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BURLINGTON — After 21 months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Medical Center, U.S. Army Sgt. Joshua Ben has finally gone home, and a Greensboro businessman and pilot was able to help.

Tom Coble, the president of Coble Trench Safety, is a member of Veterans Airlift Command, an organization of aircraft owners and pilots that volunteer free flights to wounded veterans and their families.

“We do this to show these guys that they make a heck of a sacrifice, and we appreciate what they’ve done,” Coble said.

Ben, 22, was a part of the 82nd Airborne Division deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, in late 2007 when his unit encountered a massive ambush.

The truck in which Ben was a passenger took a hit from nine rocket-launched grenades. He was shot eight times. Six of those shots were absorbed by his protective equipment.

After nearly two years of rehabilitation, Ben is ready to move into his home in Orlando, Fla.

“I’m doing great now,” he said. “I’m getting ready to start school.”

In the fall, Ben will enter the University of Central Florida to major in forensic science with a goal to work in a crime lab.

Employees at Coble Trench Safety organized a reception in Ben’s honor, complete with food and supporters from his Harvest Baptist Church family and music from a visiting choir of missionaries.

The Rappahannock District Youth Choir has been in the Burlington area all week fixing homes, working in food banks and preparing for its concert tonight at Friendship Baptist Church in Burlington.

“This is an awesome experience for us to be able to do this,” choir member Chelsea Champ, 18, said.

“This is one who has done so much for us, and it’s a privilege for us to work with God in welcoming him home,” she said.

Ben’s flight is Coble’s second flying a wounded vet as a part of this program.

Last fall, Coble flew a couple and their two children from Washington to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to be with family, he said.

“I’m just thankful that I have the resources to be able to do it,” Coble said.

Ben is grateful to Coble and the Veterans Airlift Command.

“It is such a wonderful organization,” Ben said. “And it’s great that he would give his time to do this.”

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com