Motivated by an atmosphere of achievement

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Army. Spc. Richard Yarosh performs squat exercises at the new gym in the Center for the Intrepid. Yarosh lost his right lower leg and suffered burns over 60 percent of his body in when an IED attack in North Baghdad ignited his Humvee’s fuel cell.


Motivated by an atmosphere of achievement
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 2, 2007

The Center for the Intrepid’s high-tech resources are great, but Army Spc. Richard Yarosh said the most important feature has been the attitude that staff and patients bring to the new facility.

“All these guys motivate me,” the 25-year-old said. “I set a goal for myself to start walking again by December. They had me walking in a little over a week. Now they’ve got me starting to run again.

“They push me to keep going and keep trying, and that’s what I needed.”

Yarosh — dubbed “Little Ricky” by staffers urging him to lose a few extra pounds — has been meeting with trainers at the new center since last summer as part of his rehabilitation.

He spends about 90 minutes a day in the gym, hitting the exercise bike and weight machines, before heading back over to Brooke Army Medical Center’s main building for another hour of therapy for his wounds.

Yarosh was on patrol in northern Baghdad on Sept. 1, 2006, when his Bradley fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The explosion ruptured the vehicle’s fuel cell and launched him from the gunner’s seat.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50658