Still Standing

What's a good recipe for a motivational speaker?
Find a former member of the military, tell about his surviving a 200-pound roadside bomb in Iraq, add support from his family and friends and create an attitude that will help us overcome adversity.
In two words, the recipe could be titled "Still Standing." That's the title former National Guardsman John Kriesel chose for a book that tells about his unbelievable survival from a bombing that left him severely injured. The bombing also killed two of his buddies.
Staff Sergeant Kriesel fits the recipe perfectly, and he shared personal thoughts about fighting adversity.
Kriesel was that motivational speaker who addressed about 100 persons attending the annual meeting of the Dodge County Corn & Soybean Growers Association at the Dodge Center American Legion.
"Don't feel sorry for me," said Kriesel as he stood on his two prosthetic legs. "Build an attitude that will help you overcome adversity," he said.
The audience comprised mostly of Dodge County and Steele County farmers sat spellbound as they heard Kriesel tell the story of dying three times.
Using occasional spurts of humor and mixing it with the sheer pain of battle, Kriesel took the audience back to Dec. 2, 2006 when Kriesel and four other volunteers went on patrol in Iraq.
Kriesel and his crew were investigating suspicious activity when struck by that he called a big hail storm, the remnants of a bomb. "I didn't know what happened, but I did know we had been hit," Kriesel recalled.
During his recall of memories from that fateful day, Kriesel managed to trade thoughts about his love for the Minnesota Vikings.
He said that terrible December day of the bombing and the date of Jan. 17, 1999 when the Vikings lost to Atlanta stand out as days of infamy. The Vikings saw a trip to the Super Bowl fade away.
Kriesel outlined his entry into the U.S. Army and said 9/11 caused everything to be changed in regard to Guardsmen being activated to foreign countries.
Kriesel underwent five months of training and was then deployed to Kosovo. Kriesel understood that as a member of the military, he was there to protect people who can't protect themselves.
 
Kriesel said having support at home was so important to military service men and women.
Even after his tragic accident, Kriesel said he would "go back in a heartbeat." Kriesel chronicled his duty up to that "bad day" on Dec. 2, 2006.
He said he did not remember the actual bombing. "I didn't want to know what happened," he said. "I had a warm and itchy feeling. I felt quite certain that this is where my life would end."
A helicopter came to he bombing site and evacuated the area. He told of his fellow soldier, Adam, "not sugar coating anything" and said my legs look bad. Another fellow soldier, Todd, had a different outlook and said, "You look great."
He was then sent to Walter Reed Medical Center and put in a coma for five days. "Tell my loved ones I love them," Kriesel told his rescue team.
As he was being rushed to Walter Reed Hospital, he said someone asked for his credit card number. "Now, they want to open a credit card," Kriesel laughs.
Humor is important in life, Kriesel emphasized as he tried to make his audience laugh. "I got a second chance for life. Inspiring others,” Kriesel said, "Today is a gift."
"It's up to me to make the world great," he commented. He spoke of watching the news and having a smile put on his face at the end of the newscast.
He challenged his audience to write three to five things that make you feel good. "Life is good," Kriesel concluded.
Kriesel said after the Vikings lost that critical game on Jan. 17, 1999, he didn't think the sun would come up again. It did, he affirmed.
"Thank you for your service!"