LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Nothing sets Army Spc. Nicholas Rempp apart from his classmates other than a slight limp. Covered by his BDUs, the injury he suffered in Iraq from an improvised explosive device is almost completely unnoticeable.
The Military Working Dog Handlers Course student, who has been on Lackland Air Force Base since April 1 and will leave June 18, lost his right leg while deployed.
"I lost it in Iraq when an IED just blew it off," he said. "I spent a year and two months at Brooke Army Medical Center."
Four and a half hours a day, Specialist Rempp works with the dogs learning how to use them for detection and patrol.
"There are two blocks," he said. "Block one is patrol where we work with a patrol dog and block two is detection where you learn the basics of how to conduct building searches, airplane searches and barracks searches."
Specialist Rempp said his injury is one of the things that propelled him into his current line of work.
"I have an amputation, so going back to a line unit where you would have to be walking everywhere is not really feasible for me," he said. "Being able to work with a dog and not having to rely so much on myself, where a dog would be doing most of the work, just makes it easier for me."
That's not his only motivation.
"I also just love dogs," he said with a grin.
Staff Sgt. Carlos Cruz, Specialist Rempp's instructor, said his determination is admirable.
"We have noticed [only] slight challenges in the training," Sergeant Cruz said. "With him, we keep him to the same standard. We don't baby him. He asked us not to, but we take into consideration that he has to take a break every once in a while if he is in pain."
Additionally, Sergeant Cruz said, many of Specialist Rempp's classmates and instructors look up to him.
"He chose a career field that isn't going to be easy for him," he said. "He has earned a lot of respect by staying within the standards. He's even gotten some additional training. Academically he's fine, and physically, he's outstanding."
To Sergeant Cruz's knowledge, Specialist Rempp is the first amputee to come through the school at Lackland.
"I hope the other people who come into the program put the same kind of heart into it," he said.
Specialist Rempp, who has been in the Army for a little more than three years, has put his heart not only into the course, but into the military as well. After his amputation, he could have left the Army and not returned.
"It's kind of funny. You're pretty much leaving the military and you have to request to stay in," he said. "You just have to fill out some extra paperwork requesting to stay in and then they have to find you a job you can do with your injury if you can't do your old job."
Chief Petty Officer Ronnie Holland, the course chief, said that though Rempp's case is rare, it's exceptional to see someone want to stay in the military instead of giving up.
"It says a lot about him and his character," he said. "To have him in this course is a privilege, to have someone who has had such a setback in his career. It's jut a wonderful asset for us to have him in the dog handler school."