Marine returns to combat duty after amputation
August 8th, 2008
By David Zucchino in the Los Angeles Times:
Marine Corporal Garrett Jones is back on combat duty in Afghanistan, a little more than a year after a roadside bomb cost him his left leg in Iraq. He uses a prosthetic leg. Friends say he demanded to be sent back to combat.
An excerpt:
In previous wars, Jones would have received a medical discharge and returned to civilian life. But in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the Pentagon has made it possible for some amputees to return to duty — and for a few to deploy overseas again. Advances in medical care and high-tech prostheses have enabled amputees to function far better.
Military spokesmen said that 62 soldiers, airmen or sailors have lost limbs in combat and returned to active duty. It is estimated that more than a dozen amputees have returned to duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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