Marine doesn't let burns stop him

In so many ways, Marine Cpl. Isaac Gallegos is the face of modern war.

His jaw is reconstructed and virtually every surface inch of skin has been burned or grafted. He has no hair, no eyebrows, and almost no ears — all due to a highly flammable roadside bomb that exploded in Iraq in 2006 and burned 80 percent of his body, shattered his jaw, mangled his left arm and leg, and in any other century would have killed him.

And yet, thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and no less than 150 surgeries, not only is he capable of breathing, smelling, tasting, talking and seeing — he's also doing everything in his power to get back to the front lines that rearranged his physicality in the first place.

"Since Marines are no longer playing a role in Iraq," Gallegos says, "I will hopefully be sent to Afghanistan."

The 24-year-old Marine, a native of New Mexico, is in Salt Lake City this weekend as part of a convention at the Salt Palace hosted by Agel, a Utah-headquartered worldwide network marketing company specializing in skin lotions, nutritional supplements and other health-care products.

During an extensive rehabilitation at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Gallegos was introduced to some of Agel's products and found them useful. He will fire the starter's pistol tomorrow morning for the company's Walk of Hope, a fundraiser for the burn clinic in San Antonio as well as other charities.

"It's my way of giving back; the least I can do for people who came and donated their products to me for free," says Gallegos, who will only stay overnight in Salt Lake before returning to Camp Pendleton near San Diego, where he has recently resumed his active duty training.

He is not hard to spot among clean-cut, freshly scrubbed Marines. Virtually every visible part of him is disfigured to some extent.

In 2007, while in San Antonio, he was photographed with President Bush and antiwar activists eagerly posted the image on the Internet, displaying it as graphic evidence of the horrors of war.

But to the man who carries the scars, he sees his appearance as graphic evidence of the necessity of defending freedom.

"War carries a high price," he says. "Even during times of peace there will always be violence. It doesn't matter where we are on this planet. At least (as soldiers) we're minimizing what could be a lot more violence. I know others have given a lot more than I have."

At Camp Pendleton, Gallegos says he isn't a deterrent. On the contrary ... He seems to be a motivator.

"They tell me all the time that I motivate them," he says of his fellow Marines. "But they motivate me too. I guess it's a give-and-take."

He's in line for one or two more surgeries — on his left wrist and possibly another on his jaw — and after he recovers from those he'll be in a position to find out what the Marines plan to do with him next.

"I'll take my (medical) board probably in about six months and they'll see if I'm fit for full duty, light duty, permanent light duty or medial retirement," he says. "My goal is to go back overseas and at least be a scout again or do some kind of security. I'll do anything."

In the meantime he will drop and give you 20 if you ask him to.

"I can't do flat-handed pushups but I can do fisted pushups," he says. "I can knock out 20 of those easy."

He didn't say "Ooh-rah."

He didn't have to.

Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com