First amputee corpsman to deploy to combat.

HM2(FMF) Daniel "Doc" Jacobs

SAN DIEGO — The explosion of a bomb buried in a road in Ramadi, Iraq, killed the Marine driving the Humvee, fatally wounded the vehiclecommander and ripped through the body of then-Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (FMF) Daniel Jacobs.

Jacobs had landed in Iraq just weeks after joining the infantry unit — India Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines — when another corpsman couldn’t deploy. Months after that Feb. 25, 2006, blast, doctors amputated Jacobs’ mangled left leg below the knee.

However, life as an amputee isn’t ending Jacobs’ career as a corpsman.

Even as he endured 49 surgeries, Jacobs was twice found by physical evaluation boards to be “fit for duty” — rulings that mean he couldcontinue to serve in the Navy and enable him to return to fight in a combat zone. He is the only hospital corpsman with a below-the-knee amputation serving on active duty, Navy medical officials said.

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Corpsman amputee prepares for historic return