Star-Journbal Editor
Having his leg blown off by a roadside bomb was the worst pain Army Spc. Peter Richert thought he could ever suffer — until he fell down.
"It was the worst pain I've ever had, even worse than when I got blown up," Richert said Sunday in a phone interview from the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Texas.
Richert, 23, of Hillsboro, is undergoing rehabilitation after being wounded Feb. 21 in Iraq. He was making good progress until March 28, when he fell.
"I fell straight on my limb," Richert said. "It was a big setback, and it took awhile, mentally and physically, to beat it, but I've beaten it.
"I've also been taken off of one pain medication. We're getting it ready for a prosthetic fitting pretty soon, possibly this week.
"I'm looking forward to that. That will be a big step."
Richert survived a roadside bomb attack that killed one soldier and wounded several others. He underwent two emergency surgeries on his right leg, which was amputated above the knee.
Richert later was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where a third surgery removed the leg to mid-thigh.
Since March 24, Richert has been an outpatient at the Center for the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston. He takes two physical therapy sessions a day under the watchful eye of a team of doctors and therapists.
It hasn't been easy.
"I get pretty discouraged occasionally, I'll admit," he said. "If I'm not able to lift a certain weight because of pain, it gets discouraging to me.
"But, I'm getting pretty strong," he added. "[My strength] is not quite all the way back, but it's getting there."
Scores of fellow soldiers also are recovering at Fort Sam Houston from wounds suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan. Richert draws strength from this band of brothers — without arms, or legs, or worse.
"There are guys all over there in physical therapy who are all in different stages," Richert said. "Guys with two legs missing; guys with missing legs all the way up to their hips.
"We talk about our different situations and the struggles we have and we see if we can help each other."
It's important to have each other's back in this battle, he added, because the road to recovery is long.
"My goal is to be home by December," Richert said. "I won't be home until I'm done.
"There are guys who've been here for two years, but they were in worse shape than I am," he added. "Burn victims that also are missing a hand and a leg, or something like that."
Richert still feels a bond with soldiers from his outfit back in Iraq. They call him frequently.
"I still wish I was there, even under the circumstances," he said. "I wish I was back there with my guys until it was time to come home."
When not in therapy, Richert spends as much time as he can with his wife, Krista, and baby daughter, Lindsey. Both have moved to Texas to be with him for the duration of his treatment.
They live at Fort Sam Houston in a facility with other recovering soldiers and their families. Richert described their living conditions as "basically like a fraternity house," with private rooms, and a shared living room and kitchen.
"Krista is the greatest thing in my
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life right now," Richert said. "She's held things together and she has to take care of two babies at once."
After all he has been through, when Richert was asked to name his most difficult challenge, he said, "Trying to be a dad."
"That's been pretty rough," he added. "I've been gone away from her so much, she doesn't really recognize me. If she has a crying fit, it's hard to comfort her.
"I can't get there quick enough if she's about to fall off the bed or something like that. Being a dad is pretty rough with one leg. But she recognizes me a little bit more everyday. And she'll be down here until I'm done."
The process of getting a prosthetic leg involves being fitted with as many as a dozen different sizes, until the swelling in his limb goes down permanently, he said.
Not until the process is over and he learns to walk without assistance will he be ready to come home to Hillsboro.
Richert is upbeat about the future, and says learning how to walk is something Dad and his daughter now have in common.
"She's about to walk," Richert said. "She stands up and then she falls down. She gets discouraged, but then she'll try again later. She'll hold onto something and stand up, but she gets a little wobbly and off balance.
"I hope we take our first steps together at the same time."
Care packages and letters of encouragement may be sent to:
Pete and Krista Richert, Room 406, BAMC Fisher House, 3623 Georgia C. Beach Road, Fort Sam Houston TX 78234.
