Given the normal recovery time of six months, Bridges figured he'd join his unit in the spring of 2005. But within a week of returning to Panguitch to convalesce, his left leg started going numb. He had no movement in his ankle, causing him to drag his foot when he walked.

"I didn't have any idea what was going on," he said. "It just got worse and worse."

Doctors at William Beaumont determined the hardware in his back was "malpositioned," according to medical records Bridges provided to the Deseret News. Bridges believes the screw hit nerve roots at the base of the spine, which contain nerve fibers that control leg muscles.

On Jan. 27, 2005, surgeons did "revision" surgery to reposition the screw and adjust the bone graft cage. Bridges believes more damage occurred as the screw was pulled out and repositioned.

The Bridgeses say they really didn't get much of an explanation about the follow-up surgery. A radiologist confirmed to them the screw was misplaced but would not go so far to say the surgeon made a mistake. The couple asked the surgeon about the foot drop but say they weren't given an explanation. A short time later, they said, Bridges' case was transferred to a different doctor.

Dr. Reed Fogg, director of the Intermountain Spine Institute at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Murray, said L-5, S-1 fusions have a high success rate.

"It's a very routine thing," he said.

Fogg, who has not examined Bridges or reviewed his medical history, said it would be "very, very, unusual" for the surgery to go awry.

"This story is incredibly bizarre," he said.

Fogg said it is possible that an incorrectly positioned screw could hit a nerve. "The problem is nerves aren't very forgiving," he said. "It will be a difficult thing to make life good for him."

Soldiers like Bridges don't return to a hero's welcome. In fact, there were whispers in his unit that he faked the pain to get out of going to Iraq. Nothing, he said, is further from the truth.

Bridges said he felt like he let the unit down, that he wasn't good enough to fulfill the mission.

But fellow soldiers, he said, treated him differently. He felt extremely uncomfortable at the airport greeting his former unit members upon their return.

"They put him in a lower class because he doesn't have the patch on his right arm that shows you've gone overseas," Roxanne Bridges said.

Burt, the unit commander, said he wasn't aware of anyone speaking ill of Bridges as a person or a soldier or suggesting he tried to shirk his duty.

"We felt bad we had to leave him behind," he said. "He served honorably. He was there to answer the call. He was ready to go ... I don't think he should feel any shame for not being able to fulfill his commitment."

Russell and Roxanne Bridges are striving to face life without giving up hope.

"We're trying to be a little more optimistic," she said. "I'm tired of being angry and depressed about it all the time. It wears you down."

Says Bridges, "I'm trying to be (optimistic). It's hard. But I'm trying to be."

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E-mail: romboy@desnews.com