Wounded S.D. soldier undergoes surgery

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A Rapid City soldier critically injured in Afghanistan has undergone surgery at an Army hospital in Germany.

Twenty-two-year-old Branden Stackenwalt was one of five soldiers riding in a vehicle that was hit by a roadside bomb over the weekend. Doctors say he has been in a drug-induced coma since the incident.

One soldier died in the blast. Stackenwalt suffered fractures to his back and an arm, leg and foot. Doctors say he could be paralyzed by a fractured vertebrae in his neck.

Stackenwalt's mother, Kim, says the family is trying to gain travel clearance through the military to visit him.

Stackenwalt joined the Army one month after graduating high school in 2006. He deployed to Afghanistan last February.

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