Corps Justin Gaertner On the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Justin Gaertner, 21, was patrolling for mines in the Marja district of Afghanistan when an improvised bomb, stuffed in a glass jug, exploded beneath his feet. His legs were decimated. Shrapnel blasted into his abdomen and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heroes"],"yoast_head":"\nJustin Gaertner: Essence of a Man - America in Uniform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/americainuniform\/2012\/06\/justin-gaertner-essence-of-a-man.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Justin Gaertner: Essence of a Man - America in Uniform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Military Heroes – U. S. Marine Corps Justin Gaertner On the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Justin Gaertner, 21, was patrolling for mines in the Marja district of Afghanistan when an improvised bomb, stuffed in a glass jug, exploded beneath his feet. His legs were decimated. 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S. Marine Corps Justin Gaertner On the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Justin Gaertner, 21, was patrolling for mines in the Marja district of Afghanistan when an improvised bomb, stuffed in a glass jug, exploded beneath his feet. His legs were decimated. 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