Holsey

The wounded warrior said walking the 6.25-mile road march with an incline halfway through WOCC proved the greatest challenge during the six-week training course that included classroom studies. The below-knee amputee ran a half marathon in Atlanta, and completed the Army Ten-Miler last year.

“Running 6.25 miles is different from walking,” Holsey said. “I had never walked that far [before].”

Holsey said Walter Reed physical therapist Capt. Sara Mitsch helped him select a good walking shoe, and she e-mailed him encouraging words while he was in school. Holsey said Mitsch wasn’t the only physical therapist who helped during his two-and-half-year recovery stint and subsequent follow-up.

“They all give you input. They come out and run with you,” Holsey said.

In November 2004, a roadside bomb in Iraq detonated near the convoy Holsey rode in and injured his left leg. After an initial hospital stay in Landstuhl, Germany, his physicians sent the Soldier to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where surgeons amputated his leg and he met physical therapist Annette “Bo” Bergeron.

“She has been my inspiration. She always keeps me going, encouraging [me],” Holsey said.

Bergeron said the Soldier was motivated from day one to reach his goals of running again and remaining on active duty. His optimism and determination spilled over to his buddies and the staff.

“He came to the clinic with a huge, genuine smile on his face every day, no matter the pain or the setbacks. He pushed himself hard as a patient and even harder as a Soldier learning how to run again,” Bergeron said. “He was truly a motivator for other patients just beginning their rehabilitation. He always had a smile, a kind word and lots of laughter to share with his peers. And he performed for them; they’d see him running around the clinic track and realize their own potential and capacities.”

“He’s truly been an inspiration to me and his fellow Soldiers,” Bergeron said.

His optimism and determination made a difference in his recovery, according to Sgt. 1st Class Rita Washington, a human resource sergeant for operations at Schofield Barracks in Oahu, Hawaii. Washington said her best friend of 11 years and former colleague is a very positive person and a good example for other Soldiers.

“Every Soldier looks for that in their leader. [Someone who says,] ëI’m going to keep tryin’, never give up,’ and that’s him. [If] Soldiers see their leader never give up on a mission, they will display that same attitude, and that’s what the Army needs more of,” Washington said.