Interview: Col. Gregory Gadson the War Hero, Movie Star and Commander at Fort Belvoir

Col. Gregory Gadson's story is made for the movies: The former football star at West Point was injured by a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, lost his legs and then found his destiny. 

Gadson, 46, has been the installation commander at Fort Belvoir for a year now. He's the Army’s first double amputee to command of a major installation, and oversees the well-being of more than 50,000 military employees and over 140 tenant agencies for the Department of Defense, including the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and Washington Headquarters Services. 

Gadson is a native of Chesapeake, Va., and was raised by a teacher mother and pharmacist father. His early ambition was to play Division I football, and he applied and was accepted to West Point, where he later became the team co-captain. After graduating in 1989, he served in Operations Desert Shield/Storm in Kuwait; Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Everything changed for Gadson in Baghdad in May, 2007. At the time he was the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 32 Field Artillery, and was driving from a memorial service for two fallen comrades, when his Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device. Gadson lost both of his legs above the knee, and injured his right arm and hand. 

Gadson remained on active duty. He became a motivational speaker, and is credited with motivating the New York Giants to win the Superbowl in 2007. The Giants, in fact, minted a special championship ring for Gadson, and invited him to meet President Bush at the White House in 2008. 

"I'm proud to be on the stage with this man," said Bush, according to NBCnews.com. "He has got the Purple Heart and three Bronze Stars, and now he's got a Super Bowl ring minted for a true giant."

Gadson joined the Joint Chiefs of Staff Internship program at Georgetown in 2008, and then became the director of the U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Program. He also became the first person to use the Power Knee2, a prosthetic knee with artificial and sensor technology that promotes a natural gate for amputees.  

It wasn't long before Hollywood came calling. Peter Berg, the director of "Battleship", called Gadson and asked him to be a supporting actor in the movie. Gadson, who had moved to Fort Belvoir as part of his rehabilitation at Walter Reed, accepted the role of Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales. He later appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. 

Gadson is the recipient of three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. He is a graduate of Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and has masters degrees in Information Systems from Webster University and Policy Management from Georgetown University. 

Gadson lives in Mount Vernon with his wife, Kim, who is a teacher at Mark Twain Middle School. The couple have two children, both graduates of Mount Vernon High School. 

Patch: When did you know you wanted to be a soldier? 

Gadson: I would say it was probably about year four of being commissioned when I decided I wanted to be a soldier for a career. And I'm at year 24 now… I went to West Point only because I wanted to play Division I football. Even upon graduation I did not envision myself as a career soldier. I had a five year service obligation, and my intent was to meet that, get out of the Army and get into teaching/coaching. 

Patch: And you were an artillery officer. So, after four years in did you like to get paid for blowing stuff up? 

Gadson: You're right. I like the power of artillery, of shooting a large projectile over long distances. I just like blowing stuff up. I was a young man and I was like, 'Boom! Hey! This is cool!' 

But one of the things that appealed to me about the military was being a leader, being a coach. There are skills that you have to train to be a good artilleryman, and it took the same preparation and skills that it takes to be successful in sports. That became very apparent to me, that I could serve my country, lead men and women and serve something larger than myself.

Patch: Describe your leadership style. 

Gadson: I think leadership is very evolutionary… My skills have evolved. I believe in trusting, empowering and holding accountable my subordinates and getting them the creativity to solve problems, but also communicating the structure and the expectations to the organization I'm leading so that we all have a common vision and all understand what it is we're trying to accomplish and how we're going to go about doing that. 

Patch: Can we go back to 2007? Tell me about that day. 

Gadson: May 7, 2007. I was going to a memorial service for two soldiers in a sister battalion in my brigade, who had been killed by an improvised explosive device. I had gone with some of the leadership from my unit to attend the memorial service and pay my final respects to these gentlemen who had paid the full measure. When that service was over with I was heading back to my headquarters. 

Patch: What time was it? 

Gadson: Somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00 at night. It was certainly dark when my vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. 

Patch: Where were you sitting? 

Gadson: I was in the front passenger seat in an up-armored Humvee - a 15,000 pound armored vehicle. The blast blew me out of the vehicle, and ultimately I came to a stop on the side of the road. The vehicle kept going for a little bit. 

The folks in my convoy had to find me, and it was dark, and by the time they found me I was already unconscious. They had to get tourniquets on my legs and resuscitate me to give me a chance to live. 

…I can remember the explosion going off and being ejected from the vehicle and hitting the road and rolling to a stop. My first thought was, 'Where is my rifle?' because I knew a lot of times the enemy would follow up an explosive attack with small arms fire, but that didn't happen on this occasion. And then very quickly I realized that something was wrong with me - I didn't know what - and that I was in trouble. I remember clearly saying, 'God, I do not want to die here,' and then I was out. 

Eventually I came to - was resuscitated by a First Sgt. Johnson. PFC Brown put tourniquets on my legs and they began the process of getting me into a vehicle and to the next level of medical attention.

Patch: And then you underwent a number of surgeries. What were the extent of your injuries? 

Gadson: Most significantly, my right and left legs had to be amputated above the knee. A little less publicized was the damage to my right arm and elbow, which also required several surgeries and plates and screws to put that back together. I still don't have full use of my right hand any more. 

Patch: Did you go through a period of uncertainty regarding your future after the incident? 

Gadson: Yes. Depression, the whole spectrum of emotion. Early on you get a lot of attention, sympathy and people who mean well and want to see you and keep your spirits up. And that carries you along for a while, but eventually life goes back to normal and you have to face this new normal, this new reality. You do want to quit, you do want to get depressed and give up. And you have to work through all of that. It's not easy, but there's nothing that says life is supposed to be easy. 

