4th Brigade Soldier Winning His Fight as Triple Amputee

On the Fourth of July in Afghanistan, one Fort Bragg paratrooper encountered an explosion that left him a triple amputee. 

Sgt. Monte Bernardo, 30, raised in Novato and Petaluma, Ca. is fighting his own battle - and winning while encouraging others around him.

The Fourth Brigade soldier from Fort Bragg has plenty of support and encouragement from his family, fellow soldier and even the rockers of KISS who paid him a visit in Walter Reed. 

"I started physical therapy two and a half weeks after the incident in Afghanistan," Monte Bernardo said in a telephone interview to a Marin newspaper. "The nurses and doctors tell me nobody has healed this fast in the history of the hospital."

In just four short weeks following his accident, the soldier completed 80 situps in physical therapy. 

"You can't change yesterday, but you can change tomorrow. I can't change the fact that I stepped on a bomb, but I can change how well I do on prosthetics tomorrow. That is how I have lived my entire life," said Bernardo.

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