Infinite MonkeysParatrooper Who Lost Leg in War Re-Enlists
For those of us who worry about the morale of the troops in Iraq, The Associated Press had a story yesterday Army Paratrooper George Perez.
Perez lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq more than a year ago. But he is determined to prove 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." And he is one of at least four amputees from the 82nd Airborne Division to re-enlist.
And this isn't just a symbolic re-enlistment. The AP reports that "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 sometime next year."
And he's not the only one. "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, who lost his right leg above the knee in a Jan. 27 blast, appealed three times before the fitness board allowed him to stay on."
Remarkable. Simply remarkable. God Bless him.