Yesterday on a return business trip from San Diego, I sat next to a young Marine (I say Marine, because they are never ex-Marines).  He had an artificial right leg, artificial right arm and had only two fingers on his left hand.  IUD in Iraq, like far too many young Warriors, caused his devastating injuries.

To be honest, I expected him to be bitter.  Most likely, because I expect that I would be if our roles were reversed.  In fact, he was the opposite.  He was genuine and honest about the long period of rehabilitation he had to go through, but he said he had to lose his appendages to learn how to really enjoy life, and he would have rather it been him than another Marine!  (By the way, he was heading to Colorado to go sky diving).  I will leave out our discussions of the current administration (don’t want to go to Gasland), but in short he said he believed in the mission we had in Iraq, and if he had to do it all over again….he would.

What an impressive young man.  If our younger generation has even half the intelligence and guts that this kid has, I have no worry about our future…

At the end of the flight, he took my hand and shook it with his prosthetic hand and said, “Thank You for your Service, Sir!”  I looked him in the eye and said, “No, thank you for your service and sacrifice and I hope that if I had experienced what you have I would turn out as amazing of an individual as you obviously are.  Let me know if I can ever do anything for you.”  He stopped and said, "don’t worry about me, do something to help the others that are much worse off than I am!”

I started this morning…http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/