Morale within the 82nd AIRBORNE

[Felix The Assassin]

Pulled this, and can't give the link, but can give the article.
The wings upon my chest (3 JUL 83)are 21 years old, the same age as the soldier in this article! Somewhere between the physical abuse, and the mental transition to allow oneself to "jump from an airplane while in flight" there comes a space in time where you find yourself. "AIRBORNE"

Paratrooper Who Lost Leg Re-Enlists
Associated Press
October 18, 2004

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - George Perez lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq more than a year ago, but despite the phantom pains that haunt him, he says he is determined to prove to the Army that he is no less of a man - and no less of a soldier.

"I'm not ready to get out yet," he says. "I'm not going to let this little injury stop me from what I want to do."

Perez, 21, still feels the sweat between his toes when he exercises. He's still plagued with nagging cramps in his calf muscle. And sometimes, when he gets out of bed at night without thinking, he topples over.

He is one of at least four amputees from the 82nd Airborne Division to re-enlist. With a new carbon-fiber prosthetic leg, Perez intends to show a medical board he can run an eight-minute mile, jump out of airplanes and pass all the other paratrooper tests that will allow him to go with his regiment to Afghanistan next year.

On Sept. 14, 2003, Perez, of Carteret, N.J., and seven other members of his squad were rumbling down a road outside Fallujah when a bomb blast rocked their Humvee. Perez recalls flying through the air and hitting the ground hard.

The blast killed one of Perez's comrades. Perez felt surprisingly little pain, but when he tried to get up, he couldn't. He saw that his left foot was folded backward onto his knee. His size 12 1/2 combat boot stood in the dusty road a few feet away, still laced.

A photograph of Perez's lonely boot transmitted around the world and spread across two pages of Time magazine became a stark reminder that the war in Iraq was far from over.


Doctors initially tried to save part of Perez's foot. But an infection crept up his leg, and Perez agreed to allow the amputation below the knee joint.

"I was going to stay in no matter what," he recalls telling the surgeons. "Do whatever would get me back fastest."

Perez was left with a rounded stump that fits into the suction cup of the black carbon-fiber prosthetic leg.

When he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for his rehabilitation, Perez asked a pair of generals who visited his bedside if it was possible for him to stay in the Army.

"They told me, 'It's all up to you, how much you want it,'" he says. "If I could do everything like a regular soldier, I could stay in."

He wasted little time getting started. At one point, a visitor found him doing push-ups in bed. He trained himself to walk normally with his new leg, and then run with it.

Perez has to rise at least an hour earlier than his fellow soldiers to allow swelling from the previous day's training to subside enough for his stump to fit into the prosthetic.

But it is a comfort for Perez to know he's not alone.

At least three other paratroopers in the 82nd have lost limbs in combat during the past two years and re-enlisted. One of them, Staff Sgt. Daniel Metzdorf, lost his right leg above the knee in a Jan. 27 blast. He appealed three times before the fitness board allowed him to stay on.

"I think it's a testimony to today's professional Army," says division commander Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell. "I also think, deep down, it is a love for their other paratroopers."

In July, amputee program manager Chuck Scoville of Walter Reed told a congressional committee that amputations accounted for 2.4 percent of all wounded in action in the Iraq war - twice the rate in World Wars I and II.

Perez is one of about 160 service members who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who have passed through Walter Reed's amputee patient program. The military says it does not track the number who choose to stay in the service.

"It isn't something that historically we've had to deal with a whole lot," says Lt. Col. Frank Christopher, the surgeon for the 82nd Airborne.

Today, Perez looks every bit the part of paratrooper - tall, in ripped-ab shape and serious-looking. His uniform is sharply creased, his maroon beret sits at an exact angle above one eye and the black leather boot on his good leg gleams with a mirror shine. The only thing that sets him apart at a glance is the white running shoe on his prosthetic leg.

Perez has to go before another medical fitness board to determine whether he will be allowed to jump again. He also must pass the fitness test for his age - run two miles in just under 16 minutes and do at least 42 push-ups and 53 sit-ups in two-minute stretches.

For now, he must content himself with a job maintaining M-16s and M-4s, machine guns and grenade launchers in his company's armory. But his dream is to attend the grueling Ranger school at Fort Benning, Ga., a serious challenge to even the most able-bodied soldier.

"I got a lot of things to do," he said. "I want to do as much as I can, as much as they'll let me."

[Timber Loftis]

Yes, well thank God we went to war so we can have heartwarming stories of courage and conviction to share round.

[shamrock_uk]

I'm absolutely amazed at the things one can now accomplish with a prosthetic limb! If he's passing fitness tests for the army, presumably that means that living a 'normal' life at home would be of little difficulty these days...? Heh, isn't technology wonderful.

Whilst I would question his ability to serve on the front line if he still has problems with things like swelling, kudos to the American military for letting him do a non-combat role and not chucking him and family onto the scrapheap.

[ 10-22-2004, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Felix The Assassin]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Yes, well thank God we went to war so we can have heartwarming stories of courage and conviction to share round.

Ah TL, did you have a double shot of cynicism to start the day off? It t'was not too long ago, one with your 'handle' was ranting and raving, that we should not worry about some 1/2 million yr old mosque. We should throw the ROE out the window, and go into said mosque and take out some cleric with a name that rhymed with 'tater'!

[Night Stalker]

Can I get a "HOOAH HOOAH!"?

[johnny]

Originally posted by Felix The Assassin: quote: Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Yes, well thank God we went to war so we can have heartwarming stories of courage and conviction to share round.

Ah TL, did you have a double shot of cynicism to start the day off? It t'was not too long ago, one with your 'handle' was ranting and raving, that we should not worry about some 1/2 million yr old mosque. We should throw the ROE out the window, and go into said mosque and take out some cleric with a name that rhymed with 'tater'! [/QUOTE]Exactly.

[Timber Loftis]

Well, yes. If you're going to make war, make war. Glass ashtray, and all that. But, I can still question the decision to go to begin with, or the timing, or the diplomacy. Or how long it's been, or how many of my fellow Americans have been made casualties.

You know, though, you need to read the #1 rule I gave my wife: All statements are null and void after 7 days. [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]

[Cerek]

Great article, Felix.

Gosh, I wonder if Michael Moore would like a letter from Perez to include in his next book? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

I've been meaning to check out that book and see if he included only bad letters or if he included ones favoring the war or slamming him. ANybody know?

[Chewbacca]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: I've been meaning to check out that book and see if he included only bad letters or if he included ones favoring the war or slamming him. ANybody know?

I've skimmed through the book several times on my way through the mall, and I didn't see any letters like the one in the OP. Of course with a title like Will They Ever Trust Us Again one would expect the letters to be critical of the judgment to go to war and the ones I read were.

Of course the letter in the OP was politically neutral from what I can tell. I think it is a testimony of professional and personal dedication rather than a statement for or against political policy.

I think Cerek was just taking an obligatory and easy pot-shot at Moore, when Moore's 'one-sidedness' is the expected norm.

[ 10-22-2004, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]