Amputee still 'fit for duty' in Iraq

By Patrick O'Driscoll
USA Today

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Army Capt. David Rozelle loosens his belt buckle, the one his commander gave him on the eve of the Iraq war, to reveal a 16-word inscription: "Brave Rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel."

U.S. Army Capt. David Rozelle lost his right foot to an Iraqi land mine last year. After surgery, rehabilitation and being fitted with a prosthesis, he has been pronounced "fit for duty" and will resume a command position in June. He alternates his workouts with weight lifting and swimming at Fort Carson, Colo. Gannett News Service

Less than two months after Rozelle and his troops crossed into Iraq last spring, an anti-tank mine blew off his right foot. "I definitely was baptized in blood and steel," he says, referring to his blood and his wrecked Humvee. A bit of shrapnel remains in his leg.

But his limb, which ends 2 inches above the ankle, is now sheathed in an artificial leg and foot, which fits into a standard-issue combat boot. Rozelle, 31, is still in the Army — and he intends to return to Iraq.

In today's military, amputation doesn't automatically mean "medical retirement," a discharge because of a disability. High-tech advances in artificial limbs and improved methods of rehabilitation allow a significant number of amputees to stay in uniform. Some, like Rozelle, may even return to combat.

At least 4,400 military men and women have been wounded in action since the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq last year. More than 120 of them have lost a limb. Some have lost two or three.

"We anticipate that up to 40 percent of all of those injured will be able to return to active duty," said Chuck Scoville, administrator of Ward 57, the amputee wing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the military's hub for amputation surgery and rehabilitation.

"A lot of the guys want to stay. They're just amazing."

Rozelle is tall, athletic and relentless. He threw himself into rehab as he underwent several surgeries to repair his leg. His first goal: Leave the hospital in time for the birth of his first child. His second goal: Ski again by Christmas.

He spent hours each day in therapy to rebuild and retrain his muscles to compensate for the loss of his foot and prepare for the artificial limb. Barely a month after his June 21 injury, two months ahead of schedule, Rozelle returned to Fort Carson on crutches in mid-July. He was there when his wife, Kim, gave birth to their son, Forrest, on Aug. 5.

Later that month, Rozelle got his first prosthesis. After a month of adjustment, "it was off to the races," he says — four hours of daily exercise, physical therapy, weight lifting, swimming, mountain biking and climbing — "anything I could do to stay in motion."

Rozelle, an expert skier before he was wounded, was barreling down the slopes of the Colorado Rockies by December — on two legs.

"At least once a day I miss my foot, but it hasn't slowed me much," Rozelle said. "There are times I definitely feel disabled, (but) getting back to skiing was getting back to life."

At Walter Reed, the hospital's prosthetics lab fits some amputees with limbs containing tiny microprocessors. The mini-computers make artificial wrists and elbows work simultaneously and help knees and legs maintain a natural gait.

Army Sgt. Andrew McCaffrey, 31, of Massapequa, N.Y., is a Green Beret whose right hand was blown off by a grenade in Afghanistan. He's back on active duty with a high-tech limb at Fort Bragg, N.C., after months at Walter Reed.

"He probably will stay in Special Forces. He can do all of the tasks required," Scoville said. "I've watched him start an IV. He's able to field-strip his weapon and put it back together in 90 seconds."

Army Cpl. Brian Wilhelm, 22, originally from Manchester, Iowa, awaits the verdict of an Army medical board on whether he is "fit for duty" and eligible to return to his unit. A rocket-propelled grenade shattered his left leg last October in Iraq.

"I don't want to have to go out on somebody else's terms," said Wilhelm, a squad leader in the 1st Battalion of Fort Carson's 8th Infantry Regiment. "I don't want some terrorist to have a say in my future."

Sgt. Justin Callahan, 22, of Syracuse, lost his left leg while clearing land mines in Afghanistan in January. He won't stay in the Army when he leaves Walter Reed this month.

"I was an active guy who worked out a lot, was in the gym all the time," said Callahan, an engineer with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in New York. "I didn't think I'd be able to be what I used to be, which is above the rest. It was time to move on."

But seeing other amputees in Ward 57 has inspired him to pursue a career in physical therapy. "I felt lucky that I just lost the bottom of my left leg, 9 inches," Callahan said. "Other guys lost an arm, a leg, two arms, even their face. I realized that if I have to deal with something for the rest of my life, I might as well go into a field that I'd relate to the best."

Among the goodwill visitors to Walter Reed are Kaua'i native and former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who lost part of a foot in Vietnam, and retired Army Gen. Frederick Franks, the 7th Corps commander in the Gulf War who lost his left leg to a grenade in Vietnam.

Rozelle was proud, even eager, when he led his 170 troops across the Kuwait border on April 28, 2003 — Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday. "We all crossed into Iraq with our belt buckles on," he said. The brass buckles were stamped with the insignia of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the tank-mounted descendants of Army scout Kit Carson, for whom Fort Carson is named. The regiment commander, Col. David Teeples, gave one to each of his unit leaders as they left for Iraq.

Rozelle, who commanded K Troop of the 3rd Squadron, was haunted by the symbolic loss of his uniform as medics worked to save him. It was just a half-hour after his Humvee, leading a convoy, ran over a mine in the western Iraqi town of Hit, where he was training a new police force.

"The first thing they do is cut off all your clothes," he recalled. "That could have been the last day that I ever wore green. That didn't dawn on me until I got home and struggled to get back in shape."

But in March, after nine grueling months of rebuilding himself, an Army medical board certified Rozelle "fit for duty." Next month, within days of the first anniversary of losing his foot, he will assume command of the 3rd Armored Calvary's headquarters unit.

"The reason the boss gave (the command) to him is because he earned it," said Col. Butch Kievenaar, commander of Rozelle's squadron. "It's not, 'Here's a guy who gave up a leg.' It's 'Here is a soldier, capable to lead troops.' "

Rozelle has made several trips on his own to visit fellow amputees. Early on, he had seen others still in bed weeks after they arrived. So he gave himself another mission: encouraging amputees by showing how he has made it.

"These guys with no arms who have to go home and learn to live again? Shoot, I've got it easy," Rozelle said. "You talk to a guy that's missing both arms, and he'll look at you and say, 'Man, I'm sure glad I've got my legs.' You talk to a guy that's lost both his legs and he's (raising his arms) and saying, 'I got these.' "

Rozelle recruits amputees to join him at sports clinics, ski races and other events for disabled veterans. He goads others into playing wheelchair basketball and joining other outings in the nation's capital. He answers their questions with something he never got when he first arrived: plain talk about life after losing a limb.

"I sat in rooms with guys and cried with them," Rozelle said. "I think I've made a difference with a few." He still spends an hour a day e-mailing other amputees.

Rozelle may get a waterproof foot for swimming. Several times a week, he swims a mile in the Fort Carson pool. Even without the special foot, he swims past others who have both of theirs.

When he touches the north edge of the pool after each lap, Rozelle faces a sign on the wall: "LOSERS quit when they are tired / WINNERS quit when they have won."