Fort Carson amputee returning to Iraq for second tour of duty

[leftchick]

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=036d123a-0abe-421a-0134-10ba88669545&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

FORT CARSON - A soldier from Fort Carson is about to do something no other soldier has done in recent history: return to the battlefield as an amputee.

Capt. David Rozelle lost one of his legs in Iraq a little more than a year ago. Now he's ready to be back in action, in charge of 205 troops.

"I want to be their commander, not a one-legged commander," says Rozelle.

<snip>

Since the injury, Rozelle has learned how to walk and run all over again with a prosthetic leg. The 32-year-old soldier also made a trip to Vail with fellow amputees, to learn how to ski.

He's now passed all the army's tests and is deemed fit for duty. He will be the first soldier amputee to return to the war zone in recent U.S. military history.



David Rozelle has gone through an intensive regime to regain the level of physical fitness he needed to return to Iraq.

[Walt Starr]

1. DAMN! Shades of a hoaky Sci-Fi flick, "Starship Troopers"

This is getting really weird.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Luke Skywalker is a more apt analogy

A true believer, this one.

[radar]

44. "The Mobile Infantry made me the man I am today..."

Says the double leg-amputee recruiting sergeant to the film's stars; or something to that effect.

* Used to be, our military kept the veterans, who'd done their fair share, stateside to train & teach the new soldiers how to survive in combat.

Now, we're just doing what the Germans & Japanese did in WWII - keep the vets in the warzone fighting until the war ended, or they died.

[smoogatz]

2. You have to admire his dedication.

At the same time you worry a bit about his mental health.

[leftchick]

3. he is leaving a wife and young son behind...

I know I would not do it.

[Skink]

5. Just the precedent they need...

[indepat]

14. Duty to one's country must come first and at the sacrifice to those left

behind for America must be kept safe.

[VegasWolf]

40. Not duty to Halliburton's bottom line though, screw that. n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. God he must really love them

to run off- leaving them behind worrying that he might never be back at all.

[calimary]

38. Uh... yeah. I wonder how they really feel about it, deep down.

If I were his wife, this would certainly tell me whom he loves more. And it wouldn't be me. God forbid he's trying to go two for two. He should be HOME, taking care of HIS FAMILY rather than running off trying to be some sort of idiotic Captain America.

A REAL man takes care of his woman and his children.

DAMN this is heartbreaking. And he's being set up to be USED.

I hate this. They should ALL be OUT OF THERE, and HOME with their families. THAT is national security. Not this phony cowboy crap.

[brainshrub]

6. You see? Getting your limbs blown off isn't that bad.

They can patch you right up good-as-new. All those other soldiers with missing limbs are whiners.

[AwareOne]

9. Exactly, this is a nice bit of propaganda for the DOD

Behold the U.S. super soldier! Our genetic superiority renders us invincible! Heil Bush!

[Mairead]

7. One wonders what will happen if

he loses yet another important part of his body.

[leetrisck]

8. Easier to go to Iraq than fight the

Veteran's Administration and bush

[Rockerdem]

10. Well, good luck, dude. But this looks more like death wish than courage.

He definitely needs more counselling and family intervention. My opinion from afar.

[leesa]

11. This is someone in denial about his amputation. He should be in treatment

Our military is in a shambles.

[hack89]

37. Can't let those handicapped folks think they're just like normal people

He wants to resume his chosen profession, he is physically able to do it, and his wife supports him. What's the big deal?

[Moderator]

12. kick

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

13. Amputee heading back to battlefield (1st Army amputee to return to combat)

Fort Carson captain prepares for redeployment, releases book

By Jim Sheeler, Rocky Mountain News
February 14, 2005

FORT CARSON - Inside the place where there is no camouflage, Capt. David Rozelle sat near the pool, dressed only in a swimsuit. He unsheathed his leg from his prosthetic foot and stared at the stump.

snip>

It's a tale he's repeated countless times during the past year - a story that begins just before a massive explosion in Iraq and continues as Rozelle struggles to become the first amputee certified by the Army to return to the same battlefield where he was injured. It's a story Rozelle never knew how to end.


edited to add link http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/america_at_war/article/0,1299,DRMN_2116_3546475,00.html

[Nihil]

15. Sounds like he took a nasty blow to the head too

I know an amputee who went back to his work but that was in an office
(and the accident had nothing to do with his work). I can understand
this guy's need to feel wanted, to feel as "mean & tough" as he used
to be. I can understand that he needs to prove himself in the army
to avoid being brushed under the carpet with the other proofs of the
reality of joining up.

