Google Maps’ view
Paste these numbers to Google Maps and you can see my pinnacle.
33.361388, 62.417392
The runways of Shindand Air Base can be seen just to the west.
#Pamir62
#AintTechnologyGrand
Lander Magazine – Fall 2018 issue
Thank you to my alma mater, Lander University, for the “Alumni Profile” in the Fall 2018 alumni magazine.
See page 60 for a one-page Alumni Profile from L.C. Leach III.
Go Bearcats! Go Senators! (pre-1992)
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#LanderUniversity
Home Sweet Home
On this date in 2013, I was discharged from the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center rehab unit and traveled home to Fort Rucker via a commercial airline.
It had been 97 days since an IED in western Afghanistan changed my plans. In that time I had a lot of people work to rescue me, to put me back together, and to push me to heal.
My rehabilitation and healing was not over, I still had a few months of work ahead of me before I’d walk without a cane, but I was home!
It had been over 14 months since I had left home for Afghanistan in October 2012.
December 12, 2013
#Pamir62
#FiveYearsAgo
#HomeSweetHome
#CueTheCrue
Retiring The Iron Maiden
On this date in 2013, I returned the continuous passive motion device to the medical staff at the VA hospital. The device I had named the “Iron Maiden.”
I had not used it in about 2 weeks anyway, but it was a benchmark in my healing and very symbolic of my progress that I no longer needed it.
December 9, 2013
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#FiveYearsAgo
#IronMaiden
The Iron Maiden is funny. First you hate it. Then you get used to to. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on it.
(paraphrased from Red in “The Shawshank Redemption”)
Fancy Cane
On this day in 2013, I was presented with an amazing cane from the Aiken Wood Carver’s Club. Victor Fricke from the Club presented it to me at the VA Hospital in Augusta, but he made sure I knew that it had been a group effort by different members of the Club. It was the 24th cane they had made for Wounded Warriors in about two and a half years.
It has a hand-carved and painted eagle head on a lathe-turned stalk. Along the leading edge it has much of my Army résumé — badges, rank, and many of the medals I’ve been awarded.
A huge thank you to the artisans who made this custom cane for me! I’m really honored to have one. I still use it, sparingly but proudly.
December 4, 2013
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#FiveYearsAgo
#FancyCane
Thanksgiving at Home in Alabama
Thanksgiving 2013 was wonderfully special. I was home! Not for good this time, just for the weekend. But it was a huge step in my recovery and it felt good (but exhausting) to be away from the hospital and my Iron Maiden.
The NCOs from the VA hospital ADRU took me to the Augusta airport for my trip to Dothan and Fort Rucker. I was wearing my Stetson, and walking with a cane. Only my Army cape could have attracted more attention. It was during this trip that I learned that my new hardware doesn’t set off the metal detector at the airport.
I have a video that Lori captured with her iPhone of me strolling out from the secure part of the terminal at the Dothan airport. Aaron, Fiona and Katherine come running up to give me a hug. A wonderful and happy scene.
November 27, 2013
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#FiveYearsAgo
#Thankful
