KB
09-26-2005, 09:03 AM
September 26, 2005
Fighting his way back
He lost both hands in an ambush, but Sgt. James ‘Eddie’ Wright found a new calling — martial arts
By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer
Marine Corps Times
A year ago, Sgt. James “Eddie” Wright’s body was a broken version of its old, sturdy self. A rocket-propelled grenade had blown off both of his hands and cracked open his leg during an ambush in Iraq in April 2004. His skin was faded and his once-bulky muscles had withered after months of hospital rest. Picking up a pencil, brushing his teeth, tying his shoe — every motion he instinctively knew — had to be relearned.
The odds of getting a medical board to let him stay in the Corps were slim, but Wright, who had dreamed of being a reconnaissance Marine since boyhood, wasn’t willing to walk away.
Now, not only is Wright still in uniform, but he’s also a martial-arts instructor at Quantico, Va., and well on his way to earning his black belt.
Wright, who already is qualified as a green belt instructor, will begin teaching instructor courses at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence this month.
An inspired move
Wright, 29, was a corporal on his second tour in Iraq when the attack came that cost him his hands. It was April 7, 2004, and the Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, were called to escort a 15-vehicle convoy to a supply point, where they would hunt for enemy mortar teams.
The noncommissioned officer and his team were in the lead Humvee rolling down an empty street when the road erupted in a hail of fire, with as many as 60 insurgents attacking with machine-gun fire and mortar and RPG rounds.
Manning a door-mounted M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, Wright opened fire. As the Marines responded to the attack, an RPG slammed into Wright’s weapon. The explosion ruptured his left eardrum, ripped open his thigh and blew off both his hands.
His actions in the moments that followed earned him a Bronze Star with combat “V.”
While his junior Marines were stunned at the extent of his injuries, Wright was calm and directed his troops on how to treat his wounds and call for support on the radio.
He received the Bronze Star in a ceremony held June 1, 2004, at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., where then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz presented the medal.
In the months that followed the ceremony, Wright won the hearts of Marines while he recovered at Washington, D.C.’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the military’s specialty hospital for amputee care.
High-ranking Marines, including Maj. Gen. Thomas Jones, commander of Training and Education Command at Quantico, took notice during visits to the wounded ward of Wright’s can-do attitude toward his recovery.
“He’s one of the most inspirational guys to come out of Iraq,” Jones said. “His own ability to embrace his tragedy has inspired so many in Walter Reed.”
It was Jones who came up with the idea of giving Wright a chance at becoming a martial-arts trainer, according to Lt. Col. Joseph C. Shusko, director of the martial-arts center.
After Jones called Shusko over to his Quantico office to show him an inspirational documentary of a civilian amputee who excelled at martial arts, Shusko got the hint and together they decided to invite Wright to the center.
“I said I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot. I had been there so long, I was raring to do anything,” Wright said.
Since he began training there in July, the sergeant has learned the green-belt-level moves with and without his prosthetics. Some of the moves he’ll teach require modifications.
“If I can’t really do the move, I can still show how them how to do it,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean I can’t [eventually] learn how to do it myself.”
This month, he starts teaching the martial-arts instructor course, and before the end of the year Shusko wants to put him through the seven-week black belt course to qualify him to teach the Corps’ instructor-trainers.
Natural fit
Martial-arts instructors say placing Wright in the martial-arts program is more natural than one might think.
The fundamentals of martial arts revolve not around the hands but in using precise body movements to outsmart your opponent. Wright can use the force of his muscles in conjunction with his prosthetics.
Moves that require him to grip either a weapon or an opponent present the largest problems, so those moves he modifies. To gain a steady grip on his wooden trainer rifle, for example, he clamps the butt stock in his armpit while gripping the weapon with his hooks.
Another move requires thrusting an open hand into the opponent’s throat. Wright uses his hook instead.
While Wright is limited in some ways, having no hands probably enhances his ability to learn some of the biomechanical principles of martial arts, said Hunter “Chip” Armstrong, a world-renowned expert of hoplology, the study of human combative behavior and techniques.
