Back in Action

An amazing email received today:

Captain David Rozelle lost his foot when his Humvee ran over a land mine in Iraq. But after months of agonizing surgery, physical therapy, and the emotional hardship of losing a limb, he has been declared "Fit for Duty" to command his men on the ground in Iraq and will be deployed back in March. In his spare time he runs triathlons, snowboards, downhill skis?all with a prosthetic.

Wow! We've linked a few books here before but rarely do we really push one. But in a world where "Support the troops - bring them home!" has become a rallying cry for so many misguided and uninformed individuals I think I'd really like to see Capt Rozelle's book move far enough up the bestsellers list to where it can't be ignored. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a big display of this volume greeting every visitor to Books a Million, Barnes and Noble, or the bookstore in the local Mall?

I know our copy is on the way.

More from the Rocky Mountain News - an excerpt from the book - his wife's part of the story:

At about eight and a half months pregnant, I was waking up early in the morning. I was up that morning watching the news before the Saturday morning cartoons came on. I always liked having cartoons on the television on Saturday mornings. It distinguished the day from the weekdays to me. It was about 8:30 a.m. when I heard the doorbell. . . .

With 18-month-old Forrest Rozelle on her lap, Kim Rozelle sat on her couch, thinking back to the pain that her husband refused to allow anyone else to see.

"He had some real lows, which is understandable - he'd just lost part of his body," Kim Rozelle said.

"He had his moments when he'd get upset and cry. He was most upset that he couldn't (pick up) the baby. That was his biggest disappointment."

She looked down at the boy who was born two weeks after his father returned from the war, the toddler who still treats his father's fake leg as a plaything.

"David said, 'What is Forrest going to think of me without a foot?' I said, 'Well, he's not going to know any different. He may grow up wondering why he has two feet instead of one.' "

Their relationship - and his recovery - has been punctuated by similar conversations, along with plenty of good-natured razzing.

"He goes out all day and he shows what a Superman he is and then he comes home and goes (she assumes a whiny baby voice), 'Oooh, my stump hurts. Could you rub it?' "

If they're both sitting on the couch, Rozelle knows not to ask his wife to fetch him a beer. He knows he'll get The Look instead.

"I'm pretty good at the tough love thing. I have a lot of sympathy for him, but I'm never going to pity him," Kim Rozelle said.

"I never have and I never will."

Captain and Mrs Rozelle, thanks for your service and our thoughts are with you!