[Former Military Chick]

**inspriation ping**



It is an honor to have this man serving his country, his fellow Americans.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

Is this the same man that ran with GWB after he got his prosthetic leg?

[doodad]

All the way, SIR.

[marmar]

Now this is a first class "Warrior" and quite an inspiration, not just as a soldier, but as a human being.

[DTogo]

Anyone have an e-mail address to someone in a position of authority (commander, Congressman, Senator) who could get this honorable man's request to stay in the Army granted?

[Anti-Bubba182]

Prayers and blessings to a brave man.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

A real Hero PING!

[TheBattman]

And yet another POSITIVE story that the MSM is totally ignoring. This brave soldier came very close to loosing his life, actually paid with part of his body, and yet wants right back into active duty.

[caisson71]

This is the kind of American that humbles me. Everytime I read about guys like this I feel like a selfish wimp thinking I deserve more of life than I have already been fortunate to receive.
God bless SSG Metzdorf.

[Endeavor]

This guy needs to be leading men. Wherever they put him, I hope he gets to do that.

[dagnabbit]

Inspirational. We're lucky to have men like him on our side.

[Libertina]

God bless these brave people! I admire the way they think! BTTT

[The Real Deal]

This is one brave young man. I am very proud of him and what he has done. I give him a big courage BUMP!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

May 14, 2004

 

Warriors' women stand by their men

by Michael J. Minardi
Medical Hold Company

....Teresa Metzdorf said she would like the news services to report how many of the war's wounded are amputees. Walter Reed has treated approximately 100 amputees since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and several others from Operation Enduring Freedom.

"I want people to know there are wounded Soldiers and there

Teresa Metzdorf talks with her husband Daniel as he exercises his abdominal muscles in the Physical Therapy Clinic.

is an aftereffect. This is for the rest of his life," she said referring to her husband's amputation of his right leg in Iraq. "You don't think of 'wounded' as amputees. Nobody talks about it."

Staff Sgt. Daniel T. Metzdorf, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment from Fort Bragg, N.C., was wounded Jan. 27 southwest of Baghdad when he and his men stopped to investigate a pile of trash on the supply route, Highway 1. The enigma of the tragedy is that three team members were killed, Dan's leg was ripped off, and another Soldier was peppered with shrapnel. They think the IED under the trash was an artillery shell that was remotely detonated when Metzdorf and his team approached.

Everything happened rapidly for Metzdorf. Since his leg was already severed, he immediately called Teresa from the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.

"'Hi Honey, I lost my leg,' Dan said, and then the phone connection went dead," Teresa recalled. "I started to hyperventilate, and thought 'What do I do now?'

"I called my mother, but I was so upset I couldn't speak," Teresa said. Her brother had answered the phone but didn't recognize her voice. She finally was able to tell the bad news and ask her mother, who also lived in Fayetteville, N.C., to come over. "I had an hour to cry before my mom arrived," Teresa confessed.

Teresa was worried when Dan went to Afghanistan, but she was very uneasy about him going to Iraq. "It was different. I had a real bad feeling."

As well as Dan losing 50 pounds (20 pounds was his leg), the couple had to buy a new vehicle and adapt their house. They traded in Dan's stick-shift sports car for a specially-modified pickup truck. "It was the only vehicle Dan could fit in," Teresa said with a smile. "We also had to install bars for the shower and low-pile carpet throughout the house."

The 2/505th PIR is scheduled to return to Bragg soon and they have asked Metzdorf to walk with his unit from the plane to the hangar when they arrive. Dan has been training for the last three months for that challenge. He said it means a lot to him to be able to do that. He also wants to remain in the Army.

"Dan thinks he has a lot to offer the Army," Teresa said. "Just because this happened to him doesn't make him stop being a Soldier.

"I support him," she added. "It's going to be good for him."

~*~

Dear American free reporters, meet your good neighbors.

[JrAsparagus]

Great story. A true HERO!!

I love that he did not just say I want to stay with my brothers, but he fought to and triumphed. Inspirational.

[Tailback]

If the Army let General Franks stay with one leg, then they can let a SSG stay.

[Troublemaker]

Thank you for posting this great story.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - HOOAH

[Tamzee]

Reading about such heros is an intensely humbling experience. How did America ever create such magnificent men and women?

Prayers for him and his family that all of their dreams come true.

[djmetzdorf]

Thank you to everyone who had such kind things to say about my husband, SSG Metzdorf. He did find out about two weeks ago he will be allowed to stay on active duty.

Teresa Metzdorf