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Disabled vet still saving lives, fighting for independence [Rockwall County Herald-Banner, Greenville, Texas](Rockwall County Herald-Banner (Greenville, TX) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 27--ROYSE CITY -- Clay Rankin, who was credited with saving 300 lives when he shot a terrorist whose vehicle plowed through a commissary in Kuwait almost nine years ago, still is focused on saving lives and fighting for independence. The Royse City-area resident, awarded a Bronze Star with Valor for his heroic efforts at Camp Udairi in northern Kuwait, is disabled and saves lives today with a message that there's life after disability. Rankin's fight for independence involves his drive to remain free of wheelchair confinement. He sustained brain and spinal cord injuries while serving in Iraq and has difficulty walking. He also suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. Harley, his service dog, is Rankin's constant companion. The yellow lab is a key part of Rankin's life as a mobile disabled veteran. In recent months, Rankin has been introduced to a program that could be another step in keeping the veteran out of a wheelchair. The program is ADT Pulse, described as an interactive smart home solution that combines home automation, thermostat and light control, and video surveillance into one easy-to-use system. Rankin and a wheelchair-bound disabled veteran in Houston are using the system to determine whether it would help other disabled veterans. Shane Sumrow of ADT said the project with disabled veterans could "show a different way to use this system and, as Clay said, stay out of the wheelchair and stay independent." "Out of the wheelchair," Rankin repeated during a recent interview at his home. "First of all, the longer I walk and I'm on my feet, the longer I'll live. We know that my life has been shortened. The doctors have told me that because of the chemical exposure and everything else I went through," Rankin insists he would serve again and perform whatever duties are required to "save American lives." He realizes, however, that his current call to duty involves his message to other disabled veterans. "Everything I do is to show other guys like me who came back," he said. "I fought and fought and fought -- one of the first ones coming back to get to where I'm at, to where I can speak and be understood. Occupational therapy, speech therapy, spinal cord therapy, physical therapy, all the time, constantly, constant, constant, constant. And it will never end, because if I stop, then I revert. I don't plan on stopping, Yeah, I'm 50 years old, almost 51. I'm not dead yet. As long as I'm alive, maybe I can make a difference in one person's life." Rankin said he is finding out that the ADT Pulse system is making a difference in his life and it could have the same impact on the lives of other disabled veterans. The system, he said, provides security and medical solutions. Cameras monitor the front and back doors of his home. "It's going to secure my house," Rankin said. "They (intruders) can have everything that's in my house. What I don't have the ability to do any more is probably physically take on an intruder. This system protects me from having to do that." And then, there's the "medical side" advantages. "For me, as far as the medical goes, it provides my wife the peace of mind to know that she can go to a store, If she hasn't heard from me in a while, she can go online and look at what the cameras show to make sure I'm OK." This system, he said, is a piece to his mobility puzzle. "It's hard to always have to have someone with you everywhere you go," Rankin said. "I've done things like mobility equipment for my vehicle to be able to go places. My service dog. I've done everything I can to be as independent as I can and I continue to add to that. This is another piece to that puzzle. I have not felt this comfortable in a long time, this safe." He said later that, "We keep thinking of ways to make it more available and easy to use. But so far, it's been absolutely phenomenal, just the independence and peace of mind it gives me to know that I'm safe and for wife to know that I'm safe. "I'm not supposed to be able to walk, but I do. I should be in a wheelchair, but I'm not. A lot of that is will power, but much of it is finding the right tools to help you do it." Rankin said the ADT Pulse system also is important to the disabled veteran's caregiver -- the "unsung heroes." The unsung hero in his life is wife Stephanie. "Think about the burden on what we call a primary caregiver, which my wife is," Rankin said. "By her doing what she does, it saves the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) probably $60,000 a year. They don't pay her anything, but she doesn't work because of it. There's a lot that they give up to take care of the soldier when he comes home. Unsung heroes. What can we do to make it easier on them? Well, this is one step. It's something that makes it easier on them because they won't leave you. The don't feel comfortable leaving you." Rankin doesn't downplay the value of Harley's contribution. But Harley has limitations. If Rankin is in trouble, he will give Harley a command that tells the dog to get his emergency pendent. When Rankin presses a button on the device, emergency personnel respond. ADT could stand alone, but Harley cannot. "These doors are shut, he has no way to get me help without this," Rankin said, pointing to the emergency pendent. "This is the biggest fear we have. When we're out in public, it's not a problem. He can go get me help all day long. But when we're not, this is it (the emergency pendent). This is the only thing he's got that can give me any assistance at all or he sits there and watches me die. So, it (ADT Pulse) was a huge, huge plus. I am so blessed to have this opportunity." Rankin joined the U.S. Army in 1979 as a military police officer and stayed until 1982. He volunteered as a reservist -- 220th Military Police Company, Colorado National Guard -- and first deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1990. He was deployed to Iraq with the same unit in 2003. A story written by Kris Antonelli of Stephens Media provided details of Rankin's heroic act that earned for him the Bronze Star with Valor. He landed at Camp Udairi, in northern Kuwait at the Iraqi border, just as the ground war began. Standing in line at the PX in March 2003, Rankin waited to get supplies needed to push north when a terrorist in a white pickup truck plowed through the line. "Everybody started running for cover except for me," Rankin was quoted as saying. "I spun around and got in front of the vehicle to pull him away from the soldiers and towards me. He was coming toward me. I was drawing my pistol, loading my clip and chambering a round and preparing to fire. I couldn't fire on him right away because of the soldiers who were behind him, so I had to wait. He was probably five feet from me and coming at me, and I shot him and kind of dove out of the way and cracked my skull on the ground." Rankin doesn't remember many details that followed, the story stated, but his colleagues reported that he chased down the truck as it was coming to a stop, shot the driver twice more and pulled him out. Rankin's first service dog was Archie, a black Labrador trained by Patriot Paws of Rockwall. Archie was the first canine graduate of the Army's Wounded Warriors Program, which advocates for seriously ill and injured veterans. Harley also was trained by Patriot Paws. Archie was named "Dog of the Year" in 2009 by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Within a month after the awards presentation, Archie died of a massive heart attack. ___ (c)2011 the Rockwall County Herald-Banner (Greenville, Texas) Visit the Rockwall County Herald-Banner (Greenville, Texas) at rockwallheraldbanner.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |