5 Secrets to Survival From a Triple Amputee Marine Who Prevailed

A high school baseball player who narrowly missed full scholarships, Nick Kimmel enlisted in the Marines with some buddies right out of school because he was attracted to the world of travel and adventure. He could fund college through the GI Bill afterward.

The Marine combat engineer, from Moses Lake, Washington, downplayed the hazards of the job to his parents, explaining during his first deployment to Afghanistan that he “builds stuff and helps people.” During his second deployment, in 2011, everything changed.

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“I was standing on a forklift, making sure the roof was on a guard post the right way — I do build stuff — and I jumped off the forklift and landed on a 40-pound IED,” he told AARP Veteran Report. “I’d been blown up a bunch of times, but that was the first time I had anything more than a concussion.”

Nick Kimmel lost both legs and his left arm during his second deployment in Afghanistan.

Courtesy Nick Kimmel

In that instant, Kimmel, who had just turned 22 and thrived on activities such as golf and snowboarding, lost both legs and his left arm. He doesn’t remember the explosion, nor the five following days before he woke up in a hospital. As a triple amputee, he faced many years of medical challenges ahead of him.

Kimmel remembers that when he did come to, he was terrified that he might have lost his dominant right hand. From the beginning, he didn’t dwell on his loss.

Here is some advice he would give to anyone facing a crisis in their life:

Push forward, but with structure

“You’re still active-duty, so you still have to follow those traditional protocols, but it’s way more relaxed,” he said. “We still have to go to formation every morning and make all your appointment times.” He recalled “chewing out a surgeon” for not doing a procedure he wanted and his gunnery sergeant reminding him: “You’re still in the military.” 

Though frustrating in the moment, this mentality aligned with Kimmel’s attitude toward his injuries. “It is what it is. You’ve just got to push forward.” 

Adjust your goals

Kimmel’s recovery with traditional prosthetics was trying, and not working for the lifestyle he still wanted to lead. “I used to jump off 60-foot cliffs, and now I go 10 feet on a [snowboarding] bunny trail and fall so hard,” he said. “I don’t even want to be out there anymore.” 

He also had issues with skin breakdown and spent at least 30 minutes each morning trying to put all of his prosthetic limbs on. “If I didn’t get the leg just right, I’d have to start all over again.” He retired from the Marines two years after the explosion.