GRENADA, Miss., Aug. 10, 2010 – Faced with a long recovery and the reality that he might never run, surf or return to his Special Forces team, Army Staff Sgt. Andre Murnane made the decision last year to have his right leg amputated below the knee after it was shattered by a roadside bomb that detonated in eastern Afghanistan.

“My dreams and ambitions didn’t end that day. It simply started a new chapter,” the Maryland National Guard soldier said.

And a new breakthrough.

Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier with a prosthetic leg to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June.

While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.

Murnane admitted he felt nervous about the historic jump that took place here Aug. 1. And he was a bit worried about the prosthetic leg shifting from the opening shock of the parachute and how it would hold up when he landed. (continue reading…)