ADAMS, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Close to 150 family members, friends and comrades came together Friday for a celebration as the Gary Sinise Foundation presented a specially adaptive smart home to U.S. Army CW5 Gary Linfoot (ret).
Linfoot joined the Army’s elite 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) (Airborne) in 1997. While conducting operations in Iraq in 2008, his AH-6 helicopter suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure.
The helicopter crash-landed, injuring Linfoot’s back severely, paralyzing him from the waist down. He received spine stabilizing surgery and treatment at a number of medical centers and after three months of recovery he returned home to a very new way of life.
Linfoot and his wife Mari have raised three children over their 26-year marriage. As with every other challenge they have confronted, they fight to overcome his disability together and have had remarkable success.
Wearing an exoskeleton suit, Linfoot walked his oldest daughter Allyssa down the aisle on her wedding day in 2016. Gary currently works as a helicopter simulator instructor pilot with the 160th SOAR, Night Stalkers.
Sitting in the living room, Linfoot talked about his new home. “It is overwhelming. I don’t think I can adequately put it into words. What we’re feeling and how happy we are to be recipients of this fantastic smart home, it’s going to make life so much easier for us,” said Linfoot.
The simple tasks of everyday life, climbing stairs, reaching high shelves, getting in and out of the bathroom, are easy for most people to take for granted because they are done without a second thought.
Through its R.I.S.E program the Gary Sinise Foundation is building specially adapted smart homes for our nation’s most severely wounded veterans and first responders. These one-of-a-kind homes are being built all across the country for wounded heroes, their caregivers and their families.
A letter from Sinise was read at the ceremony which said in prt. Like so many who have come before him in service to our country, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Linfoot, fought and sacrificed to give us all this precious gift, protecting the liberty and freedom of his fellow Americans.