thedrifter
11-21-06, 07:53 AM
Former Marine moves on from service, but not from bonds formed
Publish Date: 11/20/06
By Karen Gardner
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Adam Kisielewski lost his left arm and right leg in Iraq, but not his spirit.
He said if he'd only lost the leg, he'd still be in his beloved Marines. But he's lost too many body parts to return to a combat zone.
"If I had just lost my leg and not my arm, there would've been a chance I could stay in the infantry," he said. "My wife wouldn't be too happy."
Instead, he's starting a job at Fort Detrick as a project manager in the Military Amputee Research Program, a program that tests prostheses for those who have lost body parts.
Researchers have made a lot of advances in prosthetics in the past few years, Cpl. Kisielewski said, and Congress is making more money available for their development.
The U.S. Department of Defense estimates about 3,000 soldiers in Iraq alone have lost limbs, many from improvised explosive devices planted by Iraqi insurgents.
A sad truth of 21st-century war is that there are those whose injuries are such that they may not have survived five or 10 years ago, but medical advances have kept them alive, even without a body part or two.
Cpl. Kisielewski is one.
"The reality is I should be dead," he said. "It was a big bomb. I'm extremely lucky. I don't forget that."
He and Lt. James Cathey were stationed in Fallujah in August 2005 when they went to an Iraqi school.
"We knew some bad stuff was going on at the school," he said.
They got to the top floor of the school and kicked in a door when a 97-pound bomb capable of 155 artillery rounds exploded. Lt. Cathey was killed.
"I stayed conscious through the whole thing," he said.
He asked fellow soldiers to tell his wife, Carrie, who was at home in Thurmont, that he loved her. They told him he'd have to tell her himself.
They had gotten married shortly before he went to Iraq, and he didn't want to return to her in a wheelchair.
His fellow Marines took him back to his base at Camp Fallujah. He was then sent to Germany and then to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The journey from the explosion to Bethesda took only five days.
"They patched me up the best they could," he said.
From there he was moved to Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he spent more than four months, and was fitted with a prosthetic leg. He learned to walk on his prosthetic, and now has legs for running, skiing and scuba diving as well as one for general use.
He and his wife live in Thurmont, where she grew up. If he could, he'd stay in the Marines and return to Iraq.
Cpl. Kisielewski was given the option to remain in the Marines in an administrative job, but he chose to get out after four years of service. He spoke at a prayer breakfast in December at Fort Detrick, and was offered the job in the amputee research program.
He starts officially this month, although he's been learning the ropes since January. He's also learning how to get around -- the kneecap on his left leg is missing, and he has limited mobility. But he's doing a lot of walking and stretching to regain his ability to run.
"I got to run," he said. "I got some weight to lose."
He said he can run a few miles pretty easily, and plans to work his way up to the Marine Corps Marathon.
Cpl. Kisielewski said the bonds he's formed with his fellow Marines are strong.
"You develop a unique kind of trust," he said. "It wasn't me getting hurt that changed my outlook. It was seeing my friends get hurt or killed."
The war taught him how he responds under fire, something he didn't know about himself until he went to Iraq.
"It's a different kind of confidence," Cpl. Kisielewski said.
Ellie
Publish Date: 11/20/06
By Karen Gardner
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Adam Kisielewski lost his left arm and right leg in Iraq, but not his spirit.
He said if he'd only lost the leg, he'd still be in his beloved Marines. But he's lost too many body parts to return to a combat zone.
"If I had just lost my leg and not my arm, there would've been a chance I could stay in the infantry," he said. "My wife wouldn't be too happy."
Instead, he's starting a job at Fort Detrick as a project manager in the Military Amputee Research Program, a program that tests prostheses for those who have lost body parts.
Researchers have made a lot of advances in prosthetics in the past few years, Cpl. Kisielewski said, and Congress is making more money available for their development.
The U.S. Department of Defense estimates about 3,000 soldiers in Iraq alone have lost limbs, many from improvised explosive devices planted by Iraqi insurgents.
A sad truth of 21st-century war is that there are those whose injuries are such that they may not have survived five or 10 years ago, but medical advances have kept them alive, even without a body part or two.
Cpl. Kisielewski is one.
"The reality is I should be dead," he said. "It was a big bomb. I'm extremely lucky. I don't forget that."
He and Lt. James Cathey were stationed in Fallujah in August 2005 when they went to an Iraqi school.
"We knew some bad stuff was going on at the school," he said.
They got to the top floor of the school and kicked in a door when a 97-pound bomb capable of 155 artillery rounds exploded. Lt. Cathey was killed.
"I stayed conscious through the whole thing," he said.
He asked fellow soldiers to tell his wife, Carrie, who was at home in Thurmont, that he loved her. They told him he'd have to tell her himself.
They had gotten married shortly before he went to Iraq, and he didn't want to return to her in a wheelchair.
His fellow Marines took him back to his base at Camp Fallujah. He was then sent to Germany and then to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The journey from the explosion to Bethesda took only five days.
"They patched me up the best they could," he said.
From there he was moved to Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he spent more than four months, and was fitted with a prosthetic leg. He learned to walk on his prosthetic, and now has legs for running, skiing and scuba diving as well as one for general use.
He and his wife live in Thurmont, where she grew up. If he could, he'd stay in the Marines and return to Iraq.
Cpl. Kisielewski was given the option to remain in the Marines in an administrative job, but he chose to get out after four years of service. He spoke at a prayer breakfast in December at Fort Detrick, and was offered the job in the amputee research program.
He starts officially this month, although he's been learning the ropes since January. He's also learning how to get around -- the kneecap on his left leg is missing, and he has limited mobility. But he's doing a lot of walking and stretching to regain his ability to run.
"I got to run," he said. "I got some weight to lose."
He said he can run a few miles pretty easily, and plans to work his way up to the Marine Corps Marathon.
Cpl. Kisielewski said the bonds he's formed with his fellow Marines are strong.
"You develop a unique kind of trust," he said. "It wasn't me getting hurt that changed my outlook. It was seeing my friends get hurt or killed."
The war taught him how he responds under fire, something he didn't know about himself until he went to Iraq.
"It's a different kind of confidence," Cpl. Kisielewski said.
Ellie