TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

This Pacesetter Soldiers On

Photo by Rich Cruse

Since losing part of a leg, David Rozelle has been finished four marathons, along with two Ironman Triathlons and six half-triathlons, and numerous shorter races.

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2009

Updated: 02/22/2009 12:33 am

TAMPA - Death and destruction are part of daily life in Al Anbar province in Iraq. U.S. soldiers understand that even a routine drive down a road can be ended by mortar fire, missiles, grenades or land mines. So it was for Army Maj. David M. Rozelle on June 21, 2003.

He was commander of 140 troops in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment near the Hit district in Al Anbar. Rozelle was on his way to a meeting with local Iraqis, where he planned to teach a class on how to patrol and protect their land against Sunnis during a particularly volatile time of the war. "I was basically the de facto sheriff," he said.

He never made it to the meeting. The Humvee in which he was riding ran over a mine. The blast blew off the right front side of the vehicle, sending one of the tires about 100 meters away. Rozelle was in the right front seat when the explosion occurred. He and the driver survived, but Rozelle's right foot was badly mangled.

He soon found himself in a Combat Area Support Hospital - or CASH, as they call it. It was a dusty tent, covering a plywood floor laid out over sand. The doctor said he could save the foot, but it would be basically a useless stump. They could also amputate and fit him with an artificial limb, which could give him more mobility.

It was his choice.
Rozelle told them to amputate.

"It was a simple decision," he said.

In four months he was taking short runs. By December, he was snow skiing. And about 15 months after the amputation, he completed the 26.2-mile New York City Marathon.

He has finished four marathons now, along with two Ironman Triathlons and six half-triathlons, and numerous shorter races. On Saturday, Rozelle will join thousands of runners at the Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, competing in the 15-kilometer race.

"It just amazes me every time he does it," said his wife, Kim. "But when your life is changed by something you couldn't control, this is one way of taking it back."

Went Back To Iraq

Rozelle, 36, has always been active. He ran track in high school and played college football - he was a strong safety - at Davidson College in North Carolina. And in the Army, of course, "it's run, run, run," he said.

But now what?

Doctors had amputated his foot just above the ankle and fitted him with a prosthetic limb. Staying active dominated his thoughts in the days after the surgery. That, and his soon-to-be-born son. Kim, back in the United States, was eight months pregnant when she learned of the attack on her husband.

"It was horrifying," she said. "There was a sense of confusion and an initial feeling of having no control over the situation."

They had a storybook relationship. Kim had just completed her master's degree in forestry at Clemson University when she went to work at Sand Hill State Forest in Patrick, S.C. Rozelle's sister was one of her co-workers. She called her brother, then in Texas, and said, "I've met your future wife."

The two met about a year later. There was a courtship. There was a wedding.

And now there was crisis.

Doctors wouldn't allow her to fly to see him because her pregnancy was so advanced, so it wasn't until he was brought home for further treatment - nearly a month after the attack - that they were reunited. The story might have ended there, a maudlin tale of another wounded soldier and his wife, trying to make the best of a bad situation. He could have taken a medical discharge. He could have done a lot of things.

But the Army gave him another option. He could return to Iraq if he wished, in basically the same job he had before. He talked to Kim and she urged him to go.

"I had doubts, naturally, about his health," she said. "I had fear, naturally, about his health. Depression was part of it, too. But I kept thinking about him and his return to normalcy. Amputees call this 'the new normal' and I knew he needed to go back to Iraq so he could have that. I kind of knew from the get-go that it would happen. It's hard to keep a soldier down."

About a year after the original attack, Rozelle went to Iraq, doing basically what he had done before - moving in and out of helicopters, dropping into combat zones, and always running.

Won't Slow Down

Rozelle, now 36, is back in the United States, attending the Command and Staff College at Quantico, Va. The family is growing; he and Kim have three children, and the oldest likes to run. He also works with Operation Rebound of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, established in 2004 to help wounded soldiers recapture some sense of normalcy.

He runs on the same type of springy carbon fiber titanium blade used by Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee whose fight to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Beijing Olympics last summer drew worldwide attention. It looks high-tech. It also hurts.

"I've had people say that it must be nice just going down the road on a spring," Rozelle said. "They have no idea. I don't have an ankle, so every jolt goes right to my back and knees. But it's also nice when other soldiers who might have trouble completing a 2-mile run see me and say, 'There goes that one-legged commander off on another marathon.'"

There are more marathons in his future, more triathlons. First, though, is the 9.3-mile run through the streets of Tampa on Saturday morning. There are thousands of inspiring individual stories at Gasparilla, but watching Rozelle should be a sufficient answer to anyone who chooses the couch over sweat and achy knees.

A land mine in Iraq couldn't stop him. Losing a foot couldn't stop him.

"I had to prove to myself I could physically do it," he said. "As a commander, it's also my responsibility to inspire."

Mission accomplished.

Columnist Joe Henderson can be reached at (813) 259-7861.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT