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Cuba
01-10-2016, 13:54
This is a question to the QPs. First off much respect to all of the Quiet Professionals on this forum, as a grateful American, I thank you all for your service and sacrifice to this great nation. My questions are if any one of you QPs ever recovered from an open compound fracture in your lower legs such as a tibia fracture? How did they fix your fracture? Did it happen while serving in the ARMY and did you get to return to your original duties as an SF soldier on a team?

Here is a little background on my questions; I’ve been on this website since about 2012. I was interested in serving my country and after reading the SF mission I made the decision that is exactly what I wanted to do with my career in the military. I had many 25 M targets in my way since 2012 but I wrote down my goals and plans and kept knocking them out one by one even with some obstacles in the way. It’s been a long road to be “qualified” just to serve after many stupid mistakes in my youth.

Everything was going fine until Chandler enacted the tattoo ban right as I was going to enlist in 2014. I was kind of bummed and depressed about it but figured with time rules can change. While I was patiently waiting and training, I broke my tibia, August 2014. A tow truck ran over my leg in a hit and run and caused an open compound fracture on my right tibia. The leg snapped like if someone broke some sugar cane and the bone came out of the inner part of my right leg. I had two surgeries; the first was the placement of an external fixator. It’s like a cage around the leg; they drilled into my ankles and into the shinbone keeping the leg in place with this device. The doctors had fears about infection since the bone popped out of my leg and I had to drag myself to safety in the middle of the street. The second surgery was the placement of a titanium rod into my tibia held in place by screws in the lower portion of the leg and the knee.:boohoo

Recovery was long and painful but I have been slowly but surely getting better. I am lifting weights, running although not as fast as I want to be just yet and I will start getting back into rucking. My knee does hurt but it doesn’t hurt enough that I feel I can’t withstand the pain. I am trying to see if I can remove the hardware because I think it will make my knee feel better.

I am 28 years old and I turn 29 years old this September 2016. It’s like a do or die year for me to enlist and try out for SF because I know the deadline is 29 years old. I want to enlist as a REP 63 for the National Guard. So besides my question above, I read somewhere the recruitment age for SF selection for National Guard was 34? Is this true or is it still 29 years as the cut off age for Selection? What I’ve read on here says one thing and the National Guard website says another.

Just to make something clear, if I am not fit for duty as an SF soldier I am still enlisting into the National Guard as a Regular Infantry soldier. My motive is not just to serve as an SF soldier but to serve my country.:lifter

Thank you all in advance for your time.

Guymullins
01-10-2016, 15:18
I was T-Boned while riding my motorcycle 4 years ago. The head of the Tibia was fractured in many places and the surgeons told me the leg would probably have to come off. I told them that that was the worst plan I had ever heard of and that they should try anything else. After a week of consultation with the nations surgeons, my Doc said that they could try something new that may have a small chance of working. As I had full medical insurance, and cost was not an issue, I told him to go ahead.(see X-ray)
It took tons of rehab but I am fine today and can walk and do whatever I need , a little slower than originally. I stay away from parachuting and motorcycling apart from water landings as all that hardware could really make a mess with a hard landing or another crash. There is no pain anymore and no sign of the need for a knee replacement either, which is more than I can say for lots of my jump buddies with a few thousand jumps. I am 64 now, so don't expect too much from my legs anymore anyway.

Cuba
01-12-2016, 13:21
Wow those are a lot of screws! :eek: Yeah I can walk fine, run a little slower and sometimes it hurts when I squat or do lunges depends how much weight I use but again I don't feel like I would quit due to the pain.

I would literally limp around on a broken leg if I was to get into Selection and won't quit but the US ARMY has it's policies and wanted to see if any QP's have ever broken their leg this way and gone back to the theater and kept with the high op tempo.

I was rucking 10-12 miles with 40-60 lb rucksack at a 13:00-14:00 pace in the beach on the sand and getting better before I broke my leg. I haven't tested myself on rucking just yet after the injury, I was getting the leg stronger in the gym first.:lifter

Guymullins
01-12-2016, 14:01
Wow those are a lot of screws! :eek: Yeah I can walk fine, run a little slower and sometimes it hurts when I squat or do lunges depends how much weight I use but again I don't feel like I would quit due to the pain.

