One-On-One With U.S. Army Special Forces Cpt. Ben Harrow On Life After Losing Both Legs While Deployed In Afghanistan
Southfield (CW50) - U.S. Army Captain Ben Harrow (Ret.) is an accomplished officer and a decorated American hero. He's a 2005 Graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a time letterman on the lacrosse team and received the Unsung Hero award his senior year.
He experienced multiple combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. First coming in 2006 when he was deployed to Iraq for 15 months. Upon his return, Cpt. Harrow went through the Special Forces pipeline and was sent to Uruzgan Providence in Afghanistan where he led a team of Green Berets.
On May 15, 2012, while on his third military deployment, this time in Afghanistan again, he was leading a team of Green Berets when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. He lost both legs above the knee, two fingers, and a large portion of flesh from his right forearm. Cpt. Harrow said that he had an "out-of-body" experience at that moment, not knowing that he was the one who had stepped on the I.E.D., thinking the yelling was coming from someone else in his team even though it was him yelling.
Upon his return home, he seemed destined for life in a wheel chair, as what was left of his legs was not enough to viably use prosthetics. Determined to find a way to walk again, Cpt. Harrow went through extensive rehabilitation and multiple surgeries, one of which helped lengthen and regenerate his bones. This surgery led him to holding the world record for the shortest stump ever lengthened. The process worked so well on Cpt. Harrow that it has become the standard at Walter Reed for soldiers with similar injuries. The procedure has given Cpt. Harrow the chance to wear prosthetic legs, walk again and even play lacrosse as he had been doing throughout his life.
Cpt. Ben Harrow joins Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about his life in the military, the story behind how he lost both of his legs in combat, and how he approaches life since returning home from service.
Cpt. Harrow attributes his resilience to his wife and two children, who he currently resides with in Florida, where he became the President of PAM JETS, a private and corporate aircraft management company.
Learn more about the company at PamJets.com
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