Continued Service with Mind-Controlled Artificial Limbs

In 2015, Maj. Christie Wise had just returned from deployment in Afghanistan and was on a much-needed vacation. She was paddleboarding in Florida when a boat propeller hit her, and she lost her right leg.  Even though she talks about her fellow AF amputee pilots saying, “We call it the ‘amputee pilot mafia’ and we joke that you have to lose an arm or a leg to join” it is not an easy road to work back to active duty after an amputation. Maj. Wise was the first woman pilot to do so. In 2019, the VA provided care to 96,519 veterans with amputation. 46,214 of these individuals had at least 1 major limb amputation, which is defined as an amputation at or proximal to the wrist or ankle. 1,558 military personnel lost a limb as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and only about 450 of them were able to return to active duty. While amputees are allowed to return to active duty, they must prove they can still do the job and won’t be a danger to themselves or others – not an easy task with the quality of prosthetics currently available to service members without paying additional out of pocket costs. It’s time to change the status quo active duty no longer need to be stripped of their careers and a significant part of their identity when sustaining life altering injuries.