U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jamie Himes Dana looked death in the
eye a year ago this Sunday.

And told him to come back later.

On June 25, 2005, Dana and her bomb-sniffing K-9 partner, Rex,
were traveling in an armored vehicle along a road near Kirkuk,
Iraq, when the vehicle passed over a roadside bomb. Dana suffered
numerous serious injuries in the explosion – collapsed lungs,
broken or fractured spine, pelvis, hips and tailbone, as well as
abdominal injuries necessitating the removal of her spleen. She
also nearly bled to death, doctors told her family.

The medic who responded to the scene of the explosion in Iraq
had told Dana that Rex was killed in the explosion. That news, she
later told reporters, “broke her heart.” It was the last thing she
heard before her injuries rendered her unconscious.

Fortunately, she would find out days later, that particular
piece of military intelligence was incorrect. Rex had survived with
only a burned nose.

As Dana started her recovery, efforts were launched to allow her
to adopt her military working dog with numerous military personnel,
politicians and American citizens on her side. She was told,
however, the adoption would take an act of Congress. Literally.

That’s exactly what happened, however. In December of last year,
both the House and Senate signed off on the final version of the
Defense Appropriations bill, which, among other things, lifted the
prohibition on adopting MWDs (military working dogs) before the end
of their useful working life.

These days, as Dana waits to be officially retired from the
military, she can call Rex her own. By the end of August, she said,
she, her husband, U.S. Airman Michael Dana, and Rex, will relocate
to the Marvindale area and reside on her father’s farm until they
get their own place.

Dana said Friday from Colorado that she is currently attending
college courses, two classes a day, and is struggling to complete
the semester. Formerly a straight-A student, she said, she now has
a hard time holding a C average due to learning difficulties caused
by head injuries she sustained in the explosion. At the end of this
semester, she plans to take a break and reevaluate her situation.
She had hoped to be a veterinarian, but isn’t sure she will be able
to return to college.

The paperwork that will herald her permanent military retirement
could take about 40 days, the Hazel Hurst native said Friday, but
with 40 days of leave saved, she isn’t sure when she will be able
to come home.

“I’m walking on my own now,” Dana said, adding she is no longer
in supervised physical therapy. She does her own work out, goes to
a gym and is getting her strength back. She still has to be very
careful with physical activity, she said.

“Riding my horses, I have to be very careful because if I’m
thrown … with my spinal and pelvic injuries, I have to very
careful,” she said. Dana will also be on medication – a blood
thinner – for the rest of life, as a filter was installed in a main
vein when doctors found a blood clot in her lung.

“Where I am at now is pretty much where I will be,” she said
when asked to what degree she is expected to recover. “I have no
complaints,” she added, intimating she felt lucky at that.

The last year has been “pretty amazing,” Dana said, talking
about the journey from the hospital bed to Rex’s adoption to the
present.

“The response from the American people,” she said, was the most
overwhelming. “Everyone went out of their way writing to
policiticans, sending card and letters … the people at ARG
(American Refining Group) and what they did for me and for my
dad.”

Having been face to face with terrorism, war and the ugliness
that accompanies them, Dana said the generosity of those around her
in her time of need “really restores (her) faith in people.”

“They put their lives on hold to help us. How do you ever say
‘thanks’ for that?” Dana asked.

A crew from Life Magazine will be in Marvindale at the end of
June to interview and photograph Dana, she said, adding she “spent
(her) whole life hiding from cameras” – something that is
impossible now that she and Rex made political headlines across the
nation.

After she returns to the area, Dana said, she plans to work with
K-9 search and rescue.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, and I finally have a chance. It’s
always been one of my dreams,” she said. Dana added Friday she
wanted to remind people everywhere to remember our troops still
overseas.

“The ones there now, those who have been injured fighting for
our freedoms,” she said, “say a prayer and show support for
them.”

Those close to Dana agreed the events of the past year have been
mind-boggling.

Dana’s mother, Kathy Reikofsky of Kushequa, said Friday she will
always remember the telephone call informing her Dana had been in
the explosion.

“I never want to have a call like that again,” she said. “Thank
God she’s here.”

Similarly, Dana’s father, Randy Himes of Marvindale, said he,
too, clearly remembers hearing the news about his daughter’s
ordeal.

“The day we got the word,” Himes said, “I was getting ready to
bail hay and my wife came out with tears streaming down her face
and said ‘It’s Jamie. Shut the tractor down.'”

“At first I was mad, and I figured she was dead,” Himes said.
“Then the mad went away, and after that, we just had to deal with
whatever happened.”

The first couple days after the accident were a blur, he
recalls, recounting how hard it seemed to get to Dana after they
got the news. Complication after complication prevented them from
making an expedient trip to Germany, where Dana was hospitalized.
When they finally got to the hospital, a chaplain took them to
Dana’s bedside.

“There were all those tubes and wires running in and out of
her,” Himes said, “and all I could think was ‘She’s just a little
girl.'”

“For the duration,” Himes said, “we were never left alone. The
(U.S.) Air Force always had someone there to make sure we had what
we needed.” He emphasized the professional and caring way in which
the Air Force assisted his family.

“I can’t say enough about everyone in the country. The people
who helped at work, the people I don’t even know … I understand
what it means now to say this is a great country. There is no
question about it. It’s a great country full of a bunch of great
people.”