Rick Snider: A year later, finding his stroke again

Rob Jones rows the Capital Warrior through the glassy water near the Navy Yard bridge. His grunts break the silence as he pulls the oars over and over throughout the hour. No one notices Jones’ artificial legs are in the nearby coach’s boat. The river belongs to Jones.

“It feels good to sweat,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll ever get back to my old self, but I’m getting closer.”

It has been nearly a year since the Marine sergeant lost his legs to a land mine in Afghanistan. A team leader in the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion’s Bravo Co. 1st Platoon, Jones was clearing a path to a river for an infantry unit. What happened next is a scattered memory: getting carried to a tank, flying to a hospital in Germany and ultimately arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda.

The left leg was lost below the knee, the right one above the knee — double amputation.

Physical therapy began his first day at Walter Reed. His initial steps came a couple weeks later. Three sets of legs now allow Jones to run.

“I played a lot of racquetball in college,” he says. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll give it a shot at some point.”

But first, Jones is trying crew. He’s among 16 rowers at the Capital Rowing Club through a partnership with the U.S. Paralympics, which provides community sports to wounded veterans and those with disabilities. Within weeks, coaches were fine-tuning Jones’ fluid stroke with such nuances as slightly raising his hands when he finishes each stride.

“He gets it right away when you tell him what to do,” coach Nathan Ballou says. “When you’re doing it well, it looks fluid and natural, but it’s probably one of the hardest things to do. You can’t do it all at once. You’re going to be a novice for a while.”

Indeed, Jones’ grimace doubles as a smile as he rows. The 25-year-old native of Lovettsville, Va., thinks not of the past year but of the next, one he may spend in the sport.

“He does seem more relaxed,” says Jones’ mother, Carol Miller. “His smiles are more like they used to be.”

Longtime friend Ivan Kander created “Survive. Recover. Live” — a 35-minute film on Jones’ recovery that will premiere July 22 at Loudoun Valley High School, from which the two graduated. The founder of Lucky9studios.com says Jones wanted to show what happens after the initial recovery.

“The amazing thing I realized is the initial recovery process happens quickly. Reacclimating back into [everyday] life is the long hard part,” Kander says. “Rob is probably the most positive person I know. He was always up for anything. Even though this happened, he’s a positive person without legs.”

Rowing could be Jones’ next career. Then again, he soon will start an internship with the FBI with thoughts of a career in counter terrorism.

“It would be nice to be a special agent,” Jones says. “[The Taliban] are the biggest bad guys out there right now. I want to fight the worst bad guys possible.”

Jones is flashing the same “can do” attitude that led to his graduation from Virginia Tech after he joined the Marine reserves. After spending 2008 in Iraq, he volunteered to serve in Afghanistan in 2010. Losing his legs doesn’t mean Jones has lost his urge to thwart the enemy.

“[Amputees] are a lot more independent than people think,” he says. “I can take care of myself.”

Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].