POST FALLS, ID. -- A soldier wounded in the attack at Ft. Hood this month is settling back in to recover at his Post Falls home, but says he still has nightmares about the terrifying shooting.
Private Stratton was granted leave to come home while he recovers from the gunshot wound he sustained in the attack.
"It's a little piece of war that I caught before I've been deployed," says Stratton. "It was pretty, pretty intense."
Stratton, 18, was in the Ft. Hood processing center, as part of his preparation for deployment to Afghanistan, when the shooting occurred.
He was going through some final checkups when his life changed in an instant.
"I just heard about 10 to 15 shots go off in my ear," recalls Stratton.
Behind him, Stratton says accused gunman Major Nidal Hassan, opened fire, causing him to jump to the floor. Stratton says he spotted one of his officers shot in the stomach being dragged to toward an exit door. Stratton says he saw the gunman reload.
"He finished loading it, and as he looked at me, he aimed his weapon down at me, and I turned on him as fast as I could," says Stratton. "But he squeezed off one round and it came through my shoulder and it hit the bone right here."
The bullet shattered a bone in Stratton's arm. Bleeding badly, he managed to get outside, but heard more gunshots.
"Somebody shouted that the man was coming right back around the building, and he was going to start firing at more people," says Stratton. "I ran right back inside the building and they found some room in the building and they kept me safe there."
Soon after paramedics arrived and rushed Stratton to the hospital. President Obama signed his brigade coin given to him before he left for Post Falls.
Stratton says he feels lucky to be alive, to see his family again, but now wants to see justice served for the gunman.
"I'm glad he's not going to hurt anybody else," says Stratton.
Stratton is expected to be home for at least a month. He will not deploy with his unit in January, but may join them at a later time.