“Sgt. Wright, without sounding too morbid about it, is actually the perfect person to train in that way because he’s not obstructed by his hands,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong helped create the Corps’ martial-arts program and continues to train its top instructor-trainers in a four-day training course in Arizona.
Wright completed Armstrong’s training course Aug. 24 and won high praise.
“Wright did amazingly well,” Armstrong said. “I had no idea how it was going to work out, but it ended up I only altered 3 to 5 percent of the overall training course. When it came down to it, it wasn’t that much.”
Most people, Armstrong said, are hand-oriented, which takes their focus away from using their full body mass to win in hand-to-hand combat. Wright, he said, was quicker than most to learn the principles of proper body movements and mental control.
“He’s got one of the best mind-sets I’ve ever encountered in working with that,” he said. “He’s not wishing he had his hands back. He’s not depressed about it. He’s far more concerned with doing as good as he can with what he’s got.”
Together, the two worked on various sparring moves, as well as how to shoot and move effectively. Firing a weapon was the one thing therapists predicted Wright would not be able to do, but he says he can once again put rounds on target.
Challenges and advantages
Shortly after his return from Arizona, Wright demonstrated some moves at the martial-arts center using the school’s top enlisted man, Master Gunnery Sgt. Shane T. Franklin, as a partner.
The sergeant grappling with Franklin on the grass outside the center stands in stark contrast to the wounded corporal who was recovering at Walter Reed a year earlier. Wright was thin and pale then, down 35 pounds to a lean 185, his arms still in bandages. Now, the muscle shows on his 6-foot-2-inch frame, and the black prosthetic arms give him the look of a futuristic cyberwarrior.
Franklin is impressed with a disarming technique Wright learned from Armstrong. But when the two try sparring with a rubber knife, it’s clear some areas still need modifications. Although Wright is able to grasp the knife with his prosthetics, the weapon sometimes slips under the pressure of contact with Franklin’s flesh.
In another scenario, Franklin thinks Wright is holding back from hitting him, afraid of doing any damage with his hooks.
“If you don’t hit me, I’m going to take it as a sign you’re being too nice to me, and I’m going to smack you,” Franklin warns him in a ribbing voice.
Wright knows that the hooks can be dangerous, which is why he takes them off during other exercises, such as grappling on the floor. In a real-life situation, the prosthetics can become a weapon of opportunity: The hooks can be used to jab and the arms can deliver a hard strike.
“He has the advantage when he has his prosthetic because of the hooks, but you take them off and we’re even,” Shusko said. Wright also has a knife that attaches to one of his prosthetic arms, though attaching it can take several minutes, making it impractical if it’s not already attached when a fight starts.
One of the guys
Wright is doing the unexpected with martial arts, but still struggles still with some everyday tasks, such as writing a note or tying a shoe. The amount of time required is frustrating, and he said his biggest challenge is becoming more efficient at getting such physical tasks done quickly.
But Wright doesn’t like to mope around about the challenges, and for the most part, he has gotten used to life without hands.
“I really don’t think about it that much,” he said. “I realize this body isn’t really what I’m made out of. They can take my hands, but they didn’t take my mind or my heart.”
At the martial-arts center, Wright is held to the same standards as other instructors.
“The Marines all treat him as an equal here,” Shusko said. “He’s one of the guys. Nobody babies him.”
With a job at the martial-arts center, Wright has the option to stay in the Corps, but he’s struggling with the idea of not being in the operating forces.
His re-enlistment window recently passed, but the Corps is allowing him a few more months to decide his next move. Right now, he’s torn between staying at the center and getting out to pursue a civilian job in homeland security.
“I know I can still do things in the Marine Corps that will benefit the Corps, but I joined to do a specific job,” he said. “I hate to see my buddies deploy over and over without me again.”
For their part, his fellow Marines at the martial-arts center are giving him the hard sell on staying.
“He’s everybody’s hero and we want him to stay in,” Shusko said. “We’re trying to convince him to stay. It’s just up to if we’re going to win or not.”
