“I believe we all have opportunity. It’s
always there but you don’t see it until something happens” – stated by retired
Army Sergeant Rick Yarosh
Greetings!
The other night I was listening to
a FOX overnight sports radio program where once-a-week this show takes time to
honor our military veterans. This particular day featured a live interview with
a retired Army Sergeant (Rick Yarosh),
who was telling the story of how his deployment in Iraq changed his life
entirely – both in physical appearance and emotionally.
It was back in September, 2006, when Yarosh
and two fellow servicemen were patrolling an area of Baghdad
by
means of an army tank when a roadside bomb exploded. The fuel tank blew and quickly engulfed their vehicle in
flames including Yarosh’s body. He was lucky to make his way out of the hatch
and jumped blindly to the ground (a fall of 10-feet with no available eyesight
to see what was below).
Upon
landing, he rolled around in the dirt next to the burning tank and could not
extinguish the flames that were burning away his skin. There was just too much
fuel around him. Blinded by the intense
flames and blowing dust in the air, Yarosh mustered up enough strength to roll again
– not knowing what was near him - and found himself falling into a canal of
water which would finally extinguish the flames. As he yelled out for help, other soldiers
came to his rescue. They not only pulled him out of the water but they had to
lift him up the steep embankment that surrounded the canal. The body armor that
was designed to protect Yarosh had itself disintegrated from the fire. It crumbled
to ash when military personnel tried to remove it from his body.
Yarosh was burned in over 60% of his body. He lost both ears, his nose, multiple fingers and most of the function in
both hands due to the fire. He says then that he could actually see his face coming off
of his head and hanging from his chin. Less than 72 hours later, he was
transported out of Iraq
and headed stateside to spend the next two grueling
years of his life at an Army burn unit in San Antonio, TX. He underwent close
to 40 surgeries during this period of time plus he had to be fitted for a
prosthetic to replace part of his right leg that was amputated when Yarosh severed
an artery during his fall from the tank.
“When I first got out of the Army
hospital, I didn’t know how I was going to be accepted by the outside world? I
saw what I looked like. I’ve never seen someone like me before? When I saw
myself, I didn’t know what to expect?”
Early into his return to public life,
Yarosh and his brother went to dinner at a restaurant in San Antonio. Seated
a table or two away was a little 5-year-old girl and her grandfather. The
little girl could not stop staring away at the Army veteran. She knew something
was different. The little girl asked her Grandpa if she could go over to him.
The Grandpa encouraged her to do so. The little girl made her way over. Then she
stopped and stared … and stared even more. Sgt. Yarosh proceeded to lean
forward into a crouched position and said to the little girl: “Hi, how are you
doing?” The little girl quickly ran back to her table. At that moment, Sgt. Yarosh
could hear the little girl excitedly tell her Grandpa, “He’s really nice!”
“That moment was a life changer
for me,” said Yarosh. “I felt like I was accepted back into society. That’s all
I needed to motivate me to go forward. I woke up everyday feeling blessed to be
alive and so lucky because I could still make choices whereas some of my combat
friends could not.” One, in particular,
who drove the tank on that horrific day did not survive the explosion and left
behind a pregnant wife and child.
As Sgt. Yarosh stated up above, DON’T
EVER SQUANDER YOUR OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE! There’s no GPS signal in your body that you drive everyday to tell you there’s a road block ahead before you react to the opportunities
presented you. Go Capture Your Dreams and wake up each day knowing you have the
capacity to make a difference!
My best always and Cheers!!
Jim Loria-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ARMY SGT. RICK YAROSH ON PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE: “I know people are curious. They'll stop in their tracks and look. I guess I can understand. I probably would have stared, too. I have so much pride in my new face. I hope that’s what people see. If you cannot be Proud of Yourself, you cannot do what you want to do. You can’t achieve the goals that you want in life”.
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“Don't go through life, grow through life” – stated by Eric Butterworth, New York City Minister
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“In a world filled with hate, we still dare to Hope. In a world filled with
despair, we must still dare to Dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we
must still dare to Believe” – stated by Michael
Jackson, legendary ‘King of Pop’
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“Falling
down is how we grow. Staying down is how we die” – stated by Brian Vaszily, author and motivational
speaker
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E-Mail: jimloria0309@gmail.com
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