FORT DRUM — A wounded Army sergeant who is still on active duty despite being an amputee will receive the gift of better mobility from a non-profit group Saturday afternoon.
Staff Sgt. Roy A. Mitchell, a career counselor with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, is going to receive a Segway on Saturday from Segs4Vets. Segways are free-standing, battery-operated transportation devices that have become increasingly popular for people with disabilities.
"It's all about mobility. I have this recurring thought of my children playing and a ball rolling in the street and I think, 'Can I get there to protect them?'" said Sgt. Mitchell. "This will improve my quality of life by 75 or 80 percent. It's just another piece of equipment in my arsenal that I can use to get from point A to point B."
Sgt. Mitchell was injured in November 2003 while on patrol in Afghanistan during his tour with the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team. He suffered severe injuries that included a shattered jaw, stress fractures in his face, a shattered left elbow, shrapnel wounds to his midsection, third-degree burns on his right leg and the amputation of his left leg. Despite it all, he decided only two weeks after the injury during his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., that he wanted to remain on active duty.
He began to forge a new road that the Army wasn't quite prepared for. There were only eight soldiers in the entire military in 2003 who wanted to stay on active duty after suffering a combat injury, according to Sgt. Mitchell. It took almost three years for him to get his approval.
Now, Sgt. Mitchell believes that 8 percent to 10 percent of soldiers with combat injuries are attempting to stay or have successfully stayed on active duty.
"Back then there was no kind of office set up to help us navigate the system, so I had to figure it out myself," Sgt. Mitchell said. "Now they have the Warrior Transition Unit and other places where guys can go if they want to stay active duty with an injury."
As for the Segway, Sgt. Mitchell could not have been happier to hear from Segs4Vets that he was going to receive such a gift. At first, he said, that he didn't believe what he was being told on the phone and it didn't quite sink in. But then he realized what was happening when Jerry Kerr, president of Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, the program behind Segs4Vets, asked what he planned to do with the machine.
"My kids are looking forward to me having it," said Sgt. Mitchell, who has five children, ages 3 to 15. "I haven't been able to go to any of the state parks and things like that with them and now I might be able to."
Mr. Kerr, who started the Segs4Vets program in 2005 to help the 30,000 wounded American veterans, says the program is about getting the men and women who served the best kind of technology out there to make their lives better. He noted that this is a very different era than when soldiers returned after World War II and Vietnam and that services for the disabled are much more accessible now.
"Sgt. Mitchell is exactly the type of guy we want to help, he's not one to quit," said Mr. Kerr. "He's not the kind of guy to let his disability stand in the way of living his life to the fullest. That's the kind of person other Americans can look up to."
The advocacy group collects contributions from the public and is run by volunteers, which means that every dollar raised goes directly back into the program.
Mr. Kerr said the Segway package costs $6,100 to $6,300 and includes the training program and accessories like an attachment to carry the Segway on a car. The program has donated more than 150 devices to individual veterans and to medical centers for use by veterans during rehabilitation.
Sgt. Mitchell has only one more hope for his Segway.
"If they could only attach a snowblower to the front of it, then that would be great," he said.
The presentation of the Segway will be at noon Saturday during North Country Access 2008 at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton.
