U.S. Marine becomes first blind, double amputee to re-enlist

From the San Antonio Express-News:

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- After all he's been through, the only real regret Marine Cpl. Matthew Bradford (pictured) says he has now is not being able to return to combat duty in Iraq.

But April 7, Bradford, 23, made Marine Corps history, becoming the first blind double amputee to re-enlist. In keeping with service tradition, Bradford was honorably discharged and allowed to say a few words as a civilian before re-enlisting.

"Sign me up, sir!" he told Lt. Col. David Barnes, who administered the oath of enlistment, extending Bradford's military career by another four years.

The outdoor re-enlistment ceremony was held a few hundred feet from the Center for the Intrepid, dedicated just 11 days after Bradford was seriously wounded in Iraq.

It was at the cutting-edge rehabilitation center, funded with $50 million in private contributions, that he began his arduous and painful journey in June 2007 to learn to walk again with prosthetic limbs.

He'll soon leave Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to work with other wounded Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. At the Intrepid Center, he had memorized the number of steps it took to get wherever he was going in the third-floor physical therapy department. The center became his "comfort zone," said his mother, Debbie Bradford.

"He's got to grow past it," she said. "He knows he can always come back."

So with a brief ceremony, delayed by about 20 minutes after the post was on lockdown for a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, Bradford's new phase of duty began. He said he wants to stay in the Marines "for as long as I can."

Bradford, who grew up in Winchester, Ky., and Dinwiddie, Va., had made up his mind that he was going to deploy as many times as the Marines wanted him to when he was hurt a few months into his first tour of Iraq.

A rifleman, he was on patrol in Al Anbar province and trying to help clear an area of roadside bombs when one of them exploded right under him the afternoon of Jan. 18, 2007.

Bradford lost his eyesight, and he had a fractured right hand and fragmentation wounds to the lower abdominal area. But what he said he hated the most was losing his legs. He required amputations below the knee on the right leg and above the knee on the left.

His physical therapist, Matt Parker, said Bradford put his complete trust in his rehabilitation team, at a time when the Intrepid Center was "extremely busy" with a first wave of severely wounded troops.

One of the first tasks was to use exercises to strengthen his trunk area.

"Every day, he would show up faithfully at 1 o'clock, despite having a full belly after lunch," Parker said. "He's done things most able-bodied people can't do."

During President George W. Bush's visit at the Intrepid Center in November 2007, Bradford caught the president's attention while climbing the center's 35-foot artificial rock wall.

"Good man, isn't he?" Bush said, according to news reports.

Since then, Bradford has inspired others by riding his hand cycle, with directions called out to him, in the Marine Corps Marathon. Last year, he hiked 10 miles of desert terrain in the grueling Bataan Memorial Death March in White Sands, N.M.

Bradford credited his years of playing football and basketball as a youth, and the never-give-up attitude of the Marine Corps, with preparing him for his recovery. He's learned to read Braille and works on a computer with the aid of special software. Friday, he received a promotion to corporal, based on leadership.

The prayers and support of strangers and friendships he's made also have helped, his mother said.

"He just doesn't like the word 'No,'" she said. "He's lost a lot, but he's gained a lot."

She said she was proud to see her son take his oath of service in 2005, despite her worries about his safety. Seeing him take the oath again Wednesday, after his long ordeal, was even more wrenching, she said.

Bradford said he wants to focus his energy on others, now that he's come so far in his own recovery.

He said he hopes to help wounded Marines cope with anger, depression and other demons that can fester if there's not someone around to provide strong peer mentoring.

"I'm paving the road for the rest of them who want to stay in but think they can't," he said. "I'm ready to get back to work."

He did note one tinge of sadness -- regret about having to say goodbye.

"It's going to be hard to leave my friends," he said.