Marine, AK Amputee Returns to Combat

A Marine from Oklahoma has become the first person with an transfemoral amputation to return to combat in Iraq, according to the Associated Press (AP). Master Sgt. William "Spanky" Gibson, 37, had his left leg amputated above the knee after he was shot by a sniper while pulling an Iraqi soldier out of harm's way in Ramadi, Iraq, in May 2006. After competing in triathlons on his new carbon-fiber prosthesis, he was allowed to return to Iraq, where he serves as a fire chief in Fallujah. Two other American service members with transtibial amputations have returned to Iraq.

Gibson's wife, Chaney Gibson of Lawton, Oklahoma, said her husband wanted to return to combat to get closure and to prove to himself that he could do it. "It was definitely harder this time," Chaney, a former Marine herself, told the AP. "It was emotional for me to imagine sending him back to the place where we almost lost him. You kind of have two different feelings. From the wifestandpoint you have all the emotions and don't want him to go, but from the Marine perspective, I totally understand it and respect it."

To earn his trip back to Iraq, the 19-year veteran had some convincing to do. Gibson's father Gene said his son was nearly forced to retire, but was guaranteed a job with the Marines after calling the commandant of the Marine Corps. Military service runs deep in the Gibson family. Gibson's maternal grandfather was a Marine, and Gibson's father was a Navy Seabee. At age 5, Gibson got a glimpse at his future. "His grandpa came by in uniform, and from that day on he always said he wanted to be a Marine," Gene Gibson said. "He went in two weeks after he got out of high school, before he was even 18. He had a couple of scholarships to college, but he always said you don't need to go to college to be a Marine."

As a fellow Marine, Chaney Gibson can understand her husband's desire to go back into combat--although that doesn't prevent her from being concerned that he's in harm's way. All she and the couple's four-year-old daughter, Lauren, can do is support him. "He was a Marine before I married him, and you know what to expect," Chaney said. "He's risked his lifemore than a couple of times for the Marine Corps. You can't ask him to change who he is."