Extended Interview: B.J. Jackson | PBS NewsHour

Publish date: 2024-07-26

B.J. JACKSON:

Keep your head up. It gets better. I mean, for guys with no legs, most of the time, unless I'm really sore, I have my pant legs down, people can't even tell I'm amputated. So there's a lot of good information and support. I feel willing to get out of bed. There are a lot of soldiers who will come and talk to you and help you out.

I had a soldier that was on his way to Iraq, got injured, hit by a power line on a train and lost his right leg. I came in my room and was walking, and he was real good friends, and helped throughout the whole process. And he came in with canes to walk, and he came in and said, "Look, I'm walking." "That ain't walking, you're using canes." So he threw the canes down and walked just fine. And he went up to visit another soldier to help him out, and he left his canes there and never went back to get them.

But then the soldiers could be inspirational with each other.

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