Army Lt. Joshua Pitcher on duty on new limb in Afghanistan

Soldier who lost leg in Afghanistan vowed ‘I will return.’ This is what it took to get back.
Washington Post
Tim Craig
May 1, 2014

Amputees are allowed to return to active duty if they can prove they can still do the job and won’t be a danger to themselves or others. In 2005, David M. Rozelle, then an Army captain, became the first military amputee to go back to combat when he redeployed to Iraq.

CAMP SPANN, Afghanistan — When U.S. Army Lt. Joshua Pitcher woke up in a military hospital in Kandahar province, he immediately looked toward his feet.

The last thing he remembered was a doctor promising he would try to save the soldier’s left leg, which had been shredded by a roadside bomb. Now Pitcher stole a look downward at the sheet covering his lower body. There was one mound instead of two. He swore.

“And then I just spiraled down into complete depression,” Pitcher recalled.

Two years later, the 25-year-old is serving in Afghanistan again, but this time with a prosthetic leg — going on missions with an M-4 assault rifle and 50 pounds of body armor and gear strapped to his body.

A total of 1,564 soldiers or Marines have lost at least one leg, arm or hand in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon. Pitcher is one of a tiny minority — just 57 — who have returned to war zones.

In the past, the idea of an amputee returning to combat was virtually unthinkable, even though the occasional soldier remained on active duty after losing part of an arm or a leg. Now, thanks to advances in medical care and sturdier prosthetics, more service members can at least try.

But Pitcher’s story shows how daunting the road back can be.
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