An explosive device in Afghanistan robbed Marine Cpl. Justin Gaertner of his legs, above the knee. He nearly lost his left arm. He endured four months confined to hospital beds in Washington, D.C., where he wandered through a haze of pain and confusion.

I spent 30 minutes talking with Gaertner on Tuesday morning after Warrior Games cycling competition at Air Force Academy. I kept waiting for him to talk about his anger, his depression, his regrets.

I’m still waiting.

Gaertner is optimistic, thrilled to be alive, thinking of others instead of obsessing on his challenges. The word inspiring is overused. I know this.

I also know Gaertner is inspiring.

“I have eight pairs of legs,” Gaertner said, laughing as he finished a sentence not many of us can truthfully speak. He employs this collection of prosthetic legs in his ever-widening pursuit of joy.

“I’ve done more things without legs than with legs,” he said. “I’ve gone sky diving. Who does that? With or without legs? I can ski, run, bike, swim.”

Three days after graduation from high school in Florida, Gaertner joined the Marines, following the lead of his brother, David. Gaertner never questions his decision to serve. He refused to remain in comfort in the United States while others risked their lives.

On Nov. 26, 2010, the day after Thanksgiving, Gaertner was working as a sweeper in Marjah, Afghanistan. It was his job to find and disarm explosive devices.

He heard an explosion and began scrambling to stop a second blast. He looked a few yards away, just in time to see one of his closest friends, Gabe Martinez, falling to the ground. Martinez lost his legs in the blast.

A third device exploded, and Gaertner could feel himself rising. This was nothing new. He had been jolted by explosions three other times.

“I remember everything,” Gaertner said in a steady voice, drained of emotion.

He felt no pain as he tried to arise. He wanted to help his comrades. He couldn’t. He raised his neck and looked at what remained of his legs.

“I laid my head back down,” he said. “Everything slows down, like in the movies. It’s like the lottery. You never think it’s never going to happen to you.”

He paused, thinking back to the moment.

“And then it does.”

He spent months in a hospital bed while doctors worked to save his left arm. Eventually, doctors used a combination of steel plates, tissue from his stomach, skin from his legs and bone from his hips to reconstruct his forearm and wrist.

The arm is not pretty, Gaertner admits with a shrug, but it is functional.

A counselor named Tyler Southern often visited Gaertner, bringing a message of hope. Southern said the accident would be overcome. He convinced Gaertner almost anything remained possible.

Gaertner concentrated deeply on Southern’s words and never looked closely at the man helping him. When he finally examined his new friend, he realized Southern had lost his legs and an arm. Southern knew what he was talking about.

I know it will come as no surprise that Gaertner delivered an unrelenting, courageous effort on a cloudy Tuesday morning in hand-cycle competition.

He started the race in the wrong gear and quickly tumbled to the bottom of the pack. He was overwhelmed. He was worried.

Then he started thinking about Gabe Martinez, his close friend, and all they had endured together. He found his motivation about the same time he found the right gear.

He began passing cyclists. Each time he ripped past one of his competitors, he said, “You’re looking good. You’re doing good.”

He never quite caught the Army’s Bill Longwell, who won the race. Gaertner finished second, which he considers an ideal farewell to the military.

“This,” Gaertner said, “is my end-all and say-all.”

He retires from the Marines later this month and will enroll at Florida State College to study criminal justice, national security and business.

“I want to be a top-secret agent during the day,” he said with a laugh, “and a D.J./nightclub owner at night.”

That is one immensely challenging plan.

I have no doubt Gaertner can make it come true.

Twitter: @davidramz

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Marine Justin Gaertner finished second in the Men’s Handcycle competition at the Warrior Games Tuesday, May 1, 2012, at the United States Air Force Academy. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE

MARK REIS

Marine Justin Gaertner, right, finished second in the Men’s Handcycle competition at the Warrior Games Tuesday, May 1, 2012, at the United States Air Force Academy. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE

MARK REIS