FALLS CHURCH Va.- “I always tell people the best thing you can do for me is tell me I can’t do something.” These words are proudly spoken by return-to-duty Soldier, Staff Sgt. Adam Proctor.
After an accident that took his leg in 2021, the combat medic found himself at the Fort Campbell Soldier Recovery Unit (SRU) where he’s been ever since. In the beginning, he admits he was reluctant. “Even though you know what the SRU is there was still trepidation going there. I had it in my mind that when this happened I was only going to be down for six months and I was going to go back into the fight with my unit so I was dead set in my mind but, I wasn’t facing reality.”
The reality was Proctor had a long road to recovery especially since he wanted to return to duty. “At the end of the day, I thought I’ve gone my whole 17 years in the Army having control over my career and I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything take that from me.” Proctor had a lot of proving to do to the medical board and that meant a lot of work on his part.
“You work your behind off and for everything I do, I will have to work twice as hard. I had to prove I could carry a patient so I had to pick up a 210-pound dummy with a full combat load on it so it was about 300 pounds total and I had to fireman carry it around a building three times and it was like a thousand meters. I did it!” All his hard work in recovery at the SRU over two years paid off.
He got the good news when he was selected to compete on Team Army at last year’s Warrior Games Challenge in San Diego. “When everyone was at a competition one day, I was back in my room on a Zoom call with the med board and they gave me my results that I was RTD! Man, I was celebrating for all kinds of reasons, because of that and because Team Army was doing so well at the Warrior Games. Needless to say, I was so very happy!”
The married father of five boys aged 9-17, won six medals at the challenge… one gold, two silver, and three bronze. “I was told I couldn’t ride on an upright bike again, but I did and won two silver medals doing it.”
Proctor says competing in adaptive sports for Team Army not only helped him in his recovery, he says it is showing his sons that anything is possible.
“I’ve always been a can’t keep me down kind of guy to the boys. They tell me they saw me as the guy who could do anything. They would struggle to pick something up and I would just one arm it and pick it up but then when I got hurt my second oldest son Jonathan said he never saw me as vulnerable before- but then he saw me compete at Warrior Games challenge last year. He said he would never see me as vulnerable again because “even if you do get hurt I know you are just going to keep going anyway.”
Proctor is still going strong and is competing yet again for a coveted spot on Team Army at the 2024 Army Trials at Fort Liberty. He will compete in all events and afterward will continue his Army Career as a combat medic. “When people do say you can't do something to me I say ok… just sit back and watch!”
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