HOUSTON—Army Specialist Dayna Ferguson did something 13 soldiers won’t on Wednesday, she returned home.
The Houston soldier is among the dozens of wounded who survived last Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
“It didn’t feel real at first because you think that you’re safe,” Ferguson told 11 News as she stood in the driveway of her Clear Lake home. “I got shot in my leg and in my arm. It went through my chest and it collapsed my lung and one of my legs came up into my stomach and they had to operate on my stomach.”
Ferguson had been at Darnell Hospital at Fort Hood since last week. Her parents and fiancée, who is a fellow soldier, could not wait to get her home.
“I am going to just try and get assigned with her and start taking care of her,” her fiancé, Randy Roscoe, said. “That’s what I want to do. I feel guilty I wasn’t there to take care of her when it happened. All I want to do is just take care of her.”
Ferguson is expected to make a full recovery. Her parents say they’re going to make sure of it.
“I’m going to board her up in her room and not ever let her out again,” her father jokingly said. “The Army had their chance with her and now we’re home and I’m going to take care of her for the rest of her life until I die.”
The army specialist’s father describes the last week as hell on earth.
“You don’t know. You see that man’s picture on TV and you think this person just put some bullets in your baby girl, it’s awful,” he said.
The 21-year-old soldier was met with ribbons and balloons as she walked into her home. Her family is not taking anything for granted.
“We’re very fortunate,” her mother Leva Ferguson said. “Watching that memorial yesterday (we were) thinking we could’ve been in there, that’s just you know, it’s great to be here and have her.”
Ferguson says she doesn’t know what lies ahead. She wants to focus on getting better and spending time with her family.
