December 1st, 2013
Cpl. Joshua Sust, 24, was wounded in action on Nov. 12 while conducting vehicle mounted patrol operations in Helmand province. In a Facebook post, Sust said an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle, throwing him from it.
“I remember getting lifted out of my seat, I felt my Kevlar come off my head, and I just blacked out. I woke up on the ground, made sure everything was still there, all my limbs,” he said.
“If (the patrol) was on foot, we all would have been dead. It was about 80 pounds,” Sust said.
Sust broke both arms and shattered his left foot. He has been undergoing rehabilitation in San Diego, with help from a therapy dog.
Sust graduated from Colerain High School in 2006 and joined the Marines two weeks later.
“It’s just your time, when that time comes, you’re thankful that you’re alive. I’ve got buddies who are missing limbs and they’re doing way better than I am right now,” Sust said. “Something unfortunate happened, and that’s the price you pay when you go over there. You know what’s at stake.”
Josh hooker was with the 101st Airborne out of Baghdad, Iraq, He & another soldier were struck by an IED. Immediately the other soldier was killed and the residual blast hit Josh’s lower extremities and took off his left foot.
That explosion happened April 29, 2006. Hooker took more than a year to recover, and he chose to have his leg amputated. He now wears a prosthetic below the knee called a vertical shock piston.
“It allows me to do anything and everything that a normal person would do,” Hooker said.
Once he retired from the Army, Sgt. Hooker, went through the Warriors to Work program and found a job last season as a volunteer football coach with Francis Parker.
My Dad and I were on a mission to make warrior wishes come true for these Warriors on one of the craziest travel weekends ever. Saturday night we Flew from Chicago to St. Louis, St. Louis to Las vegas, rented a car and drove from vegas to San diego to meet up with Army SGT Josh Hooker & Marine SGT Josh Sust first thing Sunday morning. Our day started off with breakfast at Whole foods, coincidentally both guys were Bengals fans & the Chargers happeend to be playing the Bengals. Thanks to the Chargers we had great seats and a beautful day to see a game, and lucky for the warriors the Bengals went on to win the game!
