A 1998 Afton Central School graduate injured during shootings at Fort Hood has been released from the hospital, a relative said Sunday.
Spc. Matthew Cooke, 30, is at his off-base apartment with his wife, Sara, and their son, Gabriel, 14 months, said his aunt, Judy (Conrow) Bernhardt of Unadilla. Cooke was released Tuesday, she said, and will have a private nurse to help with his recovery.
Cooke was shot five times Nov. 5 when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage at the Army post in Texas, Cooke's relatives said.
Bernhardt said she spoke to her nephew on the telephone when he was in the trauma center at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas.
Cooke was shot as he tried to shield a wounded sergeant from the assailant, an action Bernhardt said Cooke described as ``just doing what I had to do.''
``He is just such a great guy,'' she said.
Three bullets struck Cooke in his upper back and one grazed his head, Bernhardt said. A fifth bullet that went into his lower back caused most of his internal injuries. Cooke will need two more surgeries to correct injuries in his abdomen, she said, and his return to active duty is uncertain.
``He still has a long recovery,'' she said.
Cooke drives a truck as a specialist in the 20th Engineering Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade.
He has served two tours in Iraq since joining the Army four years ago, Bernhardt said, and was scheduled for duty in Afghanistan next year. He previously served in the Marines for six years, she said.
Cooke, who also attended Sidney Central School, is the son of Bernhardt's sister, Diane (Conrow) Frappier, of Norwood, N.C., and Carl Cooke of Sidney.
Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly shot and killed 12 soldiers and a civilian while wounding about 30 others at Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Nov. 5.
Hasan, assigned to the Darnell Medical Center at Fort Hood, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder under Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the Fort Hood website.
