Retired Sgt. Marco Solt, US Army
Marco said it was a very quiet morning, that should have been a sign that something was going to happen the day he and his buddies were hit by an IED. Completing the day’s mission, Marco remembers getting in the gunning position, his buddy Joe climbing into his vehicle and clicking his seatbelt buckle when it hit. A combat engineer, Marco spent the morning clearing routes and was looking forward to returning to the tent that had become his temporary home while deployed.
It only took 25 minutes to get from the blast site to the emergency hospital, his right leg was gone, the left was shattered. He and the doctors made the decision then and there, it had to go too. Though recovery must have been long and drawn out, he brushes it off, happy to say he’s able to spend about 90 percent of his time in prosthetics, using a wheelchair in the evenings, or traveling.
Finishing recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, Marco and his wife Eugenia settled in Minnesota, where Marco finished his degree in environmental sciences and enjoyed working in the outdoors as a fishing guide, making custom fishing rods, and later working for Skeeter Boats in Ramsey, Minnesota.
It was during a veteran’s fishing trip that Marco met Dive Pirate Luke Murphy, and the conversation turned to adaptive scuba diving. Thrilled to learn more about an adaptive sport both he and his wife could enjoy together, he applied to be a pirate in training.
While starting his training, Marco is taking a break from the working world and letting his wife pursue her career with her many creative talents. He is also trying his hand at being a stay-at-home dad with two sons, and he’s taken up do Jitsu. He’s definitely pirate material! Please help him continue living life to the fullest by donating to his adaptive training and travel.
Marco and Eugenia will be training with Instructor Bill King, of Midwest School of Diving.
