Disabled vet gets new wheels

Since coming home, John Bennett’s life has focused on adjustments.

The outdoorsman can no longer tent camp, so his family is thinking of buying a fifth-wheel trailer.

The father of four can no longer go down to the basement to kiss his children goodnight, so they’ll move into rooms on the main floor.

The Iraq War veteran can no longer fit his family – and wheelchair – comfortably into their car, so on Friday he and his wife picked up a new ride from Kellogg.

Bennett’s Dodge Ram Mega Cab will be fitted with a wheelchair lift and hand controls so he will be able to drive.

Bennett, 34, was shot in the abdomen while serving in Iraq and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

He had always wanted a brand-new truck. Thanks to the generosity of kin and strangers who are touched by his story, Bennett got his wish.

In September, Bennett’s sister-in-law organized a benefit in Great Falls, Mont., near his 600-population home of Cascade. It yielded a whopping $43,000.

Then the Dave Smith Motors salesman who answered Bennett’s call inquiring about trucks became determined to give him the best deal he could. Himself a former military man, Thom Kolb felt for Bennett and his family.

“We said to ourselves: This guy is a hero. He was over there doing his job and now he’s in a wheelchair,” Kolb said. “We decided it was our way to say thank you.”

With rebates and discounts, Bennett estimates that he saved anywhere from $6,000-$11,000 on the truck, which he bought for about $39,000.

Bennett went to Iraq in December with the Montana National Guard. Though he’s a firm believer that the United States should be in Iraq and that the military’s presence is helping abate infighting among Iraqis, he’s not so sure about the long-term benefit.

“I just have a feeling it’s going to go back to the way it was,” Bennett said. Still, he has no regrets, he said, because at least troops are helping the situation while they’re there.

In February, a sniper shot him, shattering two vertebrae and damaging a third. His attacker was later found and killed.

As for Bennett, he spent more than five months in hospitals in Germany and Seattle.

“He’s had more surgeries than I can count,” said Dena Bennett, his wife. He also lost a kidney, his spleen and half his pancreas.

Bennett, a former employee of Montana Waste, is considering going back to school and becoming a teacher.

That’s a ways in the future, though. Right now, he spends his time in physical therapy. Bennett has started to feel some sensation in his legs and can move his hip muscles. There is a possibility he could walk again.

But, Bennett said, “I won’t get too excited because I don’t want to get let down.”

So, for now, he’s learning to live life with a wheelchair as a fact.