I fear that his decision here is simply misplaced, a form of denial
that is being pandered to by the Administration in order to generate
another hero for the macho youths to look up to while they sign on
the dotted line.

[Massachusetts]

16. And this proves WHAT?

[American liberal]

17. A study has shown that hospitalized or stateside soldiers can suffer

from a form of guilt that compels them to want to return to their units. They don't feel it is right for them to be in the safety of their homes or a hospital bed. They want to return to their units so they can be there for their buddies. I suspect this is especially the case for soldiers who have lost friends in combat.

I'm sorry I can't remember the source (probably NPR). It was a while ago, but stuck with me. I suspect that that phenomenon may be coming into play in this case.

I also agree with posters who call this a propaganda ploy by the U.S. military.

[w4rma]

18. That guy is a good guy and a patriot. And he's being conned.

If he ever tries to run for office as a Democrat, Republicans will make fun of his purple heart(s) with bandaids and show picutres of him next to Osama bin Laden like they did with Sen. Cleland. Or something similar.

[Algomas]

19. Reminds me of the Knight in Monty Python..

[MHalblaub]

20. The Black Knight?

[drdtroit]

36. "It's only a flesh wound" n/t

[insane_cratic_gal]

21. When these guys are in Boot Camp

They are programed to be loyal to those troops in their squad, to their fellow soldiers.

You can't forget how powerful that is, they may hate this war, believe it's wrong, so long as their buddies are out there; they believe they should be too.

It's all conditioning of the male psyche for brotherhood.

Hubby is the service so while he voted for Kerry, doesn't like the war or what we are doing their, there is part of him that wishes he could be there to help out his guys. *shrug* conditioning, brainwashing.. whatever it is, it's their.

[Turley]

32. Why single out males?

??

[insane_cratic_gal]

35. because women aren't allowed

In combat. (you can defend yourself)

But Women are not allowed to engage in direct ground combat. Fly Helios yes.. kick in doors? no

Seen any footage of females on patrol?

(trust me being a woman, i would figure if i am this close anyway might as well go the rest of the way.It isn't by the choice of the woman, but fundie right winged people who don't believe that a woman can handle child birth, domestic abuse and dying in violent crimes but not in battle I guess? I believe it's Pat Buccann's sister who is a spokes person against it.

Why I was "singling" out males. The conditioning is there, just not the practice.

[Name removed]

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[American liberal]

23. what a terrible thing to hope for *eom*

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[this_side_up]

27. Is this the same person, jogging with the moran?

I can't find the article that goes with the photo.
I think it said that the man was looking forward to
returning?

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

30. Title of Photograph

The Injured and the Criminally Insane!

[malestripper4u]

33. Which would be which?

MS

[Zerex71]

28. They never learn.

Oh well...hope his next trip home isn't in an aluminum transfer tube!

[calimary]

39. Aw shit. That's what I'm afraid of.

I feel very bad for this guy. But I feel worse for his wife and his little boy. I hope that child isn't soon to be fatherless. What good will THAT do?

[ausiedownunderground]

29. This guy will be a liability for his unit in the battlefield

The guerrilla's are going to be "quaking" in their dishdas. Keep an eye on ICasualties for this guys name.

[minorl]

31. The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori

How can someone criticize Wilfred Owen for being bitter after WW I?

Still...I have to admit being an inspiration to young soldiers is probably better than wallowing in pity and derision from cowards and cynics.

I don't know...I'm still on the fence.

Note: Maybe the Capt is the first to command in combat as an amputee, but he isn't the first to serve. Check out Don Hamblen: One Tough Marine.

[Persimmon]

41. Soldiers Stuck 'Till 2031 Should Expect Much More of This

IMHO. It stands to reason (if you're very cynical) that troops who have to be coerced into service, plus serious shortages in volunteers, is an undersized army of unwilling soldiers. Is one solution is to reduce the number of folks who leave the war and get to go home?

