Back in the Fight The Explosive Memoir of a Special Operator Who Never Gave Up

by Kapacziewski, Joseph; Sasser, Charles W.

• ISBN13: 9781250048622
• ISBN10: 1250048621
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-05-27
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

On October 3, 2005, Sergeant Joseph Kapacziewski and his soldiers in a Stryker vehicle were coming to the end of their tour in Northern Iraq when their convoy was attacked by enemy fighters. A grenade fell through the gunner's hatch and exploded, shattering Kapacziewski's right leg below the knee, damaging his right hip, and severing a nerve and artery in his right arm.

He endured more than forty surgeries, but his right leg still wasn't healing as he had hoped, so in March 2007, Kapacziewski chose to have it amputated with one goal in mind: to return to the line and serve alongside his fellow Rangers. One year after his surgery, Kapacziewski accomplished his goal: He was put back on the line, as a squad leader in the 3rd Ranger Battalion.

On April 19, 2010, during his eighth combat deployment (and fifth after losing his leg), Kapacziewski's patrol ran into an ambush outside a village in eastern Afghanistan. After a fellow Ranger fell to withering enemy fire, shot through the belly, Sergeant Kap and another soldier dragged him seventy-five yards to safety and administered first aid that saved his life while enemy soldiers with heavy machine guns tried to kill them. His actions earned him an Army Commendation Medal with a V for Valor. He had previously been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor, and a total of three Purple Hearts for combat wounds.

Kapacziewski's memoir is an inspiring and thrilling tale readers will never forget.

Author Biography

SERGEANT FIRST CLASS JOE KAPACZIEWSKI is the only amputee in Army Rangers history to return to combat, serving ten tours in the Middle East. On May 24, 2011, he became the first enlisted soldier ever to receive the No Greater Sacrifice Freedom Award, given to individuals who epitomize selfless service to the nation. Since losing his leg, he has completed three triathlons and finished the New York City Marathon twice. When not deployed to war zones, he often visits wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio.

CHARLES SASSER served in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Green Berets, for thirteen years and has spent time in Vietnam and Central America as a war correspondent. He has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist since 1979 and has over thirty published books to his name. He lives in Oklahoma.