Meet Gavriel

Corporal Gavriel Jacobs -25

My tank was coming off a night overwatch mission in Anbar province when we rolled over a pressure plate IED, causing severe damage to both lower limbs and my spinal column. After being transported to Bilad and then Landstuhl, I ended up at Bethesda Naval Hospital, where the doctors attempted several limb salvage surgeries. After about 7 months of attempting rehab (and transferring to Balboa) , it was clear that my right leg would never again be functional, so I had it amputated below the knee. My left foot remains painfully deformed, but in reasonable enough shape to keep going on it.

After about a year and half in different hospitals and med-hold units, I was medically retired and moved back home to Seattle, where I started taking classes at the University of Washington (having gotten enough transfer credits from taking classes on base at Balboa). After graduating in 2010, I applied to law schools and was accepted at Stanford Law, where I will graduate from in 2013.

Operation Second Chance was an enormous help to me while I was on the East coast, and I will be forever thankful for its presence. In fact, Cindy organized the first date with my wife (then just a friend from back home) who came to visit me at Walter Reed.