Injured Instructor Resumes Career with Robotic Hand

By Charmain Z. Brackett

Staff Sgt. Luis Elias considers the last six months as just a bump along life’s road.

“Adapt and overcome is the name of the game. It’s just something that happened,” said Elias, a Fort Benning, Ga., drill sergeant, who lost his right hand in a training accident on June 30, 2009.

Using the i-LIMB, Elias picks up marbles from occupational therapist Lisa Dowling's hand.  Staff Sgt. Luis Elias can do many of the same activities with his robotic prosthetic hand called the i-LIMB as he could with his natural hand.  Elias spent five months at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center after a training accident cost him his right hand on June 30, 2009. (Photo Credit:  Chamain Z. Brackett)

A training device exploded in his right hand, leaving only his thumb. After a July 7 surgery at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center here to amputate his arm two inches above his wrist, Elias spent five months at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center’s active-duty rehabilitation unit in Augustus, Ga. He was released on Dec. 18 and returned to Fort Benning, Ga., to report to work on Monday, Jan. 4.

Some of the new recruits may not even realize their drill sergeant is an amputee.