“Oh damn, that’s the Battalion Commander… come on, give him a salute… wait, why can’t I lift my arm?…”  When I first started finding consciousness in the hospital, I was overwhelmed and confused. I had to be told what had happened to me multiple times, and I still wasn’t good at comprehending it. One of the first times I realized how paralyzed I had become was when my Battalion Commander, then Lieutenant Colonel Meissel visited me in the hospital while our battalion was at a training event in Yakima, WA. I vividly remember trying to salute him as he pinned the Army Commendation Medal to my medical Jonny (that open-backed hospital garment). It was so difficult being celebrated and retired from this unit. I felt like I did not deserve the award, all I did was survive. I tried to lift my paralyzed arm and it felt like I had a truck parked on it. All I could do was twitch my deltoids. All I wanted was that one last salute to my commander.  That’s when it hit me. My days of b...

  Ranger Battalion (2/75) I reached second battalion out in Washington state in September 2013. This was after basic training, infantry AIT, airborne school & RASP (Ranger Selection) I was a proud little Ranger. In battalion I got to deploy to Afghanistan and spend some time in Oman. I got to see Kuwait & Germany. I got to travel all over the United States for various training events. This was when I was running and gunning and having a great time in the army. I got to jump out of all sorts of military aircraft, fast rope out of rotor aircraft & train on more weapon systems than you can imagine. I loved all of the intense training (physical & mental) while in special operations. It was an incredible experience and I would not be the man that I am today without everything I learned. Unfortunately, I was involved in a car accident and I fractured a vertebrae in my neck causing nerve damage in my arm. Because of this I was removed from airborne status indefinitely and ...

Madigan Army Hospital, one of the oldest and largest hospital systems in the military sits proudly inside the gates of JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). This place evokes a lot of different emotions for me. I spent 4 and a half years on Fort Lewis in Washington, probably driving by Madigan ten thousand times. There were only three occasions where I spent any time in there though. Each occasion completely different and completely profound.  1.  In the military you tend to make really strong friendships when you’re going through “the suck” together. That was definitely the case for someone that I would consider my first close Army friend. Both of us 19, and very naïve but full of potential. We had just gone through Ranger Selection together and were at the current highs of our lives. We dawned our tan berets, and left Georgia for 2/75 in Washington. Then we got separated… and he started making dumb decisions. I had to step away from the friendship one night after he got wasted an...

 There are two quotes that you hear constantly with Spinal Cord Injury… “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” & “no news is good news” Every September is my annual SCI check up at the VA Clinic. It’s just a day full of appointments to track any health changes. It starts with blood work & labs. A Uro-Dynamic Study of my bladder and kidney pressures. An ultrasound of the same organs. And re evaluation of the ASIA exam to check for sensation and functional changes. The end result of the day is usually, “congrats you’re still healthy and doing well! See ya next year!” Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy maintaining my health (which is no easy feat) but I’m trying to thrive! Kass and I just kind of expect to suffer through the day and head back to the house after the appointments. Well, something happened yesterday which was a pretty good confidence booster. After my reevaluation it was determined that I am functioning around the a C5 - C6 level which is almost an entire vertebrae below my di...

Part 1: History Repeating This quadriplegics thoughts about Afghanistan 1. The Taliban retaking the country is a travesty 2. This happening was predictable but is tragic nonetheless. 3. I enjoyed my small piece in helping with training the Afghan Army & it is sad to see them losing the fight on their own. 4. Afghanistan is a mess of a country & probably always will be. 5. The handoff of the country was not done correctly, but how exactly would you leave a country after 20 years? I personally have mixed emotions. I’ve made close friendships with many men and women that have lost limbs over there. Friends who have been blown up by cowardly used IEDs. Friends that have been shot in the head and survived. Friends and inspirations who were shot 10+ times and motivate me daily from their wheelchair. Friends that have been killed. Blood spilt on foreign soil. Soil that is now reclaimed by the fuckers plaguing their own country. That makes me mad. At the same point, I’m glad that the b...