Fighting his way back
He lost both hands in an ambush, but Sgt. James ‘Eddie’ Wright found a new calling — martial arts
By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer
Marine Corps Times
A year ago, Sgt. James “Eddie” Wright’s body was a broken version of its old, sturdy self. A rocket-propelled grenade had blown off both of his hands and cracked open his leg during an ambush in Iraq in April 2004. His skin was faded and his once-bulky muscles had withered after months of hospital rest. Picking up a pencil, brushing his teeth, tying his shoe — every motion he instinctively knew — had to be relearned.
The odds of getting a medical board to let him stay in the Corps were slim, but Wright, who had dreamed of being a reconnaissance Marine since boyhood, wasn’t willing to walk away.
Now, not only is Wright still in uniform, but he’s also a martial-arts instructor at Quantico, Va., and well on his way to earning his black belt.
Wright, who already is qualified as a green belt instructor, will begin teaching instructor courses at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence this month.
An inspired move
Wright, 29, was a corporal on his second tour in Iraq when the attack came that cost him his hands. It was April 7, 2004, and the Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, were called to escort a 15-vehicle convoy to a supply point, where they would hunt for enemy mortar teams.
The noncommissioned officer and his team were in the lead Humvee rolling down an empty street when the road erupted in a hail of fire, with as many as 60 insurgents attacking with machine-gun fire and mortar and RPG rounds.
Manning a door-mounted M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, Wright opened fire. As the Marines responded to the attack, an RPG slammed into Wright’s weapon. The explosion ruptured his left eardrum, ripped open his thigh and blew off both his hands.
His actions in the moments that followed earned him a Bronze Star with combat “V.”
While his junior Marines were stunned at the extent of his injuries, Wright was calm and directed his troops on how to treat his wounds and call for support on the radio.
He received the Bronze Star in a ceremony held June 1, 2004, at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., where then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz presented the medal.
In the months that followed the ceremony, Wright won the hearts of Marines while he recovered at Washington, D.C.’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the military’s specialty hospital for amputee care.
High-ranking Marines, including Maj. Gen. Thomas Jones, commander of Training and Education Command at Quantico, took notice during visits to the wounded ward of Wright’s can-do attitude toward his recovery.
“He’s one of the most inspirational guys to come out of Iraq,” Jones said. “His own ability to embrace his tragedy has inspired so many in Walter Reed.”
It was Jones who came up with the idea of giving Wright a chance at becoming a martial-arts trainer, according to Lt. Col. Joseph C. Shusko, director of the martial-arts center.
After Jones called Shusko over to his Quantico office to show him an inspirational documentary of a civilian amputee who excelled at martial arts, Shusko got the hint and together they decided to invite Wright to the center.
“I said I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot. I had been there so long, I was raring to do anything,” Wright said.
Since he began training there in July, the sergeant has learned the green-belt-level moves with and without his prosthetics. Some of the moves he’ll teach require modifications.
“If I can’t really do the move, I can still show how them how to do it,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean I can’t [eventually] learn how to do it myself.”
This month, he starts teaching the martial-arts instructor course, and before the end of the year Shusko wants to put him through the seven-week black belt course to qualify him to teach the Corps’ instructor-trainers.
Natural fit
Martial-arts instructors say placing Wright in the martial-arts program is more natural than one might think.
The fundamentals of martial arts revolve not around the hands but in using precise body movements to outsmart your opponent. Wright can use the force of his muscles in conjunction with his prosthetics.
Moves that require him to grip either a weapon or an opponent present the largest problems, so those moves he modifies. To gain a steady grip on his wooden trainer rifle, for example, he clamps the butt stock in his armpit while gripping the weapon with his hooks.
Another move requires thrusting an open hand into the opponent’s throat. Wright uses his hook instead.
While Wright is limited in some ways, having no hands probably enhances his ability to learn some of the biomechanical principles of martial arts, said Hunter “Chip” Armstrong, a world-renowned expert of hoplology, the study of human combative behavior and techniques.
