Brian Kolfage 

Brian Kolfage endured a life-changing event that would have sent someone of lesser spirit into a downward spiral. But for this former security forces Airman turned Air Force civilian, life is about looking forward to what you can do, not what you cannot.

Then Senior Airman Kolfage was on his second deployment for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in 2004. After working a night shift at Balad Air Base, Iraq, he awoke in the afternoon, left his tent to get some water and walked no more than 25 feet when the airbase came under a mortar attack. It would be the last time he would walk on the legs he was born with. A mortar shell exploded about three feet from Airman Kolfage. He was thrown several feet in the air and landed against a wall of sandbags, still conscious, and began calling for help.

Airman Kolfage’s best friend was thrown from his bed during the attack. He heard the screams and rushed outside to find his friend bloody and mangled. The Airman and a medic rushed to help Airman Kolfage, who was struggling to breathe with only one lung after the other had collapsed. Brian’s friend desperately tried to divert his attention from the seriousness of his injuries, but calmly, Airman Kolfage assured him that he already knew the extent of his wounds, and that he just wanted to go home to his fiancée, who is his wife today.

An ambulance arrived and rushed him to the Balad Combat Support Hospital. The call for blood was announced over the base speakers, and fellow servicemembers rushed to the hospital by bus, bike or running on foot to give the blood that kept Airman Kolfage alive. Thirty-six hours after being struck by the blast of that mortar, he was airlifted to Walter Reed Medical Center, where his legs and right hand were amputated.

Despite suffering multiple amputations and the looming possibility of death, Airman Kolfage still maintained incredible strength and courage throughout his recovery. The fact that no one with his level of amputation has ever been able to walk independently didn’t discourage him. With undiminished spirit, he still saw opportunities and worked with feverish determination through his physical therapy program, gaining strength and balance every day.

Brian is now a civilian employee with the 355th Security Forces Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and continues to embrace a positive attitude as he makes great strides, both literally and figuratively, in learning how to walk with his prosthetics.