Real-life guitar heroes, Warrior Spirit

Real-life guitar heroes
By Jim Kavanagh, CNN
July 29, 2011 4:28 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Wounded veterans form band to encourage comrades
Founder Paul Delacerda survived roadside bomb attack in Iraq
Singer Robert Ferguson proudly shows off prosthetic leg
"It's an inspiration," therapy center case manager says

Paul Delacerda, from left, Levon Ingram and Robert Ferguson form the core of the band Warrior Spirit

Atlanta (CNN) -- From reveille to marches to taps, music plays a vital role in the life of a soldier. One disabled Iraq veteran says he believes it may play an even more important role for wounded warriors.

Paul Delacerda spent 15 years jumping out of airplanes with the Army's vaunted 82nd Airborne Division before he blew out his knee, ending his paratrooper career. But he wasn't done serving. He fought his way through grueling rehab and back into the Army on his third attempt.

No longer able to jump, Delacerda was serving on the ground in Iraq when his life changed suddenly and forever.

"A lot of bad stuff happened that day," he said.

Delacerda, a staff sergeant, was driving a truck on a route-clearing mission -- searching for roadside bombs -- in the dangerous Tal Afar area in 2005.

"The pucker factor in that is greater than you can imagine," he quipped.

As Delacerda and his squad crept down the road, chaos broke out all around them. A youth of about 12 threw a grenade, and the soldiers shot back, he said.

"Suddenly everything went black," Delacerda recalled. An improvised explosive device had exploded under the truck.

The blast didn't tear Delacerda's body apart, but it violently knocked his brain around inside his skull. Everyone in the squad survived, but Delacerda's military career really was over this time.

Now he suffers severe headaches, numbness in his arms and legs, nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder and profound memory loss. Sometimes he doesn't recognize close friends. On one occasion he found himself inside a Walmart, unable to remember his own name, let alone why he was there, he said.
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Real-life guitar heroes

Warrior Spirit Band
“Our Story”
THE ULTIMATE MISSION OF THE WARRIOR SPIRIT BAND IS TO EMPOWER WOUNDED WARRIORS THROUGH MUSIC.



As musicians we have the ability to share our love of music with others and present our story through lyrics and sound. The Warrior Spirit Band has the potential to do so much for our men and women of the armed forces that have sacrificed their ability to lead a normal life after being wounded or disabled in a combat zone. Warrior Spirit will help bring selected veterans outreach programs to the spotlight and will raise awareness of the struggles that our service men and women go through upon returning home and reacclimating to a normal life.

According to recent VA estimates, approximately 6,400 veterans take their own lives each year. A growing number of these veterans are those that served in either Iraq or Afghanistan. The Warrior Spirit Band wants to help reduce those numbers by using music as a positive tool for veteran transition and support. Studies have also shown that music can have a positive effect on various mental conditions, including PTSD.