In U.S. Army, first double amputee leads recruits through basic training

From All.gov:

Losing both of his legs did not mean the end of Captain Brian Brennan’s career in the U.S. Army.

Brennan (pictured), 23, has become the first double amputee to lead a company of recruits through basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

On May 7, 2008, he was a lieutenant in Afghanistan leading a convoy of the second platoon of Delta Company, 506th Infantry Division, 101st Airborne, when his Humvee struck a roadside bomb near the village of Zambar. Brennan went into cardiac arrest.

He sustained an acute brain injury, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding, a ruptured spleen, multiple compound fractures of his left arm, and a shattered femur. Like his gunner, Brennan lost his legs in the blast that also killed two other soldiers and a civilian.

He endured extensive rehabilitation, and with the help of advanced prosthetics,

Brennan put himself in a position that no other amputee has by leading young soldiers through basic training. Only a handful of others like him are still in the Army at all, performing less physically demanding duties.