I would literally limp around on a broken leg if I was to get into Selection and won't quit but the US ARMY has it's policies and wanted to see if any QP's have ever broken their leg this way and gone back to the theater and kept with the high op tempo.

I was rucking 10-12 miles with 40-60 lb rucksack at a 13:00-14:00 pace in the beach on the sand and getting better before I broke my leg. I haven't tested myself on rucking just yet after the injury, I was getting the leg stronger in the gym first.:lifter

Exercise is the answer. My Doc told me to do ten leg lifts a day when in hospital and I did 1000 a day. My eldest son who has a pharmaceutical manufacturing company got hold of some Human Growth Hormone and I self-injected every second day. This may have made the difference in healing something the surgical team didn't think could happen. Don't take this as a medical recommendation though as I am not qualified to give one. I am sure you will find a doctor to comment on that or even someone from this site, if you are really lucky.

Cuba
02-08-2016, 09:38
Quick update to the original thread.

I did a memorial run February 6th for a 3rd Group Special Forces soldier, ODA 325 who was KIA October 6, 2012. Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Schiro 4th Annual Memorial Run in Coral Springs, Florida. This is the third year I do the run (last year I had to do it with crutches and I rucked it instead since I was still recovering from the tibia fracture surgery). I always leave the run feeling honored and grateful that such great men lived and sacrificed for this great nation. It just makes me want to enlist and follow in the same foot steps and it's great to know that the proceeds go directly to the children of this fallen SF warrior.

I tried running a little faster than I usually do, especially after getting really motivated seeing what I assume are his former SF team mates (they looked like some BAMF's) running with weighted vests and such. I started getting some extreme pain in the right knee where I had the tibia fracture surgery and I had to slow down a lot (almost to a damn crawl):boohoo I finished the run at least.

After a self diagnosis using this website http://www.stoneclinic.com/knee-self-diagnosis looks I will have to either get MCL, ACL or some other type of knee surgery. I read from a search that a lot of guys here have had MCL, ACL, knee surgeries and have been allowed to pursue Selection so at least that gives me hope. If I don't pass the age cut off, make sure I heal up, continue following Bechorg's work out regimen plan and get a perfect 300 APFT and a high score on the UBRR so they won't even look at the surgeries twice. :lifter

So my question is this... maybe some 20th Group SF soldiers can answer since I'm still pursuing the National Guard SF route through REP-63. Is it 29 years old the cut off date for National Guard SF or 34 years old like the NG website and recruiter says it is? I just keep reading different information on the cut off age when it comes to Active Duty and NG, hoping an SF soldier can answer that for me.

I turn 29 years old September 2016 and I know for sure if I get knee surgery, the recovery time, time in the gym to get strong, etc. I won't be 100% ready by September 2016.

Like I said, either way I am going to enlist serve my country but I just want to know if my SF window is closed through the NG option. Thank you all for the advice shared on this board and for your sacrifices for this great nation.

koz
02-08-2016, 20:22
Why not call the NG SF office at SWCS? The number is in the Ft. Bragg directory.

Cuba
02-09-2016, 08:16
Why not call the NG SF office at SWCS? The number is in the Ft. Bragg directory.

I tried calling NG SF and I sent an e-mail around October 2015, I received a call back but the Master Sergeant on the phone told me they only dealt with prior service or Active Army Soldiers trying to transition into NG SF and those that are trying out for Selection.

I'll look into the Ft. Bragg directory as you have advised and see if they can answer my question when I call the NG SF office. Thank you Koz.

Edit: I did not want to make a new post or reply, Koz, this is what I found from the Ft.Bragg directory. Are any of these numbers the ones I should call? I'm guessing the area code is 910 correct?

Army National Guard
Advisor/AOJK-NG
Senior Guard Advisor................ 432-8475
Senior Enlisted Advisor............. 432-5290
Personnel Supervisor................ 432-6027
Operations NCO ....................... 432-3318