[Stars and Stripes] CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - When Capt. Derek Herrera was called to stand in the place of honor Friday at his retirement ceremony, he pressed buttons on what appeared to be a wristwatch as a fellow Marine came to his aid.
After another push of a button and three short beeps, Herrera rose, legs shaking, and walked deliberately toward his commander. With each step, the exoskeleton he wore emitted a robotic whirring noise, as though it were Iron Man striding through the cordoned off parking lot in digital camouflage.
Herrera was paralyzed from the chest down in June 2012, when he was shot in the spine while leading a team of special operations Marines on a patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan. But Herrera, a 2006 graduate of the Naval Academy and the type of Marine who always ran to the sound of the gun, did not let the devastating injury end his career, said Lt. Col. John Lynch, commander of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion.
"I’m not one that normally gets emotional, but I’ve got to tell you, your drive, determination and dedication ... it’s got me moved today," he said. "If a human being with your injury can walk again without the exoskeleton, it’s going to be you."
Herrera retired from the Marine Corps on Friday afternoon, in a ceremony in which he also received a Bronze Star with V for combat valor and a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
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