A Mesquite soldier was critically wounded in a multiple-grenade attack in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Vincent Raila was injured in a grenade attack on June 1. His family said he pulled a fellow soldier out of the way to take the hit.
"I'm very very proud of my son, and there's nothing in this world that I wouldn't do for him," said his father, Eugene Prettyman.
"I was having nightmares that something bad was going to happen, and you know it was really hard to take that phone call," said his mother, Frances Prettyman.
Raila was flown on life support to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. His family said he was peppered with shrapnel all over his neck, chest, body. He also had fractures all over his body and problems with his lungs.
"Your heart breaks; your heart breaks," Eugene Prettyman said. "I mean, I raised this young man his whole life. And the worst part about the whole thing is knowing that your child is hurt, and he's hurt severely, and you can't do anything."
Raila joined the Army after high school in 2005. He's been deployed to Iraq twice before and had been in Afghanistan since December.
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His family said they are taking things one day at a time.
"I hope and pray no one else gets hurts," Frances Prettyman said. "I really do; it's just heartbreaking."
Raila is in stable condition and out of the intensive care unit, Brooke Army Medical Center said.
