*Amputee soldier eager to get back into action (10/17/04)

Amputee soldier eager to get back into action
DN00000020041017e0ah0004c
By Estes Thompson Associated Press
925 Words
17 October 2004
Deseret Morning News
A06
English
(c) 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- George Perez still feels the sweat between his toes when he exercises. He's still plagued with nagging cramps in his calf muscle. And sometimes, when he gets out of bed at night without thinking, he topples over.

Perez, 21, lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq more than a year ago, but despite the phantom pains that haunt him, he says he is determined to prove to the Army that he is no less of a man -- and no less of a soldier.

"I'm not ready to get out yet," he says. "I'm not going to let this little injury stop me from what I want to do."