Back in April, Staff Sergeant Beau Chastain boarded a helicopter for his fourth deployment and his first trip to Afghanistan.
But the airman didn't expect he'd be coming home early and with some new equipment - crutches.
"A month after being there I got shot so I'm not liking Afghanistan too much, now," Chastain joked.
He's a part of McConnell's Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit - the men and women in charge of taking care of improvised explosive device.
That's what he what he was doing when he was shot in the leg June 9th. An incident his wife knows could have been worse.
"Obviously, with his job, we fear an I.E.D. and if you do survive that, you're pretty messed up. I knew he would be ok in time so I was just relieved."
He was in the hospital for weeks and had to have three surgeries. Chastain returned home late Sunday night to a reception, put together by McConnell.
At the base on Tuesday, he was presented with his purple heart.
He'll take the next few months to undergo physical therapy and relax, but knows he could likely end up back in Afghanistan.
"The way our deployments are working right now is we get anywhere from 9 months to a year off and then we re-deploy to Afghanistan."
But for the time being, both say it's good to just have him here. Amanda adds, "It took a little while for him to get home and you just feel kind of helpless here. You just want to be able to help him and be by his side so I'm glad he's home."
