Fort Hood soldier returns home to Wis.

A Wisconsin soldier injured in the Fort Hood shootings spent Thanksgiving with his family, reminding all of everything they have to be thankful for.

Army Reserve Specialist Grant Moxon was shot in the leg when Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire Nov. 5, and three of Moxon's friends died. Moxon told WISC-TV in Madison the memories are still raw, and Thanksgiving at home means a time to recover emotionally as well as physically.

"(I'm) definitely coming to terms with it now, but with it's not easy," Moxon said.

The 23-year-old had been planning to go to Afghanistan with the Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment to counsel soldiers. That trip is off while he recovers, giving him the chance to spend the holiday at his family's home in Lodi, just north of Madison.

"It's just an extra special thing to know that he's safe and he's home," said his mother, Kathy Moxon. She was busy making apple pie while Moxon played with the family cat, Shadow.

Moxon had been at Fort Hood less than 24 hours when the shootings started. He was sitting with other unit members when he heard shouting and then, gunshots. Like many, he thought it was a military exercise.

Then a bullet hit his leg; it felt "like a sledgehammer," he recalled. Moxon briefly played dead, hid behind a desk and then ran out of the building with others.

"The bullet went into my leg right there," he said, pointing to his left leg. "So about two inches above my knee, and it's lodged somewhere in my thigh."

Taking the bullet out might cause muscle damage, so it's staying in. He hopes to be off his cane in a couple of weeks, and running for sport again in a couple of months. He would like to work at his Army unit office in Madison and perhaps pursue a master's degree in psychology.

For now, he's enjoying a new perspective on life.

"Enjoy every day as it comes. I got a lot more to enjoy now," Moxon said. "Everything doesn't seem quite as bad."