Connecting Vets-- When a catastrophic injury occurs, people tend to see the wounds and not the individual as the trauma is draped over one's identity. But for John Peck, a quadruple amputee, the extensive damage to his body is just something that happened to him, not who he is. John Peck, the person, is a Marine who continues to overcome hurdle after hurdle even after a disastrous explosion left him changed forever.
On May 24, 2010, Peck was walking through a building complex during a dismounted patrol in Sangin, a town in Afghanistan's highly contested Helmand providence. The mortarman assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, was operating a minesweeper looking for potential dangers; his unit was hoping to connect with locals and to see if anything suspicious was stirring in the area, a standard counter-insurgency mission.
But before they had a chance to return to the relative safety of their forward operating base, an IED made with 30 pounds of homemade explosives (HME) sent Peck flying through the compound's courtyard.
Peck's life was permanently transformed in a literal flash when his an improvised explosive device (IED) ripped through his arms and legs, but unlike other amputees, he doesn't have prosthetics. Instead, a team of surgeons attached donor arms in an astonishing 16-hour operation six years later.
Over the past two years, Peck's been in intense physical and occupational therapy at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It's estimated he's been in various therapies and treatments for his injuries for a total of six years. He still goes to physical and occupational therapy at Walter Reed, which includes cooking classes, something he looks forward to.
Going forward, John plans on honing his motivational speaking skills and has a forthcoming book entitled Rebuilding Sergeant Peck: How I Put Body and Soul Back Together After Afghanistan. It comes out in March 2019.
