Helping others helps wounded veteran overcome challenges
The Wounded Warrior Project emblem depicts the silhouette of a soldier carrying a wounded comrade over his shoulder.
The classic “fireman’s carry” is one that retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Norberto “Norbie” Lara knows well. He was carried from a battlefield near Baqubah, Iraq, after a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, exploded, blowing off his right arm while he rode in a patrol vehicle on June 19, 2004.
He now endures the mental burdens of other wounded warriors by advising them from his home in Visalia, Calif., about the 16 programs the project offers to help them transition to civilian life. He also gives motivational speeches across the country, such as the one he delivered Wednesday to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
“I did a lot of crying,” Lara said of his lost arm. “I was 31 years old at the time.”
After his speech, he described his thoughts two months after he awoke from a medically induced coma at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Doctors had treated him for his severed arm, a liver wound and lung damage from inhaling toxic fumes when the patrol vehicle filled with smoke after the RPG penetrated its fire wall.
He also sustained a traumatic brain injury. He had to learn to walk and talk all over again.
He thought his life was over, he said. His hopes for the law enforcement career he was pursuing as a military policeman had been dashed.
He spent two years recuperating and then learned from a trip arranged by the Wounded Warrior Project that the life-changing event really didn’t have to change his life forever.
He flew to Colorado and learned to ski from a Vietnam War veteran who had lost both arms. His new friend persuaded him that he had a story worth sharing that could help other wounded service members returning to civilian life.
“Basically I was given a new normal life that was better because I have a new way to view life,” he said after his keynote luncheon speech at the Four Seasons.
“The best way to overcome my own challenges is to help other people with theirs.”
His story goes like this.
From the time he was a youngster, he wanted to serve his country. He joined the Army in 1995, completed military police training at Fort McClellan, Ala., and was sent to his first duty station at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. Later he was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, before serving in Kuwait in 1996, and Bosnia in 1998 and 1999.
He was in the process of applying for police department positions when terrorists hijacked jetliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Although poised to pursue a civilian law enforcement career, “there was no way I could sit on the sidelines while my brothers went off to war,” he said.
He decided to extend his enlistment and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., before he deployed to Iraq.
His squad encountered roadside bombs in June 2004 while on patrol near Baqubah. With a soldier wounded on the road, Lara’s patrol rushed to rescue him and drive him to a hospital. It was later that night when he told his driver to take a right-hand turn. Suddenly there was a bright flash and the vehicle filled with smoke.
They had been hit by an RPG. Sitting in the front passenger’s seat, Lara tried to open the door but couldn’t because his right arm had been severed.
During the medical evacuation, he slipped into unconsciousness and was eventually flown back to the United States where he spent two years recovering at Walter Reed. He was medically retired in 2006.
He returned to California to pursue social work education at College of the Sequoias and California State University, Fresno.
After speaking to the Chamber of Commerce, he said he was impressed by the gathering of employers with an interest in hiring wounded warriors.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “It’s awe-inspiring to know we have this type of support in Las Vegas.”
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at
krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
