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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- As an instructor at
the School of Infantry, a Marine is expected to be physically fit,
mentally strong and have a vast amount of knowledge in their
occupational field.
With one amputated leg, Gunnery Sgt.
Gabriel Guest, the chief instructor of the Advanced Machine Gunners
course at Advanced Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry -
West, is no exception.
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July 15, 2013 --
Gunnery Sgt. Gabriel Guest, a native of Spokane, Wash., continues to mentor and lead Marines as the chief instructor at the Advanced Machine Gunners course at Advanced Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry - West, after having his left leg amputated Oct. 10, 2012. (U.S.
Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joseph Scanlan)
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"When I joined the Marine Corps, I chose to join the
infantry because I like action and being in the thick of
things, and because of the challenge it presents," said
Guest, a native of Spokane, Wash. "The infantry is very
dynamic because there are a lot of different aspects you can
master like weapons or tactics."
Guest deployed four
times, three times to combat zones in his career.
His first deployment was
with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, in support of the
13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, in response to the USS Cole
being bombed. His second and third deployments were to Iraq
with 1st Bn., 1st Marines, and his fourth and final
deployment was to Afghanistan with 2nd Bn., 7th Marines.
Guest experienced his first enemy contact while deployed
to Afghanistan during 2008.
"After our first
engagement in Now Zad, we had to fight our way out of the
city," Guest said. "It was like that every day for the next
five months. Most engagements lasted anywhere from five to
15 hours long. I never wanted to see my guys get hurt or
wounded, but I still carry those memories with me today."
After five months of constant enemy contact, Guest's
vehicle drove over a pressure plate improvised explosive
device during an engagement Aug. 10, ejecting him from the
vehicle and causing three different compound fractures in
his left leg.
"After the dust cleared I started to
look around, and I noticed my boot was next to my face,"
Guest said. "I thought I was dizzy and was hallucinating
until I looked down and saw the blood on my pant leg and saw
the bones sticking out."
Guest was sent to Bagram Air
Force Base and many other hospitals for more than 25
surgeries after his injury.
As he recovered during
physical therapy, he realized his leg wasn't going to heal
as well as he hoped for, so he went through further
surgeries.
He was offered to work at the School of
Infantry as a machine gun instructor and seized the
opportunity after recovering again.
"I was the chief
instructor running courses, and I was doing perfectly fine,"
Guest said. "I was working with weapons and doing regular
infantry stuff again when I started to feel ill and my leg
started hurting."
His leg became continuously
infected because of constant physical training and he was
left with only three options: fuse his leg straight allowing
no bending in the knee, perform a total knee replacement
with risk of future infections that could be fatal or
amputation of the leg. He chose to amputate the leg and had
the operation performed Oct. 10, 2012.
"Choosing to
have my leg amputated was one of the hardest decisions I've
had to make in my life because it is losing part of myself,"
Guest said.
Guest took a week off work for his
amputation because of his dedication. He continued to
recover from the operation while he returned back to
instructing Marines.
"The Marine Corps made the
Expanded Permanent Limited Duty program for Marines like
myself who are wounded warriors and want to continue being
Marines," Guest said. "I hope that I'm showing the
commandant the program was a great choice because I don't
know what I would do with myself if I wasn't a Marine."
Through the EPLD program, Marines who incurred
significant combat injuries that would normally restrict
them from continuing their Marine Corps service are allowed
to continue their careers by mentoring Marines through their
leadership skills sharpened by combat experience.
Guest has instructed multiple courses and is back to full
duty aside from certain physical training events since his
amputation.
"It's awesome to see him still have the
same opportunities everyone else gets because he earned
every bit of it," said Cpl. Sean O'Malley, an instructor at
the Advanced Machine Gunners course. "I've never seen him
not willing to do something for any of his Marines. He puts
so much into being an instructor because he knows the
Marines he is teaching may find themselves in the same
combat situations he found himself in years ago. He wants
each and every one of them to come back alive."
Guest
said one of the reasons he loves instructing Marines is
because he is able to show them the reality of combat with
the loss of his leg.
"I have had friends who were
amputees who started drinking more and became depressed
after losing their limbs, but Gunnery Sgt. Guest is not one
of those people," said O'Malley, a native of Chicago. "He is
more active than a lot of people who have both of their
legs."
Despite losing his left leg, Guest still
actively swims and physically trains as he did before the
amputation.
Guest plans to return to an infantry
battalion and continue to deploy overseas after finishing
his time as an SOI instructor,
"Once someone loses a
limb from their body, it makes them appreciate the little
things in life," said Guest. "It makes them understand how
limited humans are, but it also lets them know how endless
the potential is."
By USMC Cpl. Joseph Scanlan
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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