Soldier raised in Brooksville hurt by blast near Baghdad
By Associated Press
Published November 17, 2003
SARASOTA - An Army sergeant from Florida was wounded when a bomb exploded in Iraq, killing two other soldiers.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Ragan, 26, was hit in the upper left leg with shrapnel in the attack Thursday about 45 miles north of Baghdad.
Family members say Ragan was in a makeshift hospital in Tikrit on Friday and will be transferred to a military hospital in Germany in a few days.
Ragan's stepfather, Bob Hueter, said Ragan grew up in Brooksville and Sarasota before he joined the Army more than four years ago. He was sent to Iraq in June, Hueter said.
Ragan called from the hospital on Thursday to tell his mother and stepfather about the attack.
Hueter said that Ragan played down the explosion and that it wasn't until the Pentagon called that they learned two soldiers were killed in the incident.
"That really got to us, and we're thinking a lot about the parents of those others," Hueter said. "That could have easily been us."
