Green Beret returns to service after amputation

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. —  A Special Forces noncommissioned officer returned to full active duty service two and a half years after his hand was amputated to free him from underneath a vehicle before a suicide bomber could strike a deadly blow against he and his team.

Sergeant 1st Class Ivan Morera, a Miami native and a Special Forces medic, continues to serve with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) despite being severely wounded in a vehicle roll-over in Afghanistan.

In August 2013, an insurgent on a motorcycle drove up to the front-left tire of the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle that Morera was driving.  Aware of intelligence reports stating insurgents were employing suicide bombers on motorcycles, Morera swerved to avoid the attacker.  The insurgent pursued Morera’s vehicle, even as he swerved multiple times.  The final time Morera swerved, the vehicle went off the road.  When he over corrected to return to the road, the vehicle began to roll over.  While the vehicle flipped, the driver’s side door next to Morera broke off its hinges and combat lock.

“I woke up and noticed my hand had been crushed.  I called out for my team sergeant.  He unstrapped himself and put a tourniquet on my arm,” said Morera recalling the aftermath of the roll-over.  “He called over my junior medic who put an additional tourniquet on and they had to complete the amputation in order to pull me out of the vehicle.”

After Morera was medically evacuated, the motorcycle-borne suicide bomber returned to attack the Special Forces team, killing himself by detonating his improvised explosive device and wounding a number of the Green Berets still at the scene of the accident.

Morera began his recuperation at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.  Only 15 days after his initial hospitalization, Morera reported for physical and occupational therapies.

“My recovery, at first, was pretty easy and I was excelling.  But within three months, I started to get depressed when things got a little harder,” said Morera about his recovery.  “In January 2014, I had reconstructive knee surgery and set new goals on getting out of the CFI and returning to 7th Group within five months.  I was able to reach that goal and come home.”

Extremely competitive and fitness orientated, the loss of a hand and severe wounds to his left shoulder and knee dealt a critical blow to Morera’s identity as a husband, father and Special Forces operator.

“It’s because of my spiritual identity that I was able to stay strong and because of my faith in God,” says Morera about the source of his inner strength and drive to recover.

In physical therapy, he began the arduous task of strengthening his knee and shoulder to prepare them for reconstructive surgery.  Efforts in occupational therapy focused on learning how to use his prosthetics.  Especially challenging was learning how to contract specific muscles in his arm to control his prosthetic hand.

Morera returned to the 7th SFG (A)’s compound here in June 2014.  The very next day after his arrival, he reported to the Group’s Force Preservation Directorate housed the unit’s combat readiness training facility.

Morera spends much of his time with members of the Group’s Tactical Human Optimization, Rapid Rehabilitation and Reconditioning Program.  Mike Sanders, director of the THOR3 program, coordinates much of Morera’s physical conditioning.  The THOR3 program is an essential component to the recovery of a SF soldier like Morera, It helps restore something that often violently is taken away from him and leaves not only physical trauma, but mental trauma as well, according to Sanders.

“Being able to see my kids every day and being able to show them if you continue to push forward and have faith, you can get through anything,” says Morrera about the inspiration that drove him toward his ultimate goal of returning to a Special Forces team.  “I love my children deeply and when they tell me I’m their hero.  That motivates me to go further.”

Morera passed a major milestone towards his goal in April of 2015 when he conducted his first static-line parachute jump since being wounded.  Since then, he’s completed seven more jumps for a total of eight with his prosthetic arm.  His next intended breakthrough takes him above the clouds to be able to conduct military freefall operations.  He and a team of experts are looking into the dynamics of conducting High Altitude Low Opening parachute jumps with prosthetics and what specialized gear might be necessary to make it possible.

“Continue to move forward.  Don’t let your situation define who you are,” Morera advises other members of the Special Forces community who have sustained such life-altering wounds.  “Don’t let your situation stop you from your goals.  Everything and anything is possible with faith and determination.”

Article by Maj. Thomas Cieslak
7th Special Forces Group public affairs

Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Ivan Morera, center, conducts strength conditioning at the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne)’s Combat Readiness Training Facility Feb. 10. In August 2013, the Green Beret’s left shoulder and knee sustained severe damage and his left hand was crushed when the vehicle he was driving rolled over while avoiding a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Morera has since returned to full service with the group. (U.S. Army photo/Staff Sgt. Bryan Henson)