Marine Amputee Iraq-Afghanistan Veteran Now Georgia State Trooper

Macon Marine overcomes amputation, becomes state trooper
13WMAZ
Lorra Lynch jones
February 2, 2015

Last summer, Smith passed every physical agility test required of all troopers in the Georgia State Patrol.

Mark Smith, a Marine from Macon, stepped on a bomb trudging through his second deployment to Iraq.

It knocked him off his feet and off the battlefield, but not for good.

He explained why, despite losing his leg, he fought back. Smith was determined to live his life on his own terms.

Years after his injury, sitting in his Warner Robins home, Mark Smith said he doesn't go a day without remembering October 13, 2006.

Looking at his prosthetic leg, he said he feels "phantom pain," in the foot that's no longer there.

He said, "It'll feel like I'm getting blown up again."

In 2006, Smith and a band of Marines, 1st Battallion 6th Marines, sludged through Ramadi, Iraq's flooded streets. Smith said, "Just a lot of stagnant sewage type water."

They were on a mission to stop enemy sniper fire. Smith had been there before, but this time it would become a place he cannot forget.

Anger and blind determination propelled him through a year of rehab and to a decision his wife, Tabitha, questioned.

Smith wanted to stay in the Marine Corps.

Tabitha said, "It was like, 'You've sacrificed for your country. You've sacrificed. We can move on from this'."

Mark said no, even a desk job for the Marines wouldn't suffice. He wanted to rejoin the fight.

He said, "I couldn't see myself being happy doing anything else."

He got his way in 2011, deploying to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battallion, 8th Marines.
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