An excellent article that needs to be out there.....
Losing he who made their life possible
A soldier reflects on the fallen comrade whose efforts taught him to seize every day
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD cblatchford@globeandmail.com September 10, 2008
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They got married on June 21, 2008, two years to the day his legs were blown to bits and he almost died. It was a deliberate choice.
"Reclaiming the day," is how Corporal Ryan Elrick puts it.
He survived, and ever since has felt the obligation to live fully, completely. He feels it more acutely now. This afternoon, a flag-draped casket carrying 36-year-old Sergeant Prescott Shipway - called "Ship" by most - returns to Canadian Forces Base Trenton.
It was Sgt. Shipway, along with Master Corporal Chuck Prodnick and a couple of other soldiers, who saved his life, not that Cpl. Elrick remembers. But he has pieced together what happened from what those who were there have told him, and he knows.
It was important enough to thank them that he insisted on going out to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry lines in Edmonton in late August, 2006, just two months after he'd lost his legs. He was still in hospital. He was in a wheelchair. He was deeply drugged, on morphine and ketamine both. His mom and dad were with him.
In the crowd of soldiers arriving from Afghanistan, he saw MCpl. Prodnick and Sgt. Shipway. They told him what happened. Cpl. Elrick says, "I hugged them. I told them I owe you guys a debt."
He has Shannon, who is studying to be a registered nurse. They have a dog, two cats, a car, and a house just down the street from where Cpl. Elrick works, and speaking of work, he has managed to stay in the military. He has an office job now, at the airbase in his home town of Winnipeg.
It isn't the infantry - nothing is - but the work is satisfying. Former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier made him a promise that if there was work for a man with no legs to do, and for others like him, they would be able to stay in, and Cpl. Elrick has done that. There were some things left that he wanted to try, but as he says, "As a Plan B, it's definitely worked out.
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Losing he who made their life possible
A soldier reflects on the fallen comrade whose efforts taught him to seize every day
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD cblatchford@globeandmail.com September 10, 2008
Article Link
They got married on June 21, 2008, two years to the day his legs were blown to bits and he almost died. It was a deliberate choice.
"Reclaiming the day," is how Corporal Ryan Elrick puts it.
He survived, and ever since has felt the obligation to live fully, completely. He feels it more acutely now. This afternoon, a flag-draped casket carrying 36-year-old Sergeant Prescott Shipway - called "Ship" by most - returns to Canadian Forces Base Trenton.
It was Sgt. Shipway, along with Master Corporal Chuck Prodnick and a couple of other soldiers, who saved his life, not that Cpl. Elrick remembers. But he has pieced together what happened from what those who were there have told him, and he knows.
It was important enough to thank them that he insisted on going out to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry lines in Edmonton in late August, 2006, just two months after he'd lost his legs. He was still in hospital. He was in a wheelchair. He was deeply drugged, on morphine and ketamine both. His mom and dad were with him.
In the crowd of soldiers arriving from Afghanistan, he saw MCpl. Prodnick and Sgt. Shipway. They told him what happened. Cpl. Elrick says, "I hugged them. I told them I owe you guys a debt."
He has Shannon, who is studying to be a registered nurse. They have a dog, two cats, a car, and a house just down the street from where Cpl. Elrick works, and speaking of work, he has managed to stay in the military. He has an office job now, at the airbase in his home town of Winnipeg.
It isn't the infantry - nothing is - but the work is satisfying. Former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier made him a promise that if there was work for a man with no legs to do, and for others like him, they would be able to stay in, and Cpl. Elrick has done that. There were some things left that he wanted to try, but as he says, "As a Plan B, it's definitely worked out.
More on link
