JR Salzman, the “Lumberjack in the Desert” blogger, was the ESPN Outdoor Sportsman of the Year back in 2005.
Then he went to Iraq.
JR lost his arm in an IED attack.
In July he came back and won his 7th ESPN Logrolling Championship.
J. R. Salzman, who lost an arm in Iraq, with his sister after winning his seventh logrolling title. (The New York Times)
J.R. passed this on to me last night.
He’s not too happy about the latest BS coming from the state-run media:
I’ve been pretty pissed off about the PTSD by proxy BS being passed around the media. I blogged about it the other night and debunked that nonsense.
…You don’t get PTSD from sitting on your ass around Walter Reed. Not only is it not possible to “catch” secondhand PTSD, but it is not that kind of a place. I would know, I was a patient there for nine months. The place is simply not that stressful or chaotic. When I was there my PTSD got better, not worse. And I would be willing to bet my dog tags that I saw far more wounded Soldiers than sh-t bag Major did during our overlapping time there in 2007. I regularly visited Ward 57 to give advice to the new wounded. Other Soldiers and amputees did it for me when I was there so I considered my visits “paying it forward”. I had daily physical and occupational therapy with other Soldiers. I regularly partook in activities in and out of Walter Reed with present and past wounded Soldiers. To say that this guy got PTSD from being stationed at Walter Reed is an absolute farce. The people who are making this sh-t up have never set foot on Walter Reed, let alone met a soldier with PTSD.
Here is J.R. with his lovely wife duirng his recovery at Walter Reed.
J.R. has much more on his road to recovery and success here.
