Darkhorse Wounded Marines Pushing to Achieve Greatness

CAN’T KEEP DARKHORSE DOWN: OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
Marines Official Site
By Pfc. Alvin Pujols, 1st Marine Division
March 13, 2015

Perseverance and pride fuels them to do great things. For Chischilly and Barron, the pride of belonging to the “Darkhorse” battalion and the reputation they uphold pushes them to achieve greatness.

2014 Marine Corps Trials - Day 1
Marines, veterans, and international allies compete a wheelchair basketball game during the Marine Corps Trials in various Paralympic events at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California March 4-12. Other events include: archery, cycling, field, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming and track.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- After taking the reins in Sangin District, Helmand province, Afghanistan, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, began a hard-fought battle. By the time their tour ended in April 2011, the Marines of the battalion suffered the highest casualty rate of any U.S. Marine unit during the past 10 years of Operation Enduring Freedom, losing 25 Marines and incurring 184 casualties.

The battalion has a legacy dating back to Belleau Wood in World War I and a long history of success in battle in every major American conflict since. Their insignia and their motto, “Get Some,” is based in a brotherhood unique to U.S. Marines. For two “Darkhorse” Marines in particular, that devotion went beyond the field of battle.

After stepping on a pressure-plate improvised explosive device during a patrol of the Kajaki Dam area in southwestern Afghanistan, Cpl. Marcus Chischilly, a team leader with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, lost his left leg above the knee, sustained nerve damage in his right hand and received shrapnel wounds across his body.

It took two years for Chischilly, a Phoenix native, to recover from the blast, but in those years, Chischilly never lost his positive attitude, he said. After leaving the wheelchair, Chischilly was able to adapt to the prosthetic leg that assisted him with his mobility.

During his recovery, Chischilly, along with the other patients at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, participated in different adaptive sports. One sport that called out to Chischilly and his fellow Marines was wheelchair basketball, a sport where he could easily draw parallels to his time as an infantry team leader.

“Wheelchair basketball challenged us as a team; we had to really be cognitive of our teammates,” said Chischilly. “We learned to hone the skill of managing ourselves in a wheelchair.”

Chischilly, a member of the Navajo Nation, began playing wheelchair basketball in the 2012 Marine Corps Trials, where he not only participated in wheelchair basketball, but also in swimming and track and field.
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