The Veteran & His Road to Recovery
By: Eric Thomas Webb
Tags: Veterans, Va Disability, Disabled Veteran, Revival, Inspiration

A motorcycle crash, a crooked surgery, and one man’s journey towards revival

(📷 : unsplash)

FOUR MILES outside of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, Navy veteran Rick Cook sits on his front porch in jeans and a t-shirt. Physically, he’s hurting. But today, Cook has other reasons to be happy. He recently won his VA disability and things are looking up.

Cook grew up in Garland, Texas and signed up for the Navy in 1976 under the Delayed Entry Program. He went into bootcamp six weeks out of high school. His time in the Navy was spent working electronic gear in Anti-Submarine Warfare Operation Centers — ASWOCs.

“I was never on a ship, never part of a squadron. I’ve got less than 24 hours at sea on about four different ships, and two of those were out in the middle of the Indian Ocean.”

Cook served in Virginia, Guam, the Philippines, Japan and California before leaving the Navy in 1987. But it was what happened during his first assignment in Virginia that would change him forever.

While stationed south of Oceana, he was going around some S-turns on his motorcycle when a car came over into his lane.

“I stood the bike up and ended up in a cornfield. I knew my leg was broken…I knew my arm was broken. I lost a cowboy boot. I laid there until somebody saw my bike upside down.”

Cook’s femur fractured in two places and would require major surgery. But the doctors inserted pins into his leg at an angle that gave him a valgus defect.

“They put me back together crooked,” he says. “You know that song, ‘Your neck bone’s connected to your back bone’s connected to your hip bone,’” he laughs, “I can tell you that’s the truth.”

Cook has battled through the aftermath of his injuries with his positive attitude. “No matter how bad it is,” he says, “It isn’t that bad.” Traveling around the world has helped to illuminate his perspective.

“When I was in Guam, my brother was back home. He would get a new truck every few years…he had a speed boat. I’m over in Guam making $800 a month living in a base house and driving a beat-up car…and feeling sorry for myself.”

Then Cook was sent to the Philippines on Temporary Assignment Duty.

He saw firsthand the poverty that exists in third world countries and realized how privileged he was. “I was like, you know, I don’t have it so bad. And it was just one of those things.”

Cook says family is what inspired him to get out of the Navy in 1987. They were going to send him to Okinawa, but as a single parent, he didn’t want to take his oldest son back overseas again.

“I missed my oldest kid’s first and second birthday and my second and third anniversary. Those are things I won’t get back no matter what.”

Over time, the lingering effects from his injuries have made sitting or standing for long periods of time extremely difficult. Because of the physical strain on his body, Cook had no choice but to retire from the workforce.

That’s when he and his wife decided to leave Dallas and move back to her hometown in Arkansas. The time had come for him to address the issues he had been dealing with since his surgery, decades ago.

Cook reached out to a ‘friend of a friend’ on Facebook — a Vietnam veteran — who recommended he get in touch with David Pineda.

“As soon as I talked to David everything just started clicking,” he says. Pineda is a disabled veteran who works for VA Claims Insider — a company that supports veterans who are pursuing their disability benefits.

So when Cook found out he had been granted a hundred percent disability last month he was emotional.

“I was elated. I was ecstatic. There were tears in my eyes.”

For Cook, that means more time at home with his family. His grandchildren love to ‘walk the creek’ on his property and ride on the tractor — things they don’t get to experience living in the city. He’s also excited to get his work shop cleaned up and start woodworking again.

Cook still watches his money but no longer worries about being able to pay his bills. He is grateful to be out of the 9–5 grind, adding, “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”