Patch: How did you make the decision to stay in the Army? 

Gadson: The fact is that I never stopped thinking of myself as a soldier, and I realized that my legs did not define me. What I did physically didn't completely define me and who I am. I didn't feel less of being a soldier after I was wounded, and so the decision to stay was a decision to keep soldiering on. I was not stopping, getting out or retiring. I was going to soldier on, which is what I'm supposed to be doing. 

Patch: Many of the best leaders lead by example. What do you tell wounded warriors? 

Gadson: I enjoy a certain amount of credibility. My credentials are pretty obvious, so without saying anything, I can immediately impress upon people how fragile life is. You're not promised tomorrow and we have an obligation to always do our best, an obligation to stay in the moment and live that moment the best we can. Our circumstances are going to change. That's inevitable. Change is inevitable. It's just a matter of what it is and when it is. 

Make the most of what you have. Don't live life for tomorrow. Live it now. Enjoy the journey. Give it your all, because it could change. 

Patch: Have you suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and how have you dealt with that? 

Gadson: I don't know if suffer is the right word, but I have certainly experienced post traumatic stress. I was probably a little reticent to accept that early on. I didn't see a mental health professional for the first eight or nine months after being wounded, so I had to come to grips with it myself. It can be very subtle.

I think there are even times now - six years later - that I may have moments where I will recognize I am experiencing it. It's never really debilitated me, but I recognize it and am able to deal with it. It's real. It's unfortunate, but there are a lot of skeptics who are not so sure about it. But we are physical, emotional and spiritual beings and when your stretched to your limit it's like a rubber band that doesn't stretch back or needs more time to stretch back. We aren't machines. 

Patch: Bionic technology. I've seen you in your chair more than your bionic legs. Are they uncomfortable? 

Gadson: No, they're still a work in progress. I'm fast and I burn less energy in my wheelchair. It's documented that wearing my prosthetics I'm burning 200-to-300 percent more energy than in my chair. So, I can walk around in my legs and make a lot of people feel good, or impress a lot of people, but I'm taxing my body a lot more than if I was in my chair. The way I look at it is that my wheelchair and my prosthetics are tools that do whatever I need for them to do. 

Patch: How did you get a part in the "Battleship" movie? 

Gadson: Peter Berg (the director) is a New Yorker and Giants fan and had seen an article that I was a part of in the January 2010 edition of National Geographic and he saw me and my bionic legs, and that's where he got the idea to cast me.

So, in April 2010, he called me and pitched the idea and I, caught in the moment, said: 'Sure. Why not?' I never believed it was going to turn into anything. I was at least willing to see where it was going to go. And by August 2010, we were filming in Hawaii. 

Patch: Did you have an acting coach? 

Gadson: I did have an acting coach - James Lee - an excellent coach. They really worked with me, and as things went, I guess I was doing better than expected and they started rewriting my role. So, the role I ended up having was much different than the one I started out with. 

Patch: Is moviemaking harder or easier than you expected? 

Gadson: It's much more difficult. It's emotionally demanding. The thing that I took away from it is that you're not able to be yourself, but at the same time you have to be willing to bear yourself. That's not in my character, but I opened myself up emotionally to portray someone they wanted me to portray. Actors are vulnerable and going back and forth between yourself and this character, for me, was exhausting. 

Patch: Changing track slightly. What impact have furloughs and sequestration had on Belvoir? 

Gadson: Sequestration - there is nothing nice that I can say about it. But in relative terms, it's affecting our whole government and our entire military. That said, one of the things we recognize is that we're probably not going to be able to do all of the things that we want to do or are accustomed to doing because the man hours are not available. There's a degraded level of work time, and that will be implemented through furloughs. 

I don't have a crystal ball that says that this service or that service is going to go away, but at the same time there is a clear recognition by me that if I'm operating with 20 percent less man hours that we can't do all of the things we want to do. Life, health and safety are going to be as closely exempt as possible. My expectation is that we'll be able to meet those requirements. 

Patch: Will it result in gate closures? 

Gadson: No. I would not expect gate closures. I'll be out to keep gates open if it comes to it. That's critical.  

Patch: How has the role of the installation commander of Belvoir changed as a result of Base Realignment and Closure? 

Gadson: Several of my predecessors took the installation from pre-BRAC to post-BRAC and they did a wonderful job. I've taken over after BRAC was completed. The population of Belvoir has doubled, and so the number of partners (tenants) to organizations on the Garrison has increased significantly and the demands on our time and resources have increased significantly. A busy job has gotten busier, and there are increased responsibilities associated with that.  

Patch: You have a year left at Belvoir. 

Gadson: Roughly. 

Patch: Any idea of the future? Are you going for 30 years in the service?

Gadson: That's really to be determined. Hopefully in the coming months we'll have a better idea of what my next assignment is going to be in the military. You know, the Army can always say, 'Thanks for your service, Col. Gadson, but we want you to retire.' I hit 25 commission years this month, and so I definitely have less years in front of me than behind me. 

Patch: It's said that you inspired the New York Giants' 2007 Superbowl win with a speech during the regular season and a speech at the Superbowl. What did you tell them? 

Gadson: I didn't have it written down, but essentially that life is precious. I served my country, and there are a lot of noble symbolic things that we think about like the flag and our freedoms, but when you're out there on the field, none of that is really relevant or important. It's about fighting for each other and you have to remember that, and you have an obligation to do the best you can, because you are one injury away, one player away, from that changing. And I'm sitting here as living proof that you're a flash and a boom away from change… If you play to win you have to have that kind of attitude to fight. 

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