MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Shots rang out in the direction of Master Sgt. Michael Trost on Feb. 20, 2012, on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Five of them hit their target - one in each leg, one in the right hand and the other two in Trost’s backside.
He remembers being conscious all the way to the hospital. And despite losing 12 units of blood, he made it through.
Today, Trost, 50, walks with a cane and makes do with only three fingers on his right hand. This resident of Maryville and Army reservist for the past 31 years, though, is on the cusp of a new life, thanks to technology.
He just returned from San Antonio where he was fitted for an IDEO, which stands for Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis. That’s a mouthful. Translation for Trost: he’ll be able to walk normally, even run a 5K if he chooses to. Get his life back.
The IDEO has been available since 2009 but Trost hadn’t heard about it until a friend of his wife, Stephanie Trost, said he should look into it. The device will be form-fitted around Michael Trost’s bad right leg. Despite several surgeries - 28 in all - Trost has had little use of it.
“It’s like having a pirate leg,” he said. At one point, he thought about amputation.
But this IDEO will allow Trost to walk normally again. The device gives his heel a better heel strike, puts his toes at the right angle to mimic normal walking and gives his leg the support and function it needs. It’s lightweight and can be taken off and on easily.
When he returns to San Antonio later this month, Trost will get his new device and be trained on how to use it. Nutrition education will be part of the program as well. He will spar with mixed martial arts fighters to gain strength. A climbing wall will be ready and waiting.
It’s a long way from the deserts of Afghanistan and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where Trost spent a full year. He had inpatient care for four months, Stephanie Trost by his side.
Michael Trost is still in the Army, a member of the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion in Knoxville, although he’s been declared unfit for duty. He hopes the IDEO program will change that.
The device was initially developed, Trost said, for members of special operations so they could recover from their injuries and get back out in the field. Then the IDEO became available to soldiers like Trost.
It was designed by Ryan Blanck, at the Center for the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The IDEO is made from carbon and fiberglass and looks very much like a running prosthesis. The three-piece device fits down inside shoes or boots. The upper and lower sections are joined by a carbon-fiber, dynamic-response strut system. The ability to run can determine whether wounded warriors are allowed to stay on active duty after having been considered for a medical discharge.
While he’s waiting to get the call back to San Antonio, Trost has a set of exercises to do and plenty of work when he gets down there. “It’s pretty intense,” he said. “They teach you how to run forward, backwards and sideways. At the end, they have you climb a mountain.” The rehabilitation program is called Return to Run.
There were 24 soldiers there the day Trost was shot on the battlefield. One man was killed and another injured. A member of the Taliban had infiltrated the Afghan National Police, Trost said.
When he came back from Walter Reed, Maryville came together and helped build a “man cave” at his residence and aided in other projects. Inside the man cave hangs Trost’s Purple Heart, Bronze Star and numerous other commendations. There’s also an Army book that’s been framed. It was in Trost’s back pocket when he was shot; the bullet hole is evident.
His scrapbook shows photographs of President Barack Obama presenting Trost with the Purple Heart in the hospital. Celebrities like John Stewart came to visit. Members of the Arizona Diamondbacks visited Trost as well.
His focus now is on getting his IDEO and letting other wounded veterans know of its availability. He said there are probably others like him who don’t know its capabilities.
The high rate of suicides among injured soldiers tells the story, Trost said. He said the number of military suicides was higher than the number of combat deaths in recent years. There are 20-something men coming home who have lost limbs who feel like there is nothing to live for. Trost wants to be a mentor and also help them get the help they need to move forward. East Tennessee is where he wants to start.
There is no other term than miracle to describe how one man shot five times thousands of miles from home got the second chance to come home and now make a difference in other lives. The 35 nurses, doctors, surgeons and assistants at Walter Reed did a fantastic job, Trost said. He said he owes it to them to get back out there and return the favor.
The man who shot Trost is also on his mind on occasion, providing more motivation to move forward.
“Every chance I get to get better is like sticking my finger back in the eye of the guy who shot me,” he said.
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Information from: The Daily Times, https://www.thedailytimes.com
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