Marine amputee rejoins battalion

Cpl. Garrett S. Jones was patrolling the streets of Iraq with his team, when he was suddenly hurled 15 feet into the air by an enemy booby trap. The next thing Jones knew, he was on board a helicopter flight headed for the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. He was strapped into a gurney with a military chaplain hovering over him.

"The chaplain asked me if I wanted to pray," said Jones, a 23-year-old Newberg, Ore., native. "We prayed. Then the doctor told me my left leg would be amputated above the knee." Soon after, Jones was in surgery. He awoke a couple days later, but said he doesn't recall much after the operation other than a phone conversation with his relatives. "I just remember talking to my family," he said. "I remember saying, 'I hear they make really good prosthetics.'"

On Aug. 20, 2007, Jones was released from the hospital - just in time to see his fellow Marines of Echo Company return home from Iraq.

"Seeing my guys was emotional for me because we were all so close, and I knew I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them," Jones said. "When we all get together, it's like a family reunion. We're a tight-knit group. We had difficulties at times, but what family doesn't?" Jones yearned to be back with his Marine family.

He continued his daily physical therapy, stretching, and prosthetic appointments at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). He even resumed snowboarding.

Last February, Jones was visited by Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway. Seizing the moment, he asked the commandant for orders to return to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., so he could once again serve with 2/7 (Company E, 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division).

"A couple of days later, I had orders back to 2/7. I was so excited, I almost didn't believe it," Jones said. When Jones checked back into his battalion, many of the Marines were awestruck. They couldn't believe how much progress he had made on a prosthetic leg in less than a year.

"None of us knew how advanced prosthetics were," Cpl. Robert C. Pofahl said. "He's been called a walking legend, literally. We're all glad to have him around. He's a really positive and hard worker, one of those guys who don't let anything get to him, obviously."

Although Jones couldn't return to the infantry, he was eventually assigned to the intelligence section. "At first, I didn't know what I was able to do," he said. "It's good to be able to do something that will keep Marines safe. Although I can't be out there with them, I get to directly help them."

Recovering in just nine months, Jones has become the fastest-recuperating amputee to deploy to a combat zone. He still struggles with walking; it takes a lot of energy to walk in combat boots for 14 hours a day. Jones said he will always feel slight discomfort on his left leg because of nerve and bone growth along the skin line of his amputated leg. But he considers it a small price to pay when comparing it to losing a life.

"We're talking about a guy who almost died in battle and came back to a similar fight," said Sgt. Paul E. Savage, an intelligence specialist and Boston, Mass., native. "The fact that it didn't scare him to come back to his buddies truly speaks volumes of Cpl. Jones' character."

Jones is the first Marine with an above-the-knee amputation to deploy to Afghanistan. "Ninety percent of the guys in his situation would have likely walked away with their disability and called it a day," Savage said. "But he's still striving to make a point, and it's remarkable."

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