RUTHFULLY YOURS

Military.com|by Bryant Jordan

Staff Sgt. Marc Esposito likes a challenge, which explains why he went into Air Force Special Operations.

In Iraq in 2009, he was a combat controller working with Army Special Forces when an improvised explosive device went off, shattering both legs below the knees and breaking his back.

But the IED did no damage to Esposito’s grit and determination, which he demonstrated earlier this month by taking part in the inaugural Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo.

He is proving it again by joining 20 other war-wounded and injured troops, veterans and supporters on a grueling 4,000-mile bicycle tour. The Sea-to-Shining Sea ride, which began in San Francisco on May 22, will end July 24 in Virginia Beach, Va. It’s sponsored by the non-profit groups Soldiers Angels and World T.E.A.M. (The Exceptional Athlete Matters) Sports, and State Farm Insurance, according to Staci Dolgin-Rubinstein, a spokeswoman for the ride.

Among team members will be retired Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Bob Magnus and L. Paul “Jerry” Bremer, who served as the presidential envoy to Iraq from May 2003 to June 2004.

The riders will be on the road for 63 days, bicycling through deserts and mountain passes as well as cities and towns along the way. Their route will take them from California through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia and finally to Virginia. Money raised by donations will go to World T.E.A.M. to organize sports programs for athletes of all abilities.

Esposito, 26, called the cross-country ride program “a great thing.”

“Hopefully, other injured military people will … look at this as something a group of challenged athletes went through and say, ‘Hey, if they can do it, I can do that,’ ” Esposito told Military.com. Esposito, who now is assigned to Pope Air Force Base, N.C., while the Air Force determines if he’ll be able to stay on active duty, took part May 11-14 in the Warrior Games along with 190 athletes — some in wheelchairs, some competing with artificial legs. Esposito earned a Bronze medal in a 20-kilometer upright bicycle race.

Esposito, who has had numerous surgeries and continues to undergo therapy for his leg injuries, said medicine and doctors can only do so much for wounded and injured troops.  

“It’s your motivation that’s going to get you out of bed and back into the life you want to lead,” he said. “Hopefully, this [ride] is something that will facilitate motivation” for other veterans.