"Richard Flahavan, spokesman for Selective Service, tells Rolling Stone that preparing for a skills-based draft is "in fact what we have been doing." For starters, the agency has updated a plan to draft nurses and doctors. But that's not all. "Our thinking was that if we could run a health-care draft in the future," Flahavan says, "then with some very slight tinkering we could change that skill to plumbers or linguists or electrical engineers or whatever the military was short." In other words, if Uncle Sam decides he needs people with your skills, Selective Service has the means to draft you -- and quick.

But experts on military manpower say the focus on drafting personnel with special skills misses the larger point. The Army needs more soldiers, not just more doctors and linguists. "What you've got now is a real shortage of grunts -- guys who can actually carry bayonets," says McPeak. A wholesale draft may be necessary, he adds, "to deal with the situation we've got ourselves into. We've got to have a bigger Army."

<snip>

The Army insists that most "stop-lossed" soldiers will be held on the front lines for no longer than eighteen months. But Jules Lobel, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights who is representing eight National Guardsmen in a lawsuit challenging the extensions, says the 2031 date is being used to strong-arm volunteers into re-enlisting. According to Lobel, the military is telling soldiers, "We're giving you a chance to voluntarily re-enlist -- and if you don't do it, we'll screw you. And the first way we'll screw you is to put you in until 2031."

How many of you have read Joe Haldeman's book "The Forever War?"

via BN: "The Forever War was Joe Haldeman’s second novel. His first, War Year, was published in 1972, and was a realistic, frankly autobiographical account of its author’s experiences as a combat soldier in Vietnam. These experiences, radically reconfigured, also found their way into The Forever War, which is very much a reflection of the lingering effects of the "seemingly endless" war in Vietnam. Haldeman’s version of that conflict begins in 1996, just one generation after the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. In that year, the combined forces of Earth declare war....William Mandella, the narrator-hero, is drafted and placed in an elite combat unit composed of the best and brightest members of his own generation."

The book has it's own fictional reason why it turns out all these troops are trapped in the military, forevermore, but the book basically goes on as a fascinating thought-piece about what it might be like to be a soldier in this type of situation -- and I say that as one who does not especially enjoy 'war' stories, books, movies, etc.

[Psephos]

42. He's made of some stern stuff (now including titanium)

I like this guy. I am going to put politics aside and say flat out that his persistence and courage are exceptional.

I can get my knickers in a twist about a lot of Bushco BS here on DU, but honestly, ripping into this guy seems like the definition of anklebiting.

[Kinkistyle]

45. I agree. He's going back for his men - not for B*shit.

The folks at DU sometimes see too much of the forest and not enough of the trees. This is just a leader who is worried about his men and wants to lead them out alive. Not unlike someone like say, Wes Clark or John Kerry perhaps?

[IrwinDC]

47. Agreed.

These men are fighting for the man standing next to them, not politics.

[belab13]

43. Umm.. Natural (de)Selection

[IrwinDC]

46. Disgusting

[belab13]

48. didn't think it would be a popular post.

while I certainly don't wish any harm to come to this gentleman, I'm wondering how

noble it is to willingly participate and potentially throw away ones life for this criminal

incursion

[IrwinDC]

49. You're damn right it's not popular...

...and don't give me this "don't wish any harm" garbage. That's exactly what you implied. At least stand up for your beliefs, no matter how stupid they are.

As far as the rights or wrongs of the invasion, these men don't have a say in that anyway. It is their job and they do it not for politics but for the men they are fighting with. Same as my father who went to Vietnam not because he agreed with the war (he was against it in fact) but because he was drafted and if he didn't go, someone else would have to take his place. And then when he returned, ilk like you called him a "baby killer".

[belab13]

50. well irwin

i'll make a few points here.

he's been to Iraq - so he's probably seen first hand, participated in, or at the very minimum heard about the level of civilian killing going on. So let'sd just assume that he is aware of Iraqi civilians being mowed down by US military everyday. Also, He may not acknowledge it but he probably understands on some level that this war is a complete farce.

so you tell me why would he would want to re-up into that kind of environment?