(Editor’s note: This story was updated Thursday morning with additional details)

A Castle Rock Marine and young father was severely injured in an explosion in Afghanistan last week but is expected to recover, relatives said.

Sgt. Jason Anthony Swofford, 25, was injured Friday when an improvised explosive device went off, his uncle Rich Braga said Wednesday. Swofford was transferred first to a military hospital in Germany and now is listed in serious condition at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Braga said.

Swofford, who grew up in Castle Rock and has several relatives in the area, suffered extensive injuries, according to his uncle. Swofford’s wife, Alissa, lives in Portland with their 10-month-old son, Logan. Swofford hasn’t seen his son since he was four months old, said Pat Braga, Swofford’s grandmother, who lives in Ryderwood.

Swofford’s right arm was injured in the blast and doctors hope to take a muscle from his back to repair the limb, according to Pat Braga. His face, which received several fractures, also will have to be reconstructed. Doctors said Wednesday they believe both his eyes will be saved, she said. Swofford also suffered cracked ribs, a collapsed lung and numerous shrapnel wounds.

Details are sketchy about how Swofford was injured other than that he was on patrol and a bomb went off, Pat Braga said.

“He was always telling us not to worry about him,” she said.

Several of Swofford’s immediate family members have traveled to Maryland to be with him, including his wife, mother, Starla Braga of Castle Rock, and father, Marty Swofford Sr., also of Castle Rock. Swofford’s brother Marty Swofford Jr. is in the Navy and studying to be pilot in Utah but he also has joined the family in Maryland. Both Swofford’s mother and father served in the Army.

Swofford served an overseas tour in Iraq in 2008 and was scheduled to come home from Afghanistan next month.

An Oct. 20 Department of Defense photo shows Swofford on security patrol through corn fields in the Nawa district of Helmand province. Marines in Swofford’s Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, were conducting security patrols to decrease insurgent activity and gain the trust of the Afghan people, according to the Defense Department.

Before he joined the Marines in December 2004, Swofford received an associate’s degree from Lower Columbia College in June of that year. He graduated Castle Rock High School in 2001.

In 2005, as a private, Swofford graduated from advanced infantry training at Camp Pendleton in San Mateo, Calif., in the top 5 percent of his class, with the third highest grade-point average, according to Daily News archives.

Family and friends who want to send letters and cards to Swofford can do so at the following address:

Sgt. Jason A. Swofford, National Naval Medical Center, 8901 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, 20889-5600.

Pat Braga said doctors have told the family he’ll be there for some time.