KEY WEST, Fla. — Army Special Forces Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Talmadge lives by the Green Beret ethos — crawl, walk, run.
“Baby steps,” he said with a wry smile.
His wife, children and fellow Green Berets are simply glad the 31-year-old is alive and can take those steps, though he can still run and with a hundred pounds of gear on his back.
It’s been little more than two years since Talmadge nearly lost his life, and later his leg, during a fierce firefight in northern Afghanistan. A rocket-propelled grenade fired into his Humvee impaled his left thigh. Talmadge continued returning fire as a medic yanked the explosive device from his leg.
The Portsmouth, Va., native has been recuperating in Key West while working as a dive instructor at the Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School on Fleming Key, where Green Berets go to learn stealthy underwater-infiltration techniques and advanced scuba systems.
