 Staff Sergeant Stuart DiPallo is one of our motor transport operators. More importantly, he's a leader. He's a fighter. When he first got injured, we really expected that we were going to lose this guy. I was teaching an ATV class and I was the lead vehicle on the trail ride. I'm assuming the ATV took a mad hop and came back and landed on my head and broke every bone in my face. Quite honestly, I don't think we really thought he would survive those first two weeks. I remember hanging up in the waiting room at Scripps La Jolla and he was in the surgical ICU. They wouldn't let me go in there at first until they cleaned him up a little bit and then there was just towels everywhere and the only reason I knew it was my husband was because of his tattoos. I couldn't even see his face. He had a very grim prognosis at the outset of those injuries, but despite that prognosis, he's made nothing short of a miraculous recovery. He spent time at Scripps Memorial Hospital here in the local area and he spent about two years up in the VA at Palo Alto going through some pretty intense recovery regimes and making what amount to some incredible steps toward his own recovery as well. I was told I would never walk again, but I walked through the door. First time in two and a half years being in uniforming and I'll tell you what, walking in boots is a lot more difficult than I remember. Despite what he was going through, he would motivate other Marines or sailors up at the VA, so non-compliant patients who maybe were struggling with the fact that they had to do mundane little tasks or therapies, not understanding that practicing those small things is part of the big picture and he was able to kind of mentor them and guide them into their own recovery. So he's been inspiring people all along the way. You'd be amazed at the things you can do when you put your mind to something.