Wife of injured soldier calls Bragg training accident unthinkable

Michelle Muzzy is now spending her days at Duke University Hospital, supporting her husband as he recovers from serious injuries he suffered in a training accident.

"You just never think that it's going to happen to you, honestly," she said Wednesday. "When they're deployed, you're kind of like on edge, thinking it could happen. Then they come home, and you kind of let your guard down."

When her husband said he was heading out for training, "you're, like, 'OK, be careful. no big deal.' You're not, like, 'Oh, I might lose you,'" she said.

Cory Muzzy was among seven members of the 18th Fires Brigade's 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment who were injured Friday morning while working with a 155mm towed howitzer. Cannon crew member Pfc. James Groth, 22, of Ethel, Wash., was killed in the accident.

The 25-year-old from Pecos, N.M., was undergoing surgery Wednesday morning at Duke. Michelle Muzzy said her husband has lost sight in both eyes and had his right leg amputated.

Doctors are holding out hope that he will regain some sight in his left eye, she said.

"His right leg got blown off, and they had to, like, amputate it a little more above his knee because they have to make sure there's enough skin so they can wrap it," Michelle Muzzy said. "They're still going to have to do some skin grafting."

It was 4:30 a.m. Friday when she got a call from Womack Army Medical Center to inform her of the accident and to tell her to get to the Fort Bragg hospital as quickly as possible.

Cory Muzzy doesn't remember what happened in the accident, his wife said, but he is in good spirits as he fights to recover.

"He probably should not be alive, and the fact that he is, I am just, I am blessed," said Michelle Muzzy, who met her future husband online and married him last June.

"All I want for him to do – I don't care what's wrong with him – all I want is for him to be alive, and being able to talk to me is just amazing to me," she said.

"It's called Team Muzzy," she said of the Facebook page. "Basically, on that page, you can find any updates regarding Cory, and on the page, it also has the link for the donation website."

Michelle Muzzy said the Army is doing all it can to help, but she knows there will be additional expenses during her husband's recovery. She said the outpouring of support so far has been heartfelt and overwhelming.