“Everybody keeps calling me a hero,” he says. “I have a hard time hearing that. I was just a soldier doing his job. The heroes are the men and women still over there. … I got to come back. I didn’t die. That’s a blessing.”
“I keep telling people I’m not the story,” he says. “I was just a soldier doing his job. The story is the men who saved my life.”--Sgt. Matt Lammers
"Lammers lost both legs and his left arm June 9 when his Humvee hit a buried explosive in Baghdad. Comrades saved his life, and now he’ll lean on other comrades as he begins at least a year of rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid, a gleaming, glass-and-metal center that opened this year to treat grievously injured soldiers.To read the rest of the article, go here!
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It was Lammers’ act of generosity that put him in that Humvee. Scheduled for a trip home, Lammers switched places to let another soldier go home for his first wedding anniversary.
Lammers and his men were returning to base in Baghdad when the Humvee drove over the explosive.
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Lammers probably will spend at least another year here, retraining his muscles and mind. He and his wife recently moved to base housing, where their daughters — Jaelen, 1, and Taena, 5 — will join them next month.
The hope is that Lammers will leave Texas in a year on new legs with a new arm. His doctors think he’s a good candidate for a new type of bionic arm that responds directly to a user’s nervous system.
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Peer motivation plays a huge role. Soldiers who lost a leg visit with soldiers who lost two; burn victims meet with burn victims. The idea is that soldiers with grievous wounds benefit from bonding with others facing the same challenges. The message: You’re not alone. You can do this. I can help.
“These guys don’t say to each other, ‘I’m sorry you got hurt,’ or ‘Oh, that’s a tragic injury,’ ” says Mark Heniser, Lammers’ physical therapist. “It’s like a locker room in here. They compete with each other. They tease each other. So we can’t then turn around and tell them there’s something they can’t do.”
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A total of 571 service men and women had lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan as of April 1, according to Pentagon statistics.
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Soldiers who lost limbs in Iraq have gone on to run laps with President Bush, take up snowboarding and run for Congress. Just as importantly, they’ve also gone back to work, held their babies and tied their shoes.
The newest devices give amputees unprecedented control and mobility.
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Gary Lammers, principal at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Lenexa, worried like any parent but respected his son’s decision.
Asked now about his son’s service and his attitude, he pauses. His voice thickens.
“I well up with pride,” he says. “And at the same time, I understand that this strength comes from Matt and not me. But I’m so very proud to be his dad.”"
Wishing you an early Christmas greeting :)
There is always room for more Sawyer on your birthday!
"They are likely to nominate a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate by the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton."--Karl RoveKarl Rove was loved by many conservatives and hated by the left. Whatever you want to say about him he's been a huge force in the political realm. To be honest I was shocked today to hear the news that he was leaving a year early. I asked my radio guest, Bill Price (who personally knows Rove) if he saw this coming and he said he didn't.
