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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Where do we get such men?

That is the line attributed to a general looking at the men moving to relive the 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne. Looking at this man, you again ask where do we get such men?


Wounded soldier: 'Send me back!' - Houston weather, traffic, news | FOX 26 | MyFoxHouston

To see Michael Caspers run is to witness a resolve every bit as sturdy as the replacement part that makes it possible.

The Army Ranger captain from Texas led combat troops in Afghanistan and doesn't wince when describing how his leg was lost, but you might.

"Right as I was taking a knee was when I just blew up right into the air and it was just instantaneously," said Caspers.

It was an improvised antipersonnel mine. The day was Aug. 24, 2011.

"My calf was hanging off my leg, but my tibia was sticking straight out. It looked like a tree branch that had been snapped off, just splayed. My foot was completely gone," recalled Caspers.

Michael Caspers never lost consciousness and even applied his own tourniquet. He was what the old timers call "one cool customer."

"Your bone marrow was just pouring out of your tibia and I had never seen that before. Doc and I were like looking at each other and going ‘Keep wrapping'!"


Choppered out in a matter of minutes, Caspers willed himself out of his hospital bed just two days later.

Stateside at San Antonio's Center for the Intrepid, Michael quickly found what he sought: warrior amputees working to return to action and the high-tech tools with which to do it.

"In January I was up and walking and I said, send me back to Afghanistan. My guys are still there, three more months," said Caspers.

Those who wonder why need look no further than Caspers' wrist.

There you will find a HeroBracelet bearing the name Andrew Tobin, a 24-year-old sergeant shot and killed the day Michael lost his leg.

"He could light up a room. He always had a joke in a time of need. There was just nothing the medic could do to stop the bleeding and they tried everything," said Caspers.

And so for Tobin and those who took his place, Michael Caspers is determined to again lead troops in combat.

For him, the cohesion, the camaraderie and the all-out commitment to country have left a powerful craving.

"Roger, I'm missing a leg but it doesn't mean I can't do what I want to do. It's not going to stop me," said Caspers.

A soldier, no less able with one than two.

You look at a man like this and you are astonished. This is what America produces. There is a reason only American's flag is on the moon, why people flock to come here.

CPT Caspers, God be with you in your recovery and hope to see you soon leading a company.

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