“Sgt. Wright, without sounding too morbid about it, is actually the perfect person to train in that way because he’s not obstructed by his hands,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong helped create the Corps’ martial-arts program and continues to train its top instructor-trainers in a four-day training course in Arizona.
Wright completed Armstrong’s training course Aug. 24 and won high praise.
“Wright did amazingly well,” Armstrong said. “I had no idea how it was going to work out, but it ended up I only altered 3 to 5 percent of the overall training course. When it came down to it, it wasn’t that much.”
Most people, Armstrong said, are hand-oriented, which takes their focus away from using their full body mass to win in hand-to-hand combat. Wright, he said, was quicker than most to learn the principles of proper body movements and mental control.
“He’s got one of the best mind-sets I’ve ever encountered in working with that,” he said. “He’s not wishing he had his hands back. He’s not depressed about it. He’s far more concerned with doing as good as he can with what he’s got.”
Together, the two worked on various sparring moves, as well as how to shoot and move effectively. Firing a weapon was the one thing therapists predicted Wright would not be able to do, but he says he can once again put rounds on target.
Challenges and advantages
Shortly after his return from Arizona, Wright demonstrated some moves at the martial-arts center using the school’s top enlisted man, Master Gunnery Sgt. Shane T. Franklin, as a partner.
The sergeant grappling with Franklin on the grass outside the center stands in stark contrast to the wounded corporal who was recovering at Walter Reed a year earlier. Wright was thin and pale then, down 35 pounds to a lean 185, his arms still in bandages. Now, the muscle shows on his 6-foot-2-inch frame, and the black prosthetic arms give him the look of a futuristic cyberwarrior.
Franklin is impressed with a disarming technique Wright learned from Armstrong. But when the two try sparring with a rubber knife, it’s clear some areas still need modifications. Although Wright is able to grasp the knife with his prosthetics, the weapon sometimes slips under the pressure of contact with Franklin’s flesh.
In another scenario, Franklin thinks Wright is holding back from hitting him, afraid of doing any damage with his hooks.
“If you don’t hit me, I’m going to take it as a sign you’re being too nice to me, and I’m going to smack you,” Franklin warns him in a ribbing voice.
Wright knows that the hooks can be dangerous, which is why he takes them off during other exercises, such as grappling on the floor. In a real-life situation, the prosthetics can become a weapon of opportunity: The hooks can be used to jab and the arms can deliver a hard strike.
“He has the advantage when he has his prosthetic because of the hooks, but you take them off and we’re even,” Shusko said. Wright also has a knife that attaches to one of his prosthetic arms, though attaching it can take several minutes, making it impractical if it’s not already attached when a fight starts.
One of the guys
Wright is doing the unexpected with martial arts, but still struggles still with some everyday tasks, such as writing a note or tying a shoe. The amount of time required is frustrating, and he said his biggest challenge is becoming more efficient at getting such physical tasks done quickly.
But Wright doesn’t like to mope around about the challenges, and for the most part, he has gotten used to life without hands.
“I really don’t think about it that much,” he said. “I realize this body isn’t really what I’m made out of. They can take my hands, but they didn’t take my mind or my heart.”
At the martial-arts center, Wright is held to the same standards as other instructors.
“The Marines all treat him as an equal here,” Shusko said. “He’s one of the guys. Nobody babies him.”
With a job at the martial-arts center, Wright has the option to stay in the Corps, but he’s struggling with the idea of not being in the operating forces.
His re-enlistment window recently passed, but the Corps is allowing him a few more months to decide his next move. Right now, he’s torn between staying at the center and getting out to pursue a civilian job in homeland security.
“I know I can still do things in the Marine Corps that will benefit the Corps, but I joined to do a specific job,” he said. “I hate to see my buddies deploy over and over without me again.”
For their part, his fellow Marines at the martial-arts center are giving him the hard sell on staying.
“He’s everybody’s hero and we want him to stay in,” Shusko said. “We’re trying to convince him to stay. It’s just up to if we’re going to win or not.”