Driving Resources:  https://liferollson365.blogspot.com/p/sci-resources.html There’s nothing that quite compares to having one hand on the steering wheel and one hand out the window with the music blaring and a cool cross breeze flowing through a vehicle. Or weaving around backroads on your motorcycle taking in all of the sights and smells while twisting the throttle and hearing the roar of your exhaust pipes echo around. The road was really where I found myself. I spent countless hours cruising without a destination on my Harley or in my truck. I also prided myself in maintaining them both even though one was usually broken down at any given time. I considered myself a wanderer and an explorer. So you can imagine that the prospect of never operating a vehicle on my own again was a pretty hard blow.  I still remember my first time being in a vehicle after my injury. I was still in patient at the hospital and I was having some inflammation around one of my molars. That meant a ...

  Giving Tuesday - a global generosity movement. If you are ever looking to donate our volunteer, please continue in this post to read about some of the non profits that went above and beyond to improve my life.  As a veteran or an active-duty service member it can be very hard to accept help or admit that you may need some assistance with something. It’s also a very present human attribute. Accepting help is hard. This was a huge hurdle for me because of my stubborn attitude and fierce independence. It is very important to remember that people want to help. There are so many nonprofits that were started to help others and it’s as simple as reaching out when you need it. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride. I am a living testament to this. The Fisher House was a get-away for me while I was inpatient at the hospital but it was so much more than a tranquil place to go. It was a home for my family and a small light in a very dark time. The VA campus in West Roxbury was...

I’ll start this Monday’s post with a quote: “you are the company that you keep.” If this saying rings true, then Kass and I must be pretty damn cool. If you have been on Facebook or Instagram at all this last week then you’ve probably seen some sweet pictures of Kass and I’s getaway to Maine. We applied for a veterans retreat through the Travis Mills Foundation months and months ago and it was easily the best decision that I’ve made since becoming injured. I don’t intend on going into crazy detail regarding Staff Sergeant Travis Mills simply because of the fact that it isn’t my story to tell. What I can say is that the essence of self pride and motivation that this man gives off is extremely infectious and profound and what he does for the veteran and disabled community is unreal. SSG Mills was a Squad Leader with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan and was hit by an IED leaving him one of five surviving quadruple amputees. His story of perseverance and drive is extremely humbling and ...

https://www.leadthewayfund.org/honor-our-fallen/ SGT Cameron Meddock showed up to battalion at a weird time for me. I was injured and working on moving companies and I had seen a lot of new guys come and go. Cam was not one of those guys. Some people show up and you just know. Cam was such a nice and genuine dude. We could sit around and shoot the shit and goof off about all things Texas with my best buddy Jason L. Upton and then watch Cam’s demeanor completely shift at the range. Put a weapon in his hands and tell him to perform and perform he did. Cam excelled in all things Ranger and it was humbling to witness before I left the company.  SGT Leandro Jasso was a great example of the grit that it takes to excel in Ranger Bn. We were privates together in 1D, and competition between squads was alive and well. I will always remember the wrestling match that we had right before pre-deployment leave and the subsequent shiner that I brought home with me from a swift boot to the face....

Life is truly a mystery. It has it’s ups and downs and highs and lows. Some believe it is predestined and some believe in karma. If you give good then you should get good back. All that I know for sure is that life can change in the blink of an eye. I went from walking, talking and breathing with my grand scheme of a simple life and an honest living to being unemployed while making a living from disability funds from my wheelchair. I went from crawling under my truck to change my oil and cranking on my Harley to keep that death-trap rolling to learning how to put on a splint and feed myself. In a fraction of a second, everything that I had done in 23 short years of living went up in smoke and with it went most of my ambitions. What do I do now? A quote comes to mind “Calm seas never made good sailors”.  I have experienced more in these two years since my injury than I have in my prior 23 years. My injury has opened up my mind in so many different ways. I won’t compare